The Brother, You’re on My Mind toolkit provides Omega Psi Phi Fraternity chapters and partners with materials to educate fellow fraternity brothers and community members on depression and stress in African American men. The toolkit can be used by all to plan and implement community education events and strategically build community partnerships to meet initiative goals.

This set of resources presents data and research highlighting how food insufficiency increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Included are data visualizations on food insufficiency rates by race/ethnicity, mapping the average rate of food insufficiency, and comparative state rates of food insufficiency calculated from the Census Household Pulse Survey. Also featured are research briefs on hunger, poverty, and health during the pandemic and its impact on identified special populations.

This report presents interim findings of a national random assignment evaluation of the Family-Self Sufficiency (FSS) program which is implemented in households receiving Housing Choice Vouchers through 700 public housing agencies. FSS consists of two elements: case managers who work with participants to develop individualized self-sufficiency plans, and the creation of an interest-bearing escrow account to support participants’ asset development. The report reviews implementation of the FSS program, program participants’ engagement, and the impacts on labor force participation and government benefits receipt.

The Corporation for Supportive Housing will host a webinar course on August 25, 2021 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. ET targeting direct service workers, service coordinators, peer specialists, and facilities staff. The course helps participants understand common mental health symptoms and how best to help supportive housing tenants. Course participants will learn how to: identify mental illness symptoms and to support tenants struggling with them, engage these tenants and de-escalate certain situations, create an individualized service plan with tenants, and determine which healthcare system partners to engage to ensure tenants receive needed care. There is a registration fee for this webinar.

The American Public Human Services Association and the National Association of Welfare Research Statistics will host a hybrid (in-person and virtual learning) conference from August 22 to August 25, 2021 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The conference will bring together policy, practice, research, and various programs to advance the collective goal of achieving economic mobility and well-being for everyone. Workshops are being developed to help health and human service leaders, policymakers, and researchers in developing human services programs through collaboration, integration, modernization, and guidance on effectively monitoring quality control and performance management. A registration fee is required.

This research-to-practice brief highlights the Louisiana-based My Community Cares (MCC) initiative. The initiative brings together parents experienced with the child welfare system, foster parents, and residents of neighborhoods with high concentrations of children in foster care. MCC asked these individuals to lead and co-design initiatives to prevent other neighborhood families from involvement in the child welfare system. The brief identifies the initiative’s origins, its core components, and implementation considerations.

Program services, such as health care, nutritious food, housing, early care, and education, are often delivered in silos, creating access barriers for families. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation blogpost presents an interactive map that documents 95 state and local coordinated service approaches nationally. The map is part of the Assessing Models of Coordinated Services project which promotes children’s healthy development.

This brief reviews historical policy context and provides an overview of policy, programmatic, and engagement strategies for utilizing economic supports to promote family well-being and prevent child maltreatment. It recommends economic and concrete supports as an alternative to address child maltreatment.

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act includes $150 million in funding support for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV). This blogpost outlines how MIECHV ARP funds will be distributed and allowable uses. Under the MIECHV ARP provisions, expanded services offered to enrolled families include home visiting services, technology for virtual visits, emergency supplies (including personal protective equipment, hand sanitizers, and diapers), and prepaid grocery cards. This additional funding can also be used to support the training and expansion of the home visiting workforce.

The U.S. Department of Education seeks applications for the Performance Partnerships Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3). The FY 2021 P3 authorization allows pilot programs to utilize waivers of requirements that hinder service delivery or impede a holistic approach. These waivers include, for example, blending and use of other federal funds, flexibility in age or income eligibility requirements, use of alternative outcome measures, and others requested in a submitted application. P3 pilots are required to include at least two Federal programs which target disconnected youth or are designed to prevent youth from disconnecting with educational, workforce, or social services supports. Applications are due by August 23, 2021.