The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) offers a variety of programs to help support low-income youth and their families to foster positive youth development and self-sufficiency in adulthood. These programs are designed to prepare at-risk youth for the labor market by promoting job skills. This report, from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, provides a synthesis of the research on at-risk youth and how they are being served by ACF and non-ACF programs to promote future self-sufficiency. Authors review the research and offer future issues to consider for serving this population.

This report from the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation summarizes findings from a process and impact study of a Multi-Site Evaluation of Foster Youth Programs. Specifically focused on the Kern County site, impact findings are based on a two-year follow-up of youth who participated in a random assignment evaluation of the Independent Living—Employment Services Program (IL-ES). Results show few statistically significant findings between the control and the treatment group, suggesting that youth should be actively engaged in employment-based activities beyond the IL-ES program.

From the National Center for Children in Poverty, this report highlights information on disconnected young adults and offers pathways to help disconnected youth re-connect and gain economic independence. Disconnected youth are more likely to experience underemployment and lower earnings over their lifetimes. Specifically, young adults who are disconnected for three or more years are around 14 times more likely to be poor, and are around two to three times less likely to be employed full-time than youth who have not been disconnected. Data show that these youth also experience detrimental health consequences and are more likely to be on public assistance.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Commonwealth of Virginia collaborated to reduce the number of children in foster care and reduce the use of congregate care. This report provides an overview of their efforts by building a family-centered child welfare practice model. Through this model, the Commonwealth increased permanency rates and access to community-based care, and reduced overall spending.

From Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, this report describes the results of a study using data to better understand the need for employment-related services and supports among youth in foster care and how a community-based employment training and job placement program in Chicago is serving this population. Authors describe the characteristics and placement of the foster youth in the program, and their participation in employment training activities as well as subsidized jobs.

From Public/Private Ventures, this report includes information on serving youth across six cities. Researchers studied 200 programs to better understand how they promote sustained participation among older youth. The resulting data indicated that two of the most important practices distinguishing high-retention programs were: ample leadership opportunities for youth and high levels of staff efforts to keep informed about participants' lives outside the programs.

Researchers from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago authored this report on the employment needs of foster youth. There is currently limited research on youth aging out of foster care, but studies that have been done point to poor labor market outcomes. From the Midwest Study, the data show that foster youth in Illinois had difficulty staying employed.

Community college and vocational training programs provided education to more than 6.2 million students in 2006, which represents about 35 percent of all postsecondary education students. These programs are often important in reaching low-income youth and adults to increase their educational attainment and skills. This paper, from the Center for American Progress, offers information on how community college programs can better engage and reach low-income students and improve their skill development for improved job attainment.

Within low-income families, around 60 percent have an adult working fulltime. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this Urban Institute fact sheet describes adolescent risk behaviors and the transition to adulthood for low-income youth from high-work families to low-income youth from moderate-work and nonworking (low-work) families. Among the findings, youth from high-work families are more likely to be connected to school or work than youth from nonworking or low-work families.

From the Assistant Secretary for Planning, Research and Evaluation, this research brief provides information on the transition to adulthood for vulnerable youth. Specifically, youth from families below 200 percent of the Federal poverty level often lack the resources and opportunities found to lead to better outcomes. Researchers compare significant differences in outcomes of low-income youth to middle-income youth to high-income youth.