In 2022, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) and Project SPARC (Student-Parents Are Reimagining CalWORKs) conducted research to better understand the barriers experienced by parenting students in CalWORKs, California’s cash assistance program for families with children. Parenting students work hard every day to pursue their goals, often juggling work, classes, and caregiving responsibilities. Public systems and programs can provide critical support, but frequently create additional hurdles for parenting students and their families, especially those with low incomes. This CSSP brief highlights findings from the research on parenting students’ experiences transferring to four-year institutions. Inadequate support for families’ basic needs combined with limited support at four-year institutions for parenting students who participate in CalWORKs are significant barriers for parenting students as they further their education.

This U.S. Department of Labor brief explores how states use financial incentives to expand Registered Apprenticeship (RA) Programs and achieve targeted goals. Incentives are additional financial supports used to increase the number of RA programs and offset the cost for employers in the form of state tax credits or subsidies to apprenticeship sponsors, related technical instruction providers, and other entities responsible for developing RA programs. The brief highlights findings from focus groups conducted with the following eight states: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, and Mississippi.

Economic stability and employment during young adulthood are critical to long-term economic security, and today, many young adults face longer periods of financial insecurity than in the past. Young people affected by the justice system face additional barriers to achieving economic stability and employment with research showing that formerly incarcerated people are almost five times more likely than the public to be unemployed. This report details the findings of a joint project between The National Youth Employment Coalition and Urban Institute to conduct case studies of five sites that launched or implemented a broad-based, cross-system collaborative to promote workforce development and better provide labor market opportunities for justice-involved youth. The case studies include a detailed analysis of each site’s collaborative efforts, key stakeholders, best practices for systems collaboration, an exploration of funding sources, and sustainability efforts.

The Office of Family Assistance and Children’s Bureau have announced the 10 sites selected to participate in the FAST-LC. The FAST-LC is a 12-month initiative operating from September 2023 through September 2024. The Learning Community will focus on promoting innovative prevention strategies to mitigate and reduce families’ involvement with the child welfare system through partnerships between TANF and Child Welfare programs. Site teams will benefit from a robust suite of individualized training, technical assistance, and coaching support, as well as regular opportunities for collaborative learning and sharing across site teams.

The states and tribes participating in the FAST-LC are:
• Arizona Department of Child Safety and Department of Economic Security;
• Arkansas Department of Human Services;
• California Department of Social Services;
• Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boys Reservation (Montana),
• Iowa Department of Health and Human Services;
• Kentucky Department for Community Based Services;
• Michigan Department of Health and Human Services;
• Oregon Department of Human Services;
• Pascua Yaqui Tribe (Arizona); and
• West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

The federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), administered through individual states, subsidizes access to affordable early care and education for families with low incomes. CCDF subsidies can support parents’ ability to work and positively impact their children’s early development. Many Latino families tend to have high rates of parental employment but low levels of income. Latino families are underserved by the CCDF program in most states and could stand to benefit from these subsidies. This National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families brief is a part of a series focused on Latino families’ access to social assistance. This resource aims to improve understanding on families’ access to subsidies in California, including barriers and facilitators.

For individuals on probation and those reentering their communities after incarceration, finding employment is often one of multiple challenges. Employment is an important factor in reentry, but getting to a place where the focus can be on a job, education, or a career requires support in other parts of life as well. The Los Angeles County Innovative Employment Solutions Program (INVEST) is designed to address the complex range of employment and supportive service needs and support individuals in pursuing their employment and career goals. This MDRC brief focuses on one of the unique features of the program: the array of supportive services that staff members can provide and tailor to individual client needs under a flexible spending model, which is enabled by the significant program funds reserved for supportive services and financial incentives and stipends in ways not often seen in traditional workforce programs.

The Skills and Experience for the Careers of Tomorrow (SECTOR) program provides employment and training services, cognitive behavioral interventions, and connections to mental health and substance use disorder services for people with previous legal system involvement. It uses a sector-based approach, which connects individuals to training opportunities that offer a livable wage, career advancement opportunities, and benefits for job seekers. The model anticipates that behavioral health, well-being, employment, and earnings improvements will reduce future interactions with the criminal legal system. This MDRC report presents the findings of the SECTOR program evaluation as part of the Los Angeles County Reentry Integrated Services Project. The evaluation focuses mainly on employment and criminal legal system contact and whether SECTOR successfully connects individuals to mental health and substance use disorder services.

Given the potential to build a more equitable economy and provide opportunities for upward mobility, apprenticeships have become a key tool in California’s workforce development toolbox. In July 2022, California’s Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) and the Labor & Workforce Development Agency released a five-point plan of action to aid the expansion of the number of apprentices. One point called for expanding youth apprenticeship opportunities and recommended the state convene stakeholders to develop definitions and quality standards to support apprenticeship pilots, provide technical assistance, and take steps to support better alignment of funding. This New America blogpost highlights the creation of the California Youth Apprenticeship Committee and the California Youth Apprenticeship Grant Program.

The federal government currently has five primary programs designed to feed school-age children: the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the School Breakfast Program (SBP), the Child and Adult Care Food Program, the Seamless Summer Option, and the Summer Food Service Program. Each program has distinct meal costs, eligibility requirements, and reimbursement processes for the meals served. While all public schools have the option to participate in each of these federal meal programs, they may choose to opt out of any of them. Recognizing the multitude of benefits for students, families, and schools, this report illustrates how five states—California, Maine, Colorado, Minnesota, and New Mexico—have acted to independently serve free school meals for all students. In the absence of continued federal investment, this strategy is essential for ensuring that students are well fed and ready to learn during the school day.

CalFresh, federally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program (SNAP), is one of California’s largest safety net programs. The program provides food assistance to 4.8 million Californians, and according to the most recent estimates, lifts about half a million Californians out of poverty. During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal and state policies have increased benefit levels and expanded eligibility for CalFresh. This report goes beyond annual poverty snapshots to investigate the double jeopardy of low and unstable income and addresses two key questions: To what extent do safety net resources stabilize incomes of CalFresh participants? and How did CalFresh and other safety net resources affect family budgets at the start of the pandemic?