In this February 6, 2019 webinar from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET, the WIOA performance accountability team from the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education will discuss recent federal guidance on data validation for state reporting. The webinar will not only answer questions on developing data validation systems that comply with new reliability metrics for data reporting, but will also facilitate interagency and interstate communication on challenges, solutions, and best practices for data validation.

The Ticket to Work program provides individuals with disabilities receiving disability benefits opportunities to return to work, stay employed, and increase earnings. As a result, beneficiaries with disabilities may reduce their dependency on public benefits and become more economically self-sufficient. This webinar (on September 12) focuses on how Ticket to Work operates and the different partnership models now available consistent with the goals of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

This policy brief describes the opportunities for collaboration between SNAP Employment & Training programs and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Because both serve overlapping populations, such as able-bodied adults without dependents, states can implement SNAP E&T through existing workforce training programs to overcome participants’ barriers to employment. The report details the benefits and challenges of cooperation, provides examples of states that are currently uniting the two initiatives, and suggests lessons for integration.

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) encourages local workforce development boards to create and utilize Youth Committees to provide youth services effectively. New provisions in the requirements allow boards greater flexibility in naming Youth Committees from previous existing youth councils. This posting compiles webinars and a success guide from the DOL’s Division of Youth Services to help stakeholders learn more about and implement their own Youth Committees to bring experts together, generate ideas and discussions, foster partnerships, and ultimately meet the needs of local youth.

This report from Brandeis University’s Institute on Assets and Social Policy uses data on Secure Jobs participants who entered skills training to explain how Secure Jobs sites use short-term skills training programs for their participants. Key findings include: Secure Jobs participants who enroll in skills training programs are comparable to those who do not, and they show moderate employment gains, most notably in job retention. Secure Jobs participants choose training programs in subjects ranging from health care to manufacturing. About half have chosen training in health care-related fields. Participants who enter training in traditionally female-dominated fields, including health care, sales, and service, are more likely to find employment than those in traditionally male-dominated fields such as construction and manufacturing.

In accordance with federal interests, the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation funded a report on the challenges of and potential solutions for measuring TANF employment outcomes. Creating national standards would be a significant challenge due to the flexible nature of TANF funding; states have implemented many different programs within diverse local contexts and with unique eligibility criteria. Instead, federal agencies could help individual states design metrics to assess their employment outcomes, connect program leaders across states, and allow states to demonstrate their own processes as a learning tool for others. Understanding the breadth of programmatic diversity and range of potential state-specific solutions may allow for the most effective evaluation of TANF employment outcomes.

This detailed report by the American Enterprise Institute reviews the skills gap in the labor market today and underlines the inefficiencies in coordination between the U.S. Department of Labor and programs seeking to train workers. Because there are more jobs for middle-skill workers than there are people to fill them, the Federal Government created programs like the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to upskill workers into these positions for the benefit of the workers and the economy. The report explains ways to improve workforce development initiatives by clarifying the program to grantees, improving coordination between college financial aid officers and American Job Center caseworkers, making requirements for data collection and reporting more flexible and easier to track, finding other sources of state and federal funding for WIOA beneficiaries, partnering with private businesses to offer training, and allowing training providers to transfer their credentials between states. These initiatives will streamline the workforce development process and allow for fewer inefficiencies and higher quality training.

This brief comes from an event hosted by the Center for Law and Social Policy on the importance of career pathways and evidence-informed practices that can bolster career pathway interventions. The research shows positive earnings and educational results from career pathway programs, although some study results have provided mixed reviews of their effectiveness. To better evaluate career pathway outcomes, the report emphasizes the need to collect better data and more indicators of performance, build more awareness between workforce development and child and adult education systems, and eliminate TANF work requirements that constrain funding on a narrow scope of work activities. The report ends with components of effective career pathway interventions and includes tangible guiding and research questions for practitioners and program designers.

The Office of Family Assistance held a webinar on “Creating Tribal TANF and WIOA Partnerships to Connect Tribal Families to Employment” on July 20, 2016, from 2:00-3:15 p.m. ET. This webinar provided an opportunity to hear about partnerships between Tribal TANF agencies and local Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) providers. Tribal employment and training agencies often face job placement challenges common to many remote and rural areas – namely, a small pool of employers, few job openings, and limited education and training opportunities in high demand labor areas. For these reasons, it is critical that Tribal TANF participants have the skills necessary to compete for jobs that already exist or are growing within the region. Local WIOA providers can help build the skills of Tribal TANF participants by providing job training and adult education services targeted to in-demand jobs in the region. Speakers from four organizations—Department of Labor, California Indian Manpower Consortium, Southern California Tribal Chairman’s Association, and Cankdeska Cikana Community College—discussed the innovative partnerships they have formed between Tribal TANF and WIOA to help move families toward self-sufficiency.

Speakers included:

• Athena Brown, Division Chief, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Division of Indian and Native American Programs
• Yvette Yazzie, Pala Site Manager, Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association
• Christina Arzate, CIMC Workforce Development Coordinator III, California Indian Manpower Consortium
• Larry D. Anderson, Job Development Specialist, Cankdeska Cikana Community College

This report from the Department of Labor provides an overview of the state of the field related to career pathways programs. The report provides a synthesis of the existing research in the field on this type of program, offers various research design options for evaluating career pathway programs, and offers suggestions for future directions for the field.