The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a spotlight web feature that provides statistics about wages and jobs in the United States. The feature pulls data from the Occupational Employment Statistics program and emphasizes STEM jobs. Users are able to view spotlight occupational data by required educational level.

February is National Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month and unfortunately, 1 in 10 American teenagers suffers physical violence at the hands of a boyfriend or girlfriend; many others are sexually or emotionally abused. The Family Violence Prevention and Services Program (FVPSA) has provided a 2015 Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month events calendar. In addition to attending events this month, please take an opportunity to share and explore the following online resources, starting with the FVPSA website and LoveisRespect.org. Additionally, the National Criminal Justice Reference Service has posted a "Special Feature: Teen Dating Violence", a compilation of publications and resources to support teen dating violence prevention.

The Family Engagement Inventory (FEI) is an interactive web-based tool aimed at familiarizing professionals in child welfare, juvenile justice, behavioral health, and other professions with the competencies for family engagement as it relates across the different fields of practice. The primary purpose of the FEI is to combine knowledge in a way that supports professionals in engaging with families.

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (CTSI) requested TA from the PeerTA Network to assist in training their TANF and child welfare staff on the wraparound case management process – an intensive, individualized care management process for individuals with complex behavioral needs and/or significant work barriers. CTSI requested a site visit in which an outside trainer visited the Tribal agency to provide wraparound training. OFA PeerTA supported a facilitated site visit for the Center for Improvement of Child and Family Services, School of Social Work, Portland State University to provide CTSI with a 3-4 day onsite training focusing on wraparound case management.

This report discusses a study conducted by The Children’s Defense Fund and the Urban Institute. The purpose of the study was to estimate the rate at which child poverty could be reduced by using various comprehensive policies. Some of the policies included increasing the minimum wage, expanding subsidized housing and child care, and more.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) has posted Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseload and application data for the first, second, third, and fourth quarters of Fiscal Year (FY) 2014. In the fourth quarter of FY 2014, there was a monthly average of 1.60 million families receiving TANF and Separate State Program (SSP) assistance, representing approximately 3.8 million recipients. The monthly average number of TANF applications received in the fourth quarter of FY 2014 was 286,916.

On Tuesday, January 13, 2015 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. EST, the Administration for Children and Families' Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted a webinar demonstrating West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources' Reporting and Formatting Tool (RAFT) and Data Dashboard. The RAFT system is an integrated eligibility data warehouse and analytic platform that extracts, transforms, and loads case demographic, eligibility, and benefit information from a variety of public assistance programs (including SNAP, WV Works, Medicaid, School Clothing Allowance, CHIP, Emergency Assistance, and LIEAP) to support worker and management level reporting. This webinar showcased the RAFT and how it was designed and specifically highlighted the user-friendly dashboard system through a live demonstration.

What Works/Lifecourse Interventions to Nurture Kids Successfully (LINKS) is a database featuring over 600 programs with at least one randomized, intent-to-treat evaluation for assessing child or youth outcomes related to education, life skills, and much more. Users can search the database by entering keywords into the system or by clicking on specific options related to program population, outcomes, and vision/mission.

The Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program had a successful annual grantee meeting, “Building Pathways to a Brighter Future,” which included a success story shared by an HPOG student.

The ACF blog - The Family Room - talks about new initiatives at the agency, success stories and policy announcements. The blog also provides links that help direct viewers to other parts of ACF's website.