This fact sheet illustrates how Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio offered non-recurrent short-term TANF benefits as flexible responses to address the needs of TANF-eligible populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sheet also briefly notes how Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, and Florida have implemented flexible adaptions to TANF work requirements. SNAP approved waivers are also highlighted.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased unemployment rates in low-income populations, SNAP agencies must rapidly scale up and adapt their employment and training support systems amidst economic, public health, and regulatory uncertainties. On July 9, 2020 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, the American Public Human Services Association will host a webinar with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, American Enterprise Institute, and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to discuss SNAP Employment and Training programs and the continued effects of unemployment on SNAP agency operations as well as their surrounding communities and local job sectors.

This guide offers a framework and process for establishing a multi-system trauma-informed collaborative that addresses the impact of trauma on children and families. The guide identifies the collaborative as including the health care system as well as child welfare, education, early child development, first responder, and related systems; these components must support each other in policies and practices to best serve children exposed to violence and other adverse childhood trauma. The guide is designed for public agency administrators, local and state policy makers, trauma professionals, and other service stakeholders.

This blogpost provides guidance on lessons learned from implementing the MyGoals for Employment Success program, an employment coaching model that assists participants during the pandemic. The blogpost draws a structured set of relevant questions and answers that might be asked of coaches and managers of the MyGoals model and other social service programs. Topics include supporting participants with scheduling changes in light of lockdowns, transitions in client management, how to encourage participants with self-directed goal setting, accessing and paying for medications, working in an unsafe environment, receiving SNAP or unemployment insurance benefits, how to use online technology, and addressing grief.

On July 15, 2020, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET, there will be a virtual tour of the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse, a new resource funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families. Designed to meet the needs of employment service providers and support TANF administrators’ use of evidence-based practices, the Pathways Clearinghouse provides free, reliable, and accessible information about what works to help job seekers with low incomes find and sustain employment. The launch event will feature a discussion with an expert panel, including Naomi Goldstein and Kim Clum from OPRE, to explore how the website identifies interventions designed to improve employment outcomes, reduce employment challenges, and support self-sufficiency for people with low incomes.

This tool relies on state-provided or other public data to support early childhood stakeholders in calculating the funds needed to increase early childhood workforce qualifications. The calculator enables the user to set the program type (for example, Head Start, Pre-K, or other center-based programs), child age group (infant-toddler and/or pre-K), and teacher category (lead and/or assistant teacher). Other data to be inputted include number of early childhood educators, current educational qualifications of the existing workforce; whether the teacher has the required credentials; and average tuition costs, on a statewide basis, for two-year and four-year degree programs.

This tip sheet identifies five tips that support program staff members’ effectiveness while offering high-quality services to participants in a virtual environment. The tips also provide guidance on protecting participant confidentiality, which is a principal challenge in remote communications. These tips cover how practitioners can create a plan for remote service delivery, connect with participants, set up staff members for success at home, maximize participant engagement, and adjust plans to support staff members as needed.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation is hosting a webinar on July 22, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. ET to discuss fiscal approaches for implementing the Family First Prevention Services Act. The discussion will include guidance on budget preparation of evidence-based programs. Presenters will provide tips on how to develop estimates on staffing and needed resources for prevention services administration, estimate matching Title IV-E revenue, and forecast cost savings from out-of-home placements as a result of successful prevention services. Presenters include representatives of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Mainspring Consulting, and the Hawaii Department of Human Services.

Appearing on the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors website, this federal interagency report on women and trauma-informed approaches was published by the Federal Partners Committee on Women and Trauma. The report outlines the projects, programs, and initiatives of more than 35 federal agencies, departments, and offices. The report highlights application of trauma-informed approaches across multiple settings and systems and encourages other governmental and nongovernmental agencies to implement cross-sector, interagency, and intersystems realization, recognition, and response to trauma.

Published in Indian Country Today Media Network by the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program, this report addresses intergenerational trauma among American Indians at its core. The author addresses recent evidence on how trauma could be passed along through DNA and mentions several ways of how American Indians are managing and coping with historical trauma. She shares her personal stories of learning to deal with historical trauma, learning resilience, and the trauma of Indian boarding schools.