This blogpost assesses strategies state program administrators can use to support parents in managing COVID-19 pandemic-related stress through maximizing home visiting services. The blogpost notes how early childhood home visiting programs, including those federally funded by the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, offer three levels of support: direct information on child health and positive parenting practices; screening to identify potential needs, risks, and stressors; and connection of families to resources to address these risks or attain goals set by parents. Childhood home visiting programs can also offer cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to help parents address stress and more serious forms of parental depression. The blogpost describes how additional resources are available to promote early literacy, enhance parent-child interactions, and help parents manage their children’s behaviors and pandemic-related stressors.

The economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic include loss of employment and income, higher food prices, and other barriers to food access. This has resulted in a rise in the dollar amount of benefits issued by U.S. Department of Agriculture food assistance programs. This U.S. Department of Agriculture report examines the growth in food assistance benefits redeemed during the COVID-19 pandemic and explores changes in monthly SNAP and P-EBT redemptions through September 2020. The report also compares the usage of these benefits to recent years and redemption locations, including super stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, and online sites.

A portion of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program supporting home visits for mothers and families with young children is designated for home visiting in tribal communities. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report is a systematic review of home visiting models within tribal communities and includes a description of the review process and findings. The report also includes information about the evaluated models and summary conclusions about the models’ effectiveness. The review was first published in February 2011, and the updated edition covers results from research through September 2018.

A prevailing belief suggests that having a job brings financial security, though many workers hold jobs that do not support financial stability. WorkRise and the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program (FSP) will host a webinar on April 28, 2021 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET on research covering workers’ financial health and on building pathways to support financial security and economic mobility. The webinar will also present a new report explaining how work arrangements relate to worker benefit provisions and how work and benefits can determine whether workers can attain financial security. The report examines the disparity in financial security outcomes among low- and moderate-income workers, particularly for persons of color, women, and younger workers. Speakers include representatives of the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program, Institute for the Future, the Plousha Moore Group, WorkRise, and the Urban Institute.

The demands for parents and caregivers to adapt their caregiving roles due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as their educational, occupational, and social responsibilities, have caused extended stress and uncertainty. This brief highlights how the pandemic has impacted parents and caregivers, especially those with trauma histories. The brief also identifies resiliency factors for these populations and shares guidance for policymakers, providers, agencies, and families on how to support these parents and caregivers throughout the pandemic and beyond.

This research-to-practice brief presents a new model for job search assistance based on delivering virtual job search services in New Jersey. The brief identifies how job search assistance must be understood in the context of what does and does not work for unemployed job seekers and explores the principles behind effective job search interventions. It also illustrates the components of a three-tiered job search model: the need for physical and psychological safety and stability; the foundations of a sustainable job search to create maintainable patterns and schedules for persons whose lives are in disarray as a result of COVID; and the creation of new job search skills to enhance the job seeker’s motivation, persistence, and self-efficacy.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report reviews the creation of integrated employment services and treatment programs for persons with opioid and substance use disorders (SUDs) and covers the emerging evidence on this approach’s effectiveness in improving participant employment outcomes. Employment service delivery as part of SUD treatment intends to support individuals in their attainment of sustained recovery and improved economic well-being. The report was prepared as part of the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-Income Families (BEES) project which evaluates programs that combine employment services with SUD treatment and recovery services. Through these evaluations, BEES strives to increase awareness of effective interventions that support low-income individuals in finding jobs and advancing in the labor market.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed an economic and emotional toll on many individuals, including parents working in the service sector. Convened by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, this webinar will take place on April 15, 2021 from 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. CT. Anna Gassman Pines of Duke University will present her analysis and research on the effects of the pandemic on this segment of the population.

This blogpost illustrates how Jewish Family Services (JFS) of Columbus (Franklin County, Ohio) transitioned operations and adapted its practices as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The blogpost focuses on the JFS Journey program; Journey assists low-income individuals engaged with the Franklin County child support agency in obtaining new or better jobs, which helps them meet their support obligations. The discussion covers how JFS worked with local employers in the distribution industry to create placement opportunities for its clients, how JFS transitioned its group employment services digitally, and how new forms of staff and client engagement and procedures may be retained in a post-pandemic environment.

This research-to-practice brief focuses on a fatherhood engagement approach that was implemented in the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition’s Fatherhood PRIDE program. The brief examines how Fatherhood PRIDE recruited, enrolled, and retained fathers by father-specific strategies and how the program partnered with other stakeholders that provide services to fathers. The brief also highlights the program’s intake process that captures and leverages participating fathers’ supports and networks.