Access to quality maternal and child health care services remains a challenge for low-income women in many areas of the country. In this webinar scheduled for July 22, 2020 from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. ET, a panel of health experts will discuss improving care for mothers and babies through the formation of state or multistate collaborative initiatives, hospital-based quality improvement efforts which support optimal infant nutrition, and the formation of strategic alliances with the private health sector to strengthen the quality of neonatal and child health services. Speakers include representatives of the Health Resources & Services Administration, the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute, and Abt Associates.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted a free webinar on understanding how to assess and build executive functioning skills in TANF participants. Executive function and self-regulation skills are the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. Trouble with executive function can make it hard for individuals to navigate life, including obtaining and retaining employment. TANF case managers with an understanding of executive functioning can better support TANF participants on their pathway to self-sufficiency.

A panel of practitioners and researchers outlined the key principles of executive functioning, provided their perspectives on training caseworkers on executive functioning, and discussed how they are building executive functioning skills in TANF participants. Speakers included Dorothy Hall, Utah Department of Workforce Services; Melanie d'Almada Remedios, Washington State Regional WorkFirst Coordinator; Jessie Hancox, Colorado Works Program Administrator; and Kristen Joyce, Mathematica. They were joined by Jessica R. Kendall and Joe Raymond of ICF.
A video recording is available for viewing.

This fact sheet analyzes real-time data when examining the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on working families and draws from surveys with hourly service workers across the retail, food service, hospitality, house cleaning, delivery, and home health care industries. The fact sheet notes reductions in work hours and income, job loss, and overall family well-being due to COVID and stresses the importance of employers and government working to meet families’ needs.

This fact sheet illustrates how Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio offered non-recurrent short-term TANF benefits as flexible responses to address the needs of TANF-eligible populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sheet also briefly notes how Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, and Florida have implemented flexible adaptions to TANF work requirements. SNAP approved waivers are also highlighted.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased unemployment rates in low-income populations, SNAP agencies must rapidly scale up and adapt their employment and training support systems amidst economic, public health, and regulatory uncertainties. On July 9, 2020 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, the American Public Human Services Association will host a webinar with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, American Enterprise Institute, and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to discuss SNAP Employment and Training programs and the continued effects of unemployment on SNAP agency operations as well as their surrounding communities and local job sectors.

This guide offers a framework and process for establishing a multi-system trauma-informed collaborative that addresses the impact of trauma on children and families. The guide identifies the collaborative as including the health care system as well as child welfare, education, early child development, first responder, and related systems; these components must support each other in policies and practices to best serve children exposed to violence and other adverse childhood trauma. The guide is designed for public agency administrators, local and state policy makers, trauma professionals, and other service stakeholders.

This blogpost provides guidance on lessons learned from implementing the MyGoals for Employment Success program, an employment coaching model that assists participants during the pandemic. The blogpost draws a structured set of relevant questions and answers that might be asked of coaches and managers of the MyGoals model and other social service programs. Topics include supporting participants with scheduling changes in light of lockdowns, transitions in client management, how to encourage participants with self-directed goal setting, accessing and paying for medications, working in an unsafe environment, receiving SNAP or unemployment insurance benefits, how to use online technology, and addressing grief.

On July 15, 2020, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET, there will be a virtual tour of the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse, a new resource funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families. Designed to meet the needs of employment service providers and support TANF administrators’ use of evidence-based practices, the Pathways Clearinghouse provides free, reliable, and accessible information about what works to help job seekers with low incomes find and sustain employment. The launch event will feature a discussion with an expert panel, including Naomi Goldstein and Kim Clum from OPRE, to explore how the website identifies interventions designed to improve employment outcomes, reduce employment challenges, and support self-sufficiency for people with low incomes.

This tool relies on state-provided or other public data to support early childhood stakeholders in calculating the funds needed to increase early childhood workforce qualifications. The calculator enables the user to set the program type (for example, Head Start, Pre-K, or other center-based programs), child age group (infant-toddler and/or pre-K), and teacher category (lead and/or assistant teacher). Other data to be inputted include number of early childhood educators, current educational qualifications of the existing workforce; whether the teacher has the required credentials; and average tuition costs, on a statewide basis, for two-year and four-year degree programs.

This tip sheet identifies five tips that support program staff members’ effectiveness while offering high-quality services to participants in a virtual environment. The tips also provide guidance on protecting participant confidentiality, which is a principal challenge in remote communications. These tips cover how practitioners can create a plan for remote service delivery, connect with participants, set up staff members for success at home, maximize participant engagement, and adjust plans to support staff members as needed.