This report from Generations United identifies key state laws and policies specifically designed to address barriers and better support grandparents and other relatives raising children. According to the report, almost 65 percent of children living in grandfamilies, or kinship care, are in states that have half or fewer of these key laws and policies. The report provides recommendations to aid the development of supportive federal and State policies and services for grandfamilies.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) has posted Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseload and application data for fiscal year (FY) 2015. The data includes families receiving assistance through state TANF and Separate State Program Maintenance-of-Effort (SSP-MOE). In FY 2015, there was a monthly average of 1.6 million families receiving TANF & SSP-MOE assistance, representing approximately 4.1 million recipients. This was a slight decline of 1.1 percent compared to the prior fiscal year. The monthly average number of TANF applications received in FY 2015 was 267,650.

This framework outlines how various types of research and evaluation generate information and answer empirical questions related to the human services provided by the Administration for Children and Families. The framework is designed to 1) organize and guide ACF’s decisions about investments in research and evaluation, and 2) provide clarification for potential grantees and contractors about the justifications for, and evidence expected from, each type of study, as well as relevant aspects of research design that contribute to high-quality evidence.

This guidance, developed jointly by the U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL), Education (ED), Health and Human Services (HHS), Agriculture (USDA), and Housing and Urban Development (HUD), provides an overview of the Administration's priorities in relation to the WIOA planning requirements, explains the planning requirements where necessary, and instructs States regarding submission procedures.

This kit, developed by IDEO, provides tools to help programs engage in human-centered design. Human-centered design is a creative approach to problem solving that starts by learning directly from the people you’re designing for in order to build empathy for them and a deep understanding of their needs to ensure that your solutions suit their needs. The kit includes a field guide, facilitators guide, and case studies. IDEO also offers courses in human-centered design.

This resource from the Duke Initiative on Survey Methodology at the Social Science Research Institute deals with two issues that come up for researchers when asking people sensitive questions: 1) social desirability bias (where respondents answer in the way they know to be socially favorable) and 2) privacy (where respondents don't want to answer a question because they think it's too personal). The tipsheet describes techniques that researchers can use to combat sensitivity to these issues and increase the reliability of surveys.

This report from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) presents analyses of the impact of the safety net on poverty rates and a close look at populations experiencing high risks of poverty during the 50 years since the War on Poverty began. The report highlights the increasing role of safety net programs in lifting families and children out of poverty between 1967 and 2012 by providing estimates of what poverty rates would have looked like had resources from government policies and programs not been available.

This February 2015 publication from The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) explains key provisions and implementation dates for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). It provides stakeholders with different opportunities to implement the provisions and programs enumerated in the Act.

This report from the National Skills Coaliation provides recommendations on how states can use their WIOA state plan to establish strategies that close the skill gap and help workers and businesses succeed.

This video from the Innovation and Opportunity Network (ION) shares information on how local area workforce practitioners from around the country are creating, building, and maintaining strong One-Stop partnerships.