This article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review talks about how social welfare programs can better collaborate and coordinate efforts to collectively address complex social problems. The article shares a conceptual framework on how different systems and programs can best align objectives and service delivery programs toward common community goals.

The DataFinder from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) provides demographic information as well as administrative data on programs that affect low-income people and families. Users can create and download custom tables that present a national picture, a state picture or a comparative look at states and communities.

This brief from MDRC is the second in a series documenting the implementation of an economic mobility initiative by New York City’s Change Capital Fund (CCF). CCF is a consortium of New York City donors formed to invest in local nonprofits undertaking data-driven anti-poverty strategies that integrate housing, education, and employment services. This brief describes two challenges to service coordination and considers the various ways grantees have responded to those difficulties.

This issue brief by Louis Soares provides examples of Community College and Industry Partnerships, examines their role in changing community college missions and practices, looks at key success factors and activities, and provides general recommendations for project success.

This toolkit section focuses on the multigenerational approach to alleviate poverty by integrating services that address the needs of the whole family. The multigenerational approach is one of eight evidence-based and promising models identified in the Rural Services Integration Toolkit, which is available online from the Rural Health Information Hub and designed to help rural communities seeking to implement services integration programs. The section on the multigenerational approach provides examples of rural programs, considerations for implementation, and a list of resources to learn more.

Two-generation models aim to interrupt the cycle of poverty by providing services for low-income children and their parents. However, the models themselves vary widely and policymakers and practitioners need guidance on how to best design them to achieve their ambitious goals and capitalize on their multiplier effects. This brief from the Urban Institute builds on the insights from the Housing Opportunities and Services Together (HOST) Demonstration and presents an updated theoretical framework for two-generation models. The framework emphasizes the importance of using family goals as the lens for targeting individual family members, setting individual goals, and aligning tailored solutions.

This brief from the Family Welfare Research and Training Group looks at the experience of individuals after participation in Maryland’s Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) program. The findings indicate that a substantial number were “disconnected leavers” with no source of income after they exited the program. Disconnected leavers are those who are simultaneously not participating in the workforce and not receiving cash assistance, whether TCA benefits or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. The brief provides a profile of short-term disconnected leavers and shows how they differ from longer-term disconnected leavers.

This resource from CLASP presents 12 key lessons from the Work Support Strategies (WSS) initiative, which provided grant funds and technical assistance to help six states (Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, Illinois, Colorado, and Idaho) analyze their service delivery systems and implement improvements to ensure that more families get the full package of work support benefits for which they are eligible. The information can help leaders and advocates in other states review programs and streamline processes to ensure that low-income working families can access and keep benefits for as long as they are eligible.

On Tuesday, March 15, 2016 the Office of Family Assistance hosted an Affinity Call Webinar for the Systems to Family Stability National Policy Academy sites. The webinar highlighted the recently launched OFA PeerTA Systems to Family Stability National Policy Academy Resource Hub, which serves as a repository for research, resources, and tools related to the focus areas of the eight site teams. Each team also provided an update on the accomplishments they had made to date through their Policy Academy efforts, and their plans moving forward.