This report presents data on persistently poor children, the patterns for work and school attendance and poverty among persistently poor children as they advance to early adulthood, and what characteristics can differentiate between people who were poor as children and who are more and less economically successful in adulthood. The characteristics examined include race, gender, parents’ education, mother’s age at child’s birth, and broader family circumstances such as employment and disability status, family structure, residential stability, and income volatility. The report relies on longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics for children born from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.

The Online Work Readiness Assessment (OWRA) tool will no longer be available for download after September 29, 2020. Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, OWRA is a web-based tool that offers social service agency caseworkers and staff an innovative approach to creating a plan for participants that summarizes their strengths and barriers and recommends placement into work activities and work supports. OWRA offers services for participants through five modules, including a detailed, comprehensive assessment of participants’ strengths, barriers, and work readiness. The tool has been available to the field at no-cost since 2008 and has been supported through pilot testing, trainings, demonstrations, and technical assistance. If interested in downloading the tool, please do so before September 29. You can use the OWRA Implementation Checklist to find more information about the tool, technical requirements, and download instructions. After September 29, please contact James Butler at OFA with any questions.

This report is an initial evaluation of the Bringing Families Home (BFH) program in San Francisco, California, which is a state-funded initiative that provides permanent housing and supportive services for homeless families or families with unstable housing who are engaged with the child welfare system. (Bringing Families Home is the sustained version of Families Moving Forward, a federally funded demonstration project.) Participating families under BFH receive in-home services to prevent their children from being placed in foster care. Families with children in foster care receiving reunification services are also covered under the program. The evaluation includes assessment data of family status and information about housing status, receipt of supportive services, the status of child welfare cases, and out-of-home care placements for families enrolled in BFH from July 2017 to June 2020.

This issue brief highlights three areas to consider in developing workforce policies for young parents between the age of 18 and 24 in a post-pandemic world. These touchstones include: accelerated pathways, such as Integrated Education and Training, Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, and guided pathways to focus on skill gaps to prepare for in-demand jobs; expansion of digital inclusion programs to address disparities in broadband access, availability of digital devices, and computer literacy skills; and provision of high-quality childcare for workforce program participants.

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) youth program includes financial literacy education as one of 14 program elements. This set of resources provides tools and guides for financial literacy education as well as pertinent research reports and curriculum. The resources cover creating budgets; setting up checking and saving accounts; managing spending, credit, and debt; understanding credit reports and credit scores; and protecting against identify theft.

The Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin will host a virtual seminar on October 15, 2020 from 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. CT. The seminar will discuss metrics, covering financial well-being, secure and stable housing, family stability, health, supportive communities, education, and work, that embody the comprehensive definition of economic and social mobility developed by the U.S. Partnership on Mobility from Poverty. Urban Institute’s Greg Acs will lead the seminar’s discussion.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to gather information on programs providing services to help youth ages 16 to 24 progress on education and employment pathways. This project focuses on young people who are out of work and/or out of school, especially those from lower income families and communities. The information gathered will be included in a public compendium highlighting selected programs. Note: Not all submissions will be included in the compendium.

Submitted programs must:

• Serve youth ages 16-24 (may also serve adults).
• Target young people who are out of school and/or work or have the following risk factors: low-income family or community, is a parent, is justice-involved, is now or was in foster care, experiences homelessness, has a disability.
• Provide services supporting education or employment goals.
• Currently operate in the United States.

Submit written comments by September 28, 2020 to ReconnectingYouthRFI@hhs.gov.

Low-income young workers in service-sector jobs have felt first-hand the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. This report explores how 10 states participating in the New Skills for Youth Initiative addressed designing and implementing pathways for high school students. It reflects findings from interviews with educators, business leaders, student advisors, community partners, and other key stakeholders which took place from June 2017 to June 2020. The report also covers pathway options for younger workers and how they gain work experience through internships, apprenticeships, and other work-based learning opportunities.

This research-to-practice brief presents findings from an initial study of custodial and non-custodial parents enrolled in the Fathers Advancing Community Together (FACT) program, which is offered by Rubicon Programs in Contra Costa County, California. FACT addresses responsible parenting and healthy relationships and delivers economic stability services. The brief notes that FACT parents believe they already possess the necessary skills to be successful parents and acknowledge the importance of personal financial management for long-term economic stability. The survey of FACT parents also identified the challenges they encountered accessing childcare and balancing job seeking while participating in FACT, which led to a restructuring of the program to better serve parents.

This practice guide illustrates case management practices that are appropriate and effective for promoting youth well-being and provides methods for helping youth on probation understand and take responsibility for their actions. The guide highlights how diversion from formal court processing could be used more often with youth otherwise engaging in normal adolescent behavior. Also noted is how probation professionals need to engage with the families of youth in transition and their communities while working in partnership with other public systems and service providers to utilize a strengths-based, trauma-responsive approach for positive adolescent development.