This newly released report from the Community Action Partnership, representing over 1,000 Community Action Agencies (CAA) nationwide, presents a broad landscape of the activities and impact of CAAs. It identifies several “spotlight stories” to reflect on initiatives undertaken relative to job creation and job training, asset building, supports for health and well-being, community development, and services to strengthen children and families. The emphasis is on community-wide solutions that are designed and implemented to address challenges that low-income families face.

This National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC) webinar on February 6, 2019 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET will discuss fatherhood programs that support returning fathers and their families with the multiple challenges they face following incarceration. Presenters include a researcher, practitioners, and two program participants.

This Community Action Partnership workbook contains a checklist of 12 components for community action agencies to use; this checklist encompasses the design and implementation of whole family approaches that result in improved integration of services tailored to the unique needs of families requesting services. The workbook’s goal is to help organizations consider the crucial elements of their approach and create an image of present and future work by reviewing the strength and extent of their services.

This blog post from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is part of the "Self-Sufficiency Series: Solutions from the Field" and highlights the Jeremiah Program, a nonprofit organization that strives to put families on the path toward self-sufficiency by using a family-centered approach with both parents and their children. Primarily funded by private donations, Jeremiah helps low-income single mothers complete their education and at the same time provides access to high-quality early childhood education for their children. Participants may be eligible for federal and local child care and housing subsidies. This two-generation approach reports that 81 percent of children who attended a Jeremiah child development center are performing at or above grade level in elementary or middle school.

This upcoming webinar from the National Family Support Network will be held on Wednesday, August 8 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. EDT. The webinar’s goal is to inform stakeholders about using nationally-recognized Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening and Support. These standards not only provide a common vocabulary for family resource providers, but also help policymakers and providers create and evaluate quality family programs.

This report describes how a new smartphone-based application, DadTime, was developed jointly by fathers and the nonprofit MDRC to encourage attendance and participation in the Just Beginning parenting program. The app both provides reminders to attend Just Beginning sessions and reiterates techniques learned in the sessions through interactive tools. The study asked for feedback and used concrete suggestions, like allowing fathers to set the time of day of notifications, using more icons and emojis, and asking parents how they felt when they opened the app, to tailor the application. Overall, the new version of DadTime will hopefully increase user engagement and participation in the Just Beginning intervention.

This blog post from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is part of the "Self-Sufficiency Series: Solutions from the Field" and highlights the $150 million initiative by the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Family Assistance to conduct Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) promotion activities; of this $150 million, $75 million each year is designated for healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE). OFA funds 46 HMRE programs in 27 states and the territory of Guam. One of these programs is University Behavioral Associates/Montefiore’s Supporting Healthy Relationships program, which delivers services on building healthy relationships and marriages to 300 married and unmarried couples each year. This blog post describes the services that two UBA/Montefiore program participants received and their appreciation for the services.

This testimony from an Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute was presented to the Subcommittee on Human Resources within the Committee on Ways and Means in the U.S. House of Representatives. The author critiques TANF for not sufficiently reaching children in poverty, spending limited funds outside the original policy goals, and failing to offer training and education for good jobs, among other issues. She recommends TANF improvements such as setting spending floors for core benefits, furthering 21st century skills and education training, and writing in an explicit child poverty reduction goal. These changes, she argues, will help children in poverty and increase parental socioeconomic mobility as TANF originally intended.

This U.S. Department of Health and Human Services blog post highlights Bethany Christian Services (BCS), an organization dedicated to helping foster children transition into adulthood. Using evidence-based curriculum, BCS offers workforce development skills and workforce stipend experiences to youth in foster care, while also providing information on life skills, including pregnancy prevention, career path education, budgeting, resume development, and more. Participants are assigned a case manager to guide them, answer questions about the transition to adulthood, and help them build self-confidence and self-sufficiency. To learn more about BCS or other pregnancy prevention programs funded through the Family and Youth Services Bureau, visit their website.