The Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse will host a webinar on September 29, 2021 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET to discuss how workforce development practitioners have adapted employment services to remotely offer work readiness activities or education and training services to low-income job seekers. Discussion will highlight a recent brief’s findings on common challenges that make it difficult for job seekers to utilize remote services and ways that practitioners can deliver services remotely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Presentations will also include a demonstration of where to find information about employment interventions, including remote service delivery within the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse.

The Urban Institute will host a free webinar on September 20, 2021 from 12:45 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET as part of its Strategies for Supporting Young People Transitioning Out of Foster Care Series. The webinar will review how parents in foster care need services and supports as they navigate to parenthood and adulthood. A panel of child welfare professionals and young parents with lived experience will discuss ways that child welfare systems could meet the needs of this population. Panelists include representatives from Chapin Hall, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Children’s Village, and the Urban Institute.

The University of Wisconsin’s Institute for Research on Poverty will host a webinar on September 15, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to explore approaches to better serve children with an incarcerated parent. Presentations will examine the costs of children being separated from their parents due to incarceration, research on how to improve outcomes for children and their parents, and efforts made by law enforcement agencies and their partners to serve these families more effectively. Speakers include Julie Poehlmann-Tynan and Pajarita Charles, both from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Dane County (Wisconsin) Sheriff Kalvin Barrett.

The National Staff Development and Training Association (NSDTA), incorporated as an American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) affinity group, aims to develop professional and organizational capacity at the local, state, or federal level. NSDTA will host a hybrid event from October 3 through October 6, 2021. With an “Embrace Agility & Advance to New Heights” theme, presentations cover six tracks: Workforce Development and Planning; Human Services Leadership; Curriculum Design and Instructional Technology; Organizational Development/Organizational Effectiveness; Training & Facilitation; and Evaluation & Research. The live event will take place in Spokane, Washington. A registration fee is required for participation.

The Child Welfare League of America is offering a four-week training session, beginning on September 21, 2021 from 12 noon to 2:00 p.m. ET to support foster, adoptive, and kinship caregivers and social workers as they help improve the school performance of children who have experienced trauma. Training objectives include development of an understanding of common barriers to educational access and engagement, guidance on practical strategies for cultivating resilience at home, knowledge of the education system and supports available to children with special needs and circumstances, and expansion of collaboration and advocacy toolkits for youth affected by trauma. There is a fee for participation in this training.

The integrated service delivery (ISD) approach aims to assist individuals challenged by economic instability in accessing services to attain self-sufficiency. Using the ISD, organizations in the Working Families Success Network (WFSN) strive to meet participants’ needs by providing services in the areas of employment and career advancement, finance and asset-building, and income enhancements and work supports. Researchers conducted a survey of 71 WFSN organizations to identify promising practices for ISD implementation and found that goal setting among participants might support their progression to self-sufficiency. This brief identifies four promising strategies that support goal setting and help connect participants to services.

As part of its Leading with Evidence series, the Annie E. Casey Foundation will host a webinar on September 9, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to discuss how youth programs strive to improve by engaging their participants. The webinar examines data collection in the Latinos in Action (LIA) program, an initiative which builds college and career skills for youth, and how this data is used for continuous improvement. Representatives from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Latinos in Action, and Hello Insight (a data platform used by LIA) will present.

This report identifies the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food insecurity, housing, and employment hardships. Data tables illustrate the difficulties in accessing enough food, increased inability to make timely rent or mortgage payments, challenges in meeting household expenses, and the concentration of job losses in low-wage industries. Comparative state data on these hardships is also presented.

This research article examined the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact in relation to parental perceived stress and child abuse potential. Participants included 183 parents with a child under the age of 18 years in the western United States. Various tests and analyses were performed to assess the relationships among demographic characteristics, COVID-19 and mental health risk factors, protective factors, parental perceived stress, and child abuse potential.

This brief identifies factors contributing to poor mental health and substance use outcomes among children during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on groups of children who are particularly at risk and barriers to accessing mental health care. While data has been limited for this population, the brief draws upon the National Survey of Children’s Health, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and surveys conducted during the pandemic.