Measure of America, a project of the Social Science Research Council, released the "Measure of America: American Human Development Report 2013-2014." This Index measures the well-being of America in three vital areas--health, education, and earnings--all of which shape the opportunities available to Americans to invest in their families and to live to their fullest potential. The report also contains the American Human Development Index ranking for the 50 U.S. States, the 25 largest metropolitan areas, and racial and ethnic groups within those States and metro areas. It also looks at changes in well-being in States since 2000 and in metro areas before and after the Great Recession.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage and Families released a tool that provides information on free and low-cost healthy marriage and relationship education curricula that are research-based and suitable for integration into safety-net service delivery systems.

Child Trends released an article discussing recent research findings that support the notion that the presence of a nurturing and loving father can improve outcomes for children, families, and communities. In addition to this discussion, a list of key inferences and conclusions that emerged from the Young Unwed Fathers report is also included.

The Administration for Children and Families presents the Strengthening Families Evidence Review. This website includes catalogs of research on programs for low-income fathers and couples, information on the review process, and a searchable database of studies.

The Institute for Research on Poverty hosted a podcast titled "Family Change, Father Involvement, and Child Food Insecurity." In this podcast, Daniel Miller of the Boston University School of Social Work discusses his research on measuring child food insecurity in the context of family type, changing family structure, and father involvement. Miller states that there is still a lot not known about food insecurity for kids, but that understanding the connections between family change and food insecurity has a lot of promise in giving a better picture of the problem.

The Urban Institute's HOST Demonstration is developing and testing the effectiveness of using two-generation "whole family" approaches to address the challenges of deeply poor, vulnerable families living in public and assisted housing. HOST services are intended to improve children's health outcomes and reduce risky behavior, helping to overcome some of the disadvantages of growing up in chronic disadvantage. HOST's core case management component helps parents in low-income neighborhoods confront their key barriers to self-sufficiency: poor physical and mental health, additions, low literacy, educational attainment, and a weak connection to the labor force, while integrating services for children and youth. This report discusses the implementation and expansion process of the HOST program.

Fathers' involvement in their children's lives has been shown to produce both economic and social benefits. This paper by MDRC examines two different approaches to strengthen fathers' involvement and their family relationships, fatherhood programs for low-income noncustodial fathers and relationship education for parents who are together. Both approaches have shown positive effects on the quality of family relationships.

This report displays and discusses some of the data related to the poverty of children and their living arrangements and data on male employment and earnings, educational attainment, and incarceration. It then provides information on federal programs that could play a greater role in addressing poverty of children through the fathers of these children (nearly all noncustodial parents are fathers). These programs provide economic assistance, family support, and job training and employment to eligible participants. The report also examines federal programs that have the purposes of preventing teen pregnancy and helping disadvantaged youth obtain the skills and support they need to make the transition to adulthood. The underlying premise of these programs generally is that the aid or services received from these programs by low-income noncustodial fathers can help them in meeting their financial commitments to their children (or future children) and providing emotional support to their children. The report concludes by presenting several public policy approaches proposed by the policy community that might improve the lives of low-income noncustodial fathers and their children. For example, social policy could play a role by expanding economic assistance programs to noncustodial fathers, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); and implementing strategies to prevent the build-up of unpaid child support through early intervention. (author abstract)

The Urban Institute released a commentary discussing a two-generation policy agenda that can help promote young children's development and low-wage workers' economic stability, which should start with a national focus on the first year of life.

The Office of Family Assistance provides guidance to states and is working in partnership with other agencies to combat family homelessness.