The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA) improves services for people to find and keep jobs, and requires vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies to use some of the money they receive from the federal government (about $1 of every $7) for pre-employment transition services (pre-ETS) for students with disabilities. Youth with disabilities, including those who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), might need support for finding and training for jobs beyond what school traditionally offers. Students with disabilities often do not have as many opportunities for career development and training, could have trouble finding work because of their disability, and might come from lower-income families.

This Mathematica brief summarizes findings from a study examining how transition-age youth with disabilities receiving SSI may have been affected by WIOA and their access to pre-ETS.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief explores Addiction Recovery Care (ARC), a large-scale program in Kentucky combining residential clinical treatment for substance use disorders (SUDs) with employment services. ARC operates in several locations across the state, but is located primarily in rural, Appalachian areas hard-hit by the opioid crisis. This SUD residential treatment and recovery service is combined with employment services including job readiness training, internships, and online courses leading to a range of short-term occupational certifications. Employment services are provided in the later phases of the residential program when participants are relatively stabilized in terms of their SUD recovery. This brief offers recommendations for those implementing similar programs or that are interested in developing them.

The San Francisco Department of Child Support Services (SF DCSS) has piloted a voluntary program that explores an alternative to monthly cash payments, allowing parents to meet their child support obligations through agreed-upon, in-kind contributions. This approach acknowledges how some parents already contribute to their children and empowers them to flexibly address their families’ changing needs. It is modeled after the Yurok Tribe’s child support system, which allows parents to support their children in ways beyond monetary support, including providing diapers, fish, firewood, and child care. This Urban Institute fact sheet summarizes the implementation process of this pilot as an introduction for other counties that may be considering offering in-kind child support alternatives.

In February 2024, the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) announced a new rule - Elimination of Tribal Non-Federal Share Requirement (ACF-OCSS-AT-24-02) - which supports the growth of the tribal child support program by eliminating burdensome costs. It will make it easier for existing and new tribal child support programs to access the funding they need to operate. This OCSS resource announces the new rule and highlights the impact it will have on tribal child support programs.

Today, 60 federally recognized sovereign tribes and tribal consortia in 22 states implement Title IV-D tribal child support programs. This Institute for Research on Poverty literature review provides an overview of laws and policies that shape tribal child support programs; investigates the demographic and economic contexts of tribal communities; describes state and tribal program implementation; summarizes the small body of academic research regarding tribal child support programs and outcomes; and concludes with opportunities for future investigation.

States, counties, and tribes are modernizing their child support programs through holistic, family-centered policies and practices that build partnerships with parents instead of adversarial relationships. They go beyond collecting money to address underlying reasons for nonpayment, ensure that children benefit from payments, and facilitate effective co-parenting. Family-centered child support policies put children where they belong: at the center of child support policymaking. The Centering Child Well-Being in Child Support Policy toolkit, developed by Ascend at Aspen Institute, features new analysis of state child support director survey data. The toolkit offers innovations on: 

1. Family Distribution,
2. Reducing Arrears,
3. Right-Sizing Orders,
4. Income Supports,
5. Supporting Healthy Co-Parenting, and 
6. Providing Equal Access to Justice.

The Knowledge Works initiative from the Office of Child Support Services helps child support agencies implement or enhance a noncustodial parent employment program by highlighting the work of successful programs in other jurisdictions. This compendium of resources can help assess programs, plan, implement, and determine funding sources to develop child support-led noncustodial parent employment programs.

This compendium includes overviews of existing model programs; planning tools, policy resources, and funding guidance; resources that show “What Works”; sample documents, forms, and templates; and assistance with establishing a noncustodial parent employment program.

On May 31, 2024, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announced a proposed rule to give state child support programs the flexibility to use federal funding to provide employment and training services for eligible noncustodial parents. Providing employment and training services to unemployed and underemployed parents who have child support obligations has proven to benefit children and their parents. These types of programs result in increased employment rates and earnings as well as the amount, number, and regularity of child support payments. This ACF press announcement explains how the proposed rule would allow state child support programs to use federal funding for services such as skills assessments, occupational training, and job placement. The deadline to submit comments via Regulations.gov is July 30, 2024.

MDRC partnered with JPMorgan Chase to promote continual improvement among their Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) grantee organizations through research. SYEPs are a workforce development model predicated on promoting socioeconomic advancement for young people ages 14 to 24 who are disconnected from school or the labor market. MDRC collected data in the form of interviews and metrics aggregated and interviewed six SYEP providers to share specific insights about a particular program component—soft-skills training. “Soft skills” refer to the general habits and competencies that make for an effective employee, such as arriving at work on time, cooperating with coworkers, taking and giving direction, communicating clearly, dressing appropriately for the workplace, and so forth. This MDRC brief presents findings that showcase ways that soft-skills training, as a workforce development intervention, can put young people on the path to high-paying jobs and socioeconomic advancement.

The Survey of Household Economics and Decision-making is the survey from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for tracking the financial circumstances of low- and moderate-income families and potential risks to their financial health. This year’s survey continues to track key topics related to financial outcomes, such as the effects of inflation on household finances, emergency savings, housing, returns to education, and retirement. New topics have been added on food sufficiency, caregiving, employment of those with a previous arrest or conviction, and homeowners’ insurance.

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors will be hosting a virtual event on June 20, 2024 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, where researchers will share findings from the survey on trends in financial well-being and answer any questions on the financial conditions among low- and moderate-income populations based on the survey results.