There is an increasing understanding of how poverty can impact children’s development and create persistent gaps between children raised in poverty and their higher-income peers. Early childhood programs do much to support young children by providing a variety of vital services to stabilize families, but stability is tenuous for families living persistently in poverty. Numerous innovative early childhood programs are now focusing on promoting parental economic mobility and working alongside families to build skills and promote their attainment of bigger goals. This EMPath paper presents the importance to early childhood programs, particularly those whose mission is to support children living in poverty, of integrating economic mobility coaching for parents to strengthen outcomes for kids.

Family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) child care is used by millions of families, whether it is a regular, paid arrangement, a grandmother who “just provides a few hours of care each week” for her grandchildren, or a well-known neighbor who “watches the kids on her block after school.” This report is a follow-up to Sustaining Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care During and After COVID-19: Survey Findings, which offered guiding principles for policymakers to take into consideration as they designed child care policies to be more effective and equitable for families and providers. The report demonstrates how those guiding principles can be applied using specific examples of state strategies to support and sustain FFN child care and empower FFN providers.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Family-Centered Community Change (FCCC) is a two-generation effort in Buffalo, New York; Columbus, Ohio; and San Antonio, Texas. This report estimates the staff labor costs for two-generation coordination and integration in these three communities, which may assist other localities and nonprofit service providers in budget planning, specifically for partnership development and coordinated service delivery.

The third bi-annual Aspen Forum on Children and Families will be held on June 7, 2021 and June 8, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET on both days. This virtual forum includes panel discussions, keynote speakers, and breakout sessions covering two-generation (2Gen) approaches as well as resources and tools needed to strengthen families, communities, and the country. The Forum also features the release of The State of 2Gen, which synthesizes 10 years of the field's accomplishments and identifies policy recommendations to support families with improved health, education, and employment outcomes.

This guide supports stakeholders in thinking through and documenting key elements in the design of a Whole Family Approach Design Plan. The guide is organized by 12 plan components; each component includes a set of questions to prompt the strategic planning process. The Design Plan is an adaptation from earlier efforts, including the Rural Integration Models for Parents and Children to Thrive (IMPACT) and two-generation/whole family approach learning efforts delivered by the Aspen Institute Community Solutions Group.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Family-Centered Community Change® initiative used a two-generation approach to support parents and their children in three high-poverty communities. On April 29, 2021 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. ET, the Foundation will host a webinar with a panel discussion of practitioners and evaluators from the Urban Institute on how two-generation approaches influenced the practitioners’ work and how the approaches evolved during the initiative. Panelists also include representatives of the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County, Community Properties of Ohio Impact Corporation, and Buffalo Promise Neighborhood.

This report reviews lessons learned in the implementation of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s seven-year Family-Centered Community Change (FCCC) initiative in Buffalo, New York; Columbus, Ohio; and San Antonio, Texas. The FCCC is an integrated two-generation service model offering child care, job training, and financial and employment services. The report presents lessons about collaborating, integrating services, and building strong partnerships at the community level.

This guidebook intends to support agency and organization leaders in setting goals and creating progress measures for their 2Gen approaches. The guidebook starts with definitions and a history of the 2Gen approach with lessons learned that inform current “2Gen 2.0” initiatives. The guidebook presents the 2Gen Organizational Change Measurement Framework, which reflects an organization’s culture and climate, engagement partnerships, knowledge and skills, infrastructure, and resources. The guidebook also includes resources and components to build capacity for change for each framework element.

This issue brief profiles the design and implementation of the 2Gen approach undertaken by the District of Columbia TANF program. The brief covers how staff were trained in 2Gen approaches, and the reorganization of TANF intake and eligibility processes. The report also features the District’s redesign of the TANF Employment and Education program, integration of 2Gen approaches for homeless families, and institution of a “whole family” model in universal pre-K and early childhood programs.

The Aspen Institute’s ASCEND initiative will host a webinar on October 28, 2020 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. ET to discuss the role of social capital as part of the 2Gen approach. Social capital, the “secret sauce” of the 2Gen approach, is demonstrated by increased peer support, greater sense of community belonging, and connections with family, friends, and neighbors. Social capital is also manifested in participation in community- and faith-based organizations, outreach by schools and the workplace, and engagement with case managers or career coaches. This webinar will include presentations from leadership and staff at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, who will cover the identification and dissemination of emerging practices for measuring and using social capital. There will also be discussion of how practitioners can use a 2Gen approach to help their clients build relationships to attain their identified goals.