This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation issue brief examines how two agencies, Alameda County, California and the Colorado Department of Human Services use continuous quality improvement (CQI) in implementing their programs that address youth at risk of homelessness. CQI is a process-oriented evaluation that supports the enhancement of programs and practices through ongoing collection analysis of real-time data to identify and test changes in program implementation. Key components of this brief look at the CQI process design features at these two agencies, how the CQI process affected the operation of the agency’s interventions to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults who have been involved in the child welfare system, and what advice the two agencies have for other entities that may use CQI in their program reviews.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted a webinar on Wednesday, February 26 entitled Improving Employment Outcomes for TANF Recipients with Substance Use Disorders. The webinar outlined employment-focused strategies that can contribute to, rather than inhibit, substance use treatment and featured experts with backgrounds in research and practice on working with TANF recipients who have substance use disorders. Speakers discussed national trends in substance use disorders and strategies to move those with substance use disorders towards treatment, employment, and economic stability.

Speakers included:

• Dennis Romero, Regional Administrator, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

• Dr. Christine Cauffield, Chief Executive Officer, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Managing Entity, Lutheran Services Florida

• Kim Griswold Releford, University of Kentucky, Opioid Use Disorder Project, Targeted Assessment Program

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has issued this guide to assist health care providers, health care systems, and community leaders who seek knowledge about strategies and approaches to prevent substance misuse among young adults, ages 18 to 25. The guide includes research findings, identifies emerging and best practices, and points out knowledge gaps and challenges to implementing these practices within communities. The guide also lists resources on how to monitor outcomes and conduct evaluations, and guidance on how to improve quality of existing practices.

This Urban Institute needs assessment is an initial review of Oklahoma’s early childhood care and education (ECCE) delivery system. The review focuses on programs that directly support ECCE to include universal pre-K, Head Start and Early Head Start, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Head Start and Early Head Start, Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships, and state-funded child care and tribal child care programs. The assessment identifies future goals and action areas to include alignment of systems of care for seamless service delivery, affordability of ECCE options, increases in the number of choices for families for culturally responsive care and services while assisting parents’ ability to work, and resources to meet the urgent health and mental health needs of rural young children.

This Annie E. Casey Foundation blogpost discusses a new Foundation report entitled The Center for Working Families (CWF) Framework. This CWF framework or approach strives to assist low-income families in achieving greater financial security by integrating workforce development and employment services, income, work supports, financial literacy education, and coaching. The report highlights CWF in various programmatic and institutional settings across the U.S., as well as how the Foundation has helped develop the framework and how organizations have applied this integrated service delivery approach.

This video covers highlights from the “Thriving Communities for a Better Southern Nevada” meeting that was held in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 10, 2020. This event, hosted by the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) and Las Vegas-Clark County, Nevada, brought together a local planning team, community leaders, and practitioners who discussed constructive measures to help individuals overcome barriers to employment and improve their families’ economic well-being and mobility.

The Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison will host a webinar on February 19, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. CT to discuss ways that a father’s health and behaviors impact their children’s well-being. Researchers will present findings about fathers’ experiences in prenatal and pediatric care settings and strategies for promoting fathers’ physical and mental health; also presented will be findings on how to support fathers in modeling positive health behaviors for their children.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has announced a competitive grant opportunity under the Opioid-Impacted Family Support Program. Up to 19 grant awards will be funded to support training programs that expand paraprofessionals’ knowledge, skills, and expertise, and to increase the number of peer support specialists and other behavioral health-related paraprofessionals who serve children whose parents are impacted by opioid use disorders and other substance use disorders, as well as family members in guardianship roles. Applications are due by April 13.

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness developed this categorized list of resources, which includes criteria and benchmarks for communities to use in implementing strategies to address homelessness. The resources are organized according to overarching goals, specific objectives, and sub-objectives. The four overarching goals include: Ensure Homelessness is a Rare Experience, Ensure Homelessness is a Brief Experience, Ensure Homelessness is a One-Time Experience, and Sustain an End to Homelessness.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report presents findings from the Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study. The B3 study covered approaches addressing parenting and economic stability within Responsible Fatherhood (RF) grant programs, and examined the impact of one particular intervention – Just Beginning (JB). It also detailed how three RF grantees implemented JB within their existing set of supportive services.