For Black learners and workers, who too often grapple with discriminatory systems and practices in education and the workplace, professional social capital can unlock opportunities for greater economic advancement and mobility, ultimately reducing racial income, employment, advancement, and wealth gaps. This brief identifies five elements designed to help Black learners and workers build professional social capital: elevating current assets, building relationships, making connections and introductions, career onboarding, and a continuous learning journey. The brief’s authors based their conclusions on in-depth research that included a dive into the history and context of professional social capital, a comprehensive look at the programs that are doing this work and the strategies they employ, and assessments of emerging trends and areas of opportunity.

Based on the rapid size and growth of the Hispanic population, this blogpost points out how vital investment in Latino youth is to the U.S. economy. This includes early investment in degree completion to improve Latino labor market prospects and social integration, as well as family, social, and economic investment to enhance an already strong foundation of earnings, health, and parenting among Latino families with children.

Youth apprenticeship is a strategy for building a more inclusive economy by creating affordable, reliable, and equitable pathways from high school to good careers and college degrees. It is a structured work-based learning program that connects the educational needs of students with the talent needs of industry. This state policy playbook lays out several actions that can foster high-quality youth apprenticeships. Some actions include establishing new mechanisms to engage employers; reducing logistical, regulatory, and financial barriers to employer participation; and leveraging existing resources while identifying new ones.

The Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program provided education and occupational training to TANF recipients and other adults with low incomes. HPOG training is for healthcare occupations that pay well and may experience labor shortages or be in high demand. This report details common themes from interviews with working students of 14 HPOG 2.0 programs. It highlights common experiences and challenges they faced pursuing and completing their training, which include the competing demands of working to pay for household expenses and caring for family members. The report is part of a series of briefs describing lessons from HPOG 2.0 participants. The series aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of motivations for enrolling in a career pathways program; managing work, training, and life balance; and services that facilitate their success.

This brief looks at ways to assist young parenting students (ages 18–25) that are highly motivated to pursue a college education to improve their own well-being as well as their children’s. It focuses on the challenges they face in seeking higher education and services to support themselves and their families, and presents navigation services as a promising strategy that communities are using to support them in their journeys through higher education.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Workforce Investment will host a webinar on July 26, 2022 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET as part of a series on the role of the workforce system in serving individuals with Substance Use Disorder (SUD). Guest speakers from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will present a brief overview of the prevalence of addiction and the impact of stigma on employment for persons in recovery. There will also be discussion on the value of hiring persons in recovery in general across all employment sectors as well as the value of SUD peer workers for use across the SUD care system and in other human service sectors and healthcare systems. Speakers include an employer in a recovery community center who can attest to the value of hiring SUD peer workers and their role and function in engaging people with substance use disorders and strengthening recovery capital at the individual, family, and community levels.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) PeerTA connects TANF practitioners from across the U.S. to one another with relevant training and technical assistance. To that end, OFA extended an opportunity to State, Local, and Tribal TANF programs to participate in a virtual 3-part roundtable series titled: Work Opportunity Wednesdays (WOW) – Equipping TANF Recipients for Employment in a Post-COVID World.

This highly interactive series brought together TANF practitioners and subject matter experts to discuss current challenges and potential strategies for improving TANF recipient employment outcomes. This series included virtual sessions on Understanding Post-COVID Workforce Challenges, Future of Work Strategies to Improve Outcomes, and Action Planning: Oh…The Places They Can Go!.

Registration for this event is closed.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration hosted a webinar on July 21, 2022, which was a primer on the apprenticeship system and feature examples from the field in offering apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship experiences to youth and young adults. The webinar discussed the apprenticeship system, components of high-quality pre-apprenticeship programs, and how apprenticeships compare to other models of work-based learning. Presentations were made from groups on the ground who have implemented apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs for youth and young adults.

Research shows that young people with histories of child welfare involvement work less often and earn lower wages during the transition to adulthood than their peers without this experience. However, little is known about whether programs that aim to improve employment outcomes for youth with prior child welfare system involvement are actually improving employment outcomes. This brief reviews findings of formative evaluations for two employment programs—MY TIME in Chicago, Illinois, and iFoster Jobs in Los Angeles, California. These evaluations highlight the importance of building a better understanding of the variations in programs serving young people with histories of child welfare system involvement and how they bolster different developmental assets for young people.

This article outlines lessons learned from a study that looked at workforce development programs serving 16 to 24-year-olds that were convicted, adjudicated of, or charged with serious crimes in the juvenile or criminal justice system. Insights include the importance of strategic job placement to help youth explore their career interests while working toward stable and lasting employment, building partnerships with employers who are willing to hire young people with system involvement and subsidizing employment for employers who are hesitant to do so, and recognizing that young people are entrepreneurial and want to explore opportunities in fields like information technology and business.