The need for a tech-savvy, well-prepared workforce continues to rise. This MDRC resource discusses the development of the partnership between NPower and Urban Alliance, which are two national nonprofits working to deliver digital literacy and IT training to high school students. This resource offers lessons for improving cross-organizational partnerships that support youth career pathways. It also describes the two programs developed during the partnership, discusses some of the challenges that the two organizations encountered during the development and implementation of the programs and how they addressed those challenges, and provides additional considerations for future partnerships.

Although a variety of employment programs offer adults with justice involvement support after their release, several challenges can limit participants’ ability to fully engage in services. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief provides strategies that human services programs can use to recruit adults with justice involvement and engage them in project activities. The strategies include understanding and addressing participants’ needs, communicating with participants, and building relationships with local justice agencies.

Jobs for the Future will host a free webinar on January 14, 2026 from 12:30 p.m. ET to 1:30 p.m. ET, to review the Trump-Vance administration’s workforce development priorities, including their strategic roadmap for workforce development. This event will feature senior leaders in federal agencies unpacking President Trump’s vision for the education and workforce systems and the steps that the administration is undertaking.

Across the country, more adults are turning to short-term skills training as a relatively fast and affordable path to better jobs. As Workforce Pell expands access to these kinds of programs, it is more important than ever to understand how short-term skills training programs are and are not working for the people they are meant to serve. This National Skills Coalition (NSC) brief highlights findings from conversations with 34 people across sixteen states who were enrolled in or had recently graduated from short-term skills training programs.

This Jobs for the Future report explains how and why education and workforce leaders should link public and private education and workforce data to promote economic mobility for all. It also offers guidance on how to forge partnerships that will facilitate that process. The report highlights the various types of data available and what might be accomplished by linking them. The report also provides examples of how public and private data could be combined to develop a deeper understanding of employer demand and the learn-to-earn pipeline.

This Annie E. Casey Foundation resource highlights the work of the Del Norte Work-Based Learning Ecosystem, which works to trans­form edu­ca­tion to bet­ter respond to stu­dents and help schools and dis­tricts in strength­en­ing or imple­ment­ing work-based learn­ing programs. Indi­vid­u­al­ized youth intern­ships are keep­ing stu­dents at Del Norte High School in Albu­querque, New Mex­i­co, on track to achieve aca­d­e­m­ic and career goals. By intern­ing at orga­ni­za­tions that address homelessness, these stu­dents are build­ing aca­d­e­m­ic and occu­pa­tion­al skills as they con­tribute to their communities.

Jobs for the Future will host a webinar on December 2, 2025 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET to show how to thoughtfully integrate artificial intelligence (AI) as a powerful partner in practice. Through real-world examples, guided exercises, and peer-to-peer practice, participants will learn practical strategies to boost their efficiency, tailor support to unique jobseeker needs, and free up more time for human-centric coaching. Whether new to AI or ready to deepen their skills, this session will equip participants with tools to create better outcomes for the people they serve.

Research indicates that mentoring increases employee job satisfaction and strengthens community engagement. As workplaces continue to shift, accessible and replicable strategies are essential.

The National Youth Employment Coalition will host a webinar on December 11, 2025 at 3:30 p.m. ET, where MENTOR National will present best practices for implementing relationship-centered approaches in the workplace and share the labor market insights that guided the creation of their free mentoring toolkits for career readiness, hospitality, and e-commerce. Participants will engage in a practical activity they can apply in their own programs and communities.

The Economic Mobility Lab at MDRC provides workforce training providers with a collaborative and supportive environment to examine their training services, make improvements, test new approaches, and scale operations to serve more individuals. In this video, participating program providers share their experiences and how they have applied what they learned to improve their services.

The next quarterly Work Outcomes Report is due on November 15, 2025. The following links may be helpful as you complete your report. 

• TANF Work Outcomes Reporting Requirement – What You Need to Know
• TANF Work Outcomes Measures Technical Resource
• TOTAL Office Hours: April 2025
• TOTAL Office Hours: May 2025
• TOTAL Office Hours: May 2025 (Post-Submission for Work Outcomes of TANF Exiters Report)