This report presents data on persistently poor children, the patterns for work and school attendance and poverty among persistently poor children as they advance to early adulthood, and what characteristics can differentiate between people who were poor as children and who are more and less economically successful in adulthood. The characteristics examined include race, gender, parents’ education, mother’s age at child’s birth, and broader family circumstances such as employment and disability status, family structure, residential stability, and income volatility. The report relies on longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics for children born from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.

This report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation emphasizes benefits and challenges of building an integrated data system to support two-generation programming and also highlights strategies adopted by several agencies to efficiently track and share information on families they serve. The report highlights field-tested lessons from different organizations in Maryland, New York, Texas, Atlanta, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Massachusetts; these sites develop, adopt, and refine integrated data systems to enhance their two-generation work. Despite the implementation barriers, their goal is to improve programs and program outcomes for parents and their children.

This toolkit by National Conference of State Legislatures focuses on new approaches and strategies to help families disrupt the cycle of poverty. The toolkit outlines and describes the fundamentals of two-generation approaches to address poverty, with focus on state legislators’ critical role in legislating, convening, partnering, championing, and coordinating funding for two-generation initiatives. It highlights the vital role legislators play in bringing stakeholders together and increasing collaboration and data sharing among agencies to address the needs of similar populations. It also illustrates initiatives taken by legislators in several states such as Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Washington, and others to create and sustain those efforts.

This fact sheet defines two-generation and whole-family approaches that simultaneously provide services and opportunities to both children and the adults in their lives. The fact sheet also includes summaries and links to resources on 5 key components of the two-generation approach: Postsecondary Education and Employment Pathways; Early Childhood Education and Development; Economic Assets; Health and Well-Being; and Social Capital.

This webinar launched by Ascend at the Aspen Institute, in collaboration with the FrameWorks Institute, provided guidance on how to talk about two-generation approaches to non-specialists to build understanding and support around the approaches, policies, and funding. The presenter, FrameWorks Institute’s Julie Sweetland, provided recommendations for making a major frame shift–moving from a narrow focus on service delivery to a broader narrative about human development, and suggested specific ways to execute that shift.

This Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) webpage provides information on CDHS two-generation efforts to serve children and their caregivers together, focusing on providing assistance and opportunities to all family members to create permanent economic security and educational success. The page also contains materials on several areas where two-gen is having an impact, such as the Colorado Guide to 2Gen, the 2Generation Opportunities pilot program, and the Working Together Project.

This webpage from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is comprised of webinars, interagency initiatives, and resources from the two-generation field. These approaches are supported and advanced by ACF through its technical assistance and public-private partnerships. The resources contain examples from state, tribal, and local levels and their efforts in implementing programs with the two-generation approach.

The two-generation (2Gen) approach to building stronger families is gaining momentum in several states, including Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Washington. In these states, a 2Gen coordinator has been identified to work with frontline staff, families, community partners, and across statewide departments to advance 2Gen strategies. On July 28, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. ET, Ascend, an Aspen Institute initiative, will host a webinar which will cover how these states are working toward systems change to help families experience more equitable and positive outcomes.

The Aspen Institute’s Ascend initiative has launched a webinar series to cover 2Gen approaches that support the health, economic opportunity, and education of low-income families as they recover and move forward from the COVID-19 pandemic. Upcoming webinar topics are Child Support: Implications and Useful Lessons around Child Support, Parent Voice During COVID-19: Maintaining Feedback Loops, Stopping Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorders Where They Start: Prevention and Treatment in Adolescence, and State Leadership During COVID-19 and Beyond. Recordings of previously held webinars on Telehealth and 2Gen, State Opportunities and Challenges in Advancing Child Care Innovation, and New Frames for a New Time are available.

This National Governors Association policy brief examines the lessons learned from the Parents and Children Thriving Together: Two-Generation State Policy Network (PACTT Network). Initially convened in 2016, the PACTT Network is a policy academy that created and implemented two-generation strategies to address intergenerational poverty. The policy academy included state representatives from Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Oregon.