The National Indian Child Welfare Association will be hosting a new virtual training on September 24, 2024 to prepare tribal child welfare workers who want to gain insight and increase their skills on the basics. This training will consist of three 90-minute sessions.

There is a registration fee to attend this training.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) case managers monitor compliance with program rules and can offer participants job search assistance and link them to other services to support employment. Recently, interest has grown among policymakers, practitioners, and researchers in offering employment coaching to TANF participants rather than traditional case management. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief focuses on lessons learned from an evaluation of the implementation of two employment coaching programs that served only families receiving TANF benefits: Family Development and Self-Sufficiency in Iowa and Goal4 It!TM in Colorado.

Interest in artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing, and resources highlighting use cases for generative AI tools appear to abound for learners, educators, and employers. However, new research found a lack of similar resources for workforce development. Training providers, public workforce boards, and organizations that provide career navigation services to jobseekers are searching for ideas on how to use generative AI to support people in their searches for quality jobs. This Jobs for the Future resource highlights current and potential uses for generative AI in workforce development and identifies existing tools and market opportunities.

The National Association for Welfare Research and Statistics is hosting a webinar on July 24, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. ET to discuss the importance of and strategies for supporting families during pregnancy and the first year of life. Presenters will share how TANF funds are being used to provide cash to families and talk about RxTalks, a no-strings-attached program in Flint, Michigan that is currently providing cash to 700 families.

This Chapin Hall brief describes results from a series of longitudinal analyses using federal TANF administrative data from 28 states. The brief examines patterns and trends in TANF participation, focusing on caseload dynamics, household characteristics, and state-level differences. These analyses are preliminary and were conducted to demonstrate how federal TANF data can be used for longitudinal research that offers important insights into TANF participation over time. This study sheds light on important trends in TANF participation, emphasizing the importance of longitudinal data and the need for ongoing research to better support families in need.

As part of the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies project, researchers conducted virtual interviews from November 2021 to April 2022 with staff members at ten workforce programs to learn how they were using technology to adapt their services during the pandemic. Most of the organizations used a hybrid model to blend in-person and virtual service delivery. This MDRC publication examines five key adaptations of the programs made to accommodate the new hiring context.

Individuals can better meet economic challenges with higher wages, expanded employment opportunities, knowledge of financial concepts, and access to affordable and safe financial products and services. To help support the financial well-being of people with low incomes, government agencies fund both employment and training (E&T) programs and financial capability interventions. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation research brief describes the experiences of individuals with low incomes who participated in programs that integrate E&T and financial capability services. The brief is intended for E&T program administrators, client-facing staff, and financial capability service providers seeking to learn more about the successes and challenges of delivering integrated services from the perspective of participants. By incorporating these insights into service delivery, practitioners can improve program structures, strengthen engagement, and enhance supports to foster financial well-being for individuals with low incomes.

This Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration guide focuses on the process of adapting evidence-based practices (EBPs) for under-resourced populations who experience obstacles in obtaining healthcare services because of their socio-demographic characteristics, and the research supporting such adaptations. The guide provides examples of research on adapted EBPs for mental health and substance use disorders for clients with a wide range of demographic characteristics.

The Tennessee Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Opportunity Act funds seven grantees to provide services to families with low income, each aimed at improving education, health, and economic outcomes for adults and children. This Urban Institute resource is a baseline scan which describes the demographic and economic context within which the seven pilot programs are operating as of the start of the programs’ implementation. The context described includes demographic information, income measures and poverty rates, employment and education data, safety net program caseloads, and health information. This baseline scan provides information on the circumstances of Tennessee families to support the evaluation of the TANF Opportunity Act pilot programs. The data presented in this baseline report will also serve as a starting point for a data dashboard tracking changes during the pilots.