The Department of Health and Human Services’ Partnership Center exists to engage and communicate with faith communities and grassroots organizations, ensuring that local institutions, which hold community trust, have up-to-date information regarding health and human service activities and resources in their area.

Since 2001, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which has the largest grant portfolio in the federal government, has taken internal steps to identify and address barriers to discretionary grants for faith-based organizations and community organizations and to track the progress in this area. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation conducted a study to identify potential underlying barriers perceived by faith-based applicants in accessing HHS grants, as well as the strategies grant recipients used to compete successfully for federal grant funds, by collecting information from faith-based applicants themselves.

Public agencies often turn to faith leaders to support their initiatives, and yet doing so often brings challenges: who to engage; how to build trust with partners; what they can and cannot do for you. This Center for Religion and Civic Culture infographic offers six principles to guide government officials in partnering with faith communities.

Governmental agencies often work with faith leaders because they are influential and well-connected to the people they serve. Their presence, coupled with their capacity to deliver critical services, allows them to mobilize communities and earn the communities’ trust, which makes them a vital stakeholder to create change. This Center for Religion and Civic Culture infographic offers ten tips to aid government officials in partnering with faith communities.

This Executive Order by the Trump-Vance administration announces the White House’s Faith Office to assist faith-based entities, community organizations, and houses of worship in their efforts to strengthen American families, promote work and self-sufficiency, and protect religious liberty.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is hosting a webinar on January 21, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. ET, which will address the economic stability of service members, Veterans, and their families (SMVF). This webinar will explore critical areas such as employment opportunities, income supports, SSI/SSDI, Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR) for Veterans, and housing solutions, providing valuable information and resources to support maintaining or achieving economic stability among the SMVF community.

A growing number of local governments and nonprofit organizations across the United States are experimenting with guaranteed income programs, often with the goal of supporting low-income families and individuals. The results of many of these newer efforts are still being measured and assessed, but there are earlier programs that can provide insights into long-term effects. The Institute for Research on Poverty hosted a webinar in December 2024 to share research on cash transfer programs begun or conducted in previous decades, including Native American tribal casino dividends, the Mincome project, and the Alaska Dividend.

Chapin Hall compiled a toolkit that promotes child and family well-being and prevents child welfare involvement. The following tools are focused on state-level policy:

• TANF & Child Welfare Innovations;
• State Policy Options to Increase Economic & Concrete Supports (ECS) as a Child Welfare Prevention Strategy;
• Flexible Funds for Concrete Supports to Families as a Child Welfare Prevention Strategy; and
• Providing ECS to Increase Effectiveness of Evidence-Based Services.

These tools are focused on federal-level policy:

• ECS Testimony from May 2024 Family First Hearing;
• ECS as Evidence-Based Service: Summary of Chapin Hall’s Submission to the 4E Clearinghouse;
• A Preventable Cost: The Economic Burden of Child Maltreatment and Child Welfare Involvement; and
• ECS: Implications for Family First and Systems Change.

This American Public Human Services Association resource is part of a series that highlights how the incoming Administration can leverage the human services infrastructure to further national priorities including economic prosperity, better health and well-being, affordable housing and food, and ensuring the labor market meets the demands of American businesses to keep them thriving.

The Western Mass Mental Health Outreach for MotherS PartnershipSM (Western Mass MOMS) is part of the Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies (NextGen) Project, which seeks to rigorously evaluate employment strategies for people with low incomes and physical or mental health challenges. Western Mass MOMS is designed to reduce depressive symptoms, improve social connections, and promote labor market success among mothers or caregivers with low incomes that are experiencing symptoms of depression. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report discusses the effectiveness of Western Mass MOMS and aids stakeholders interested in replicating this model to understand the program and its operations.