Accessing affordable child care is a common challenge for parents; it is especially difficult for those with low incomes who need education or training to gain knowledge and skills that can lead to higher paying jobs. Ideally, parents seeking job-related education or training would be able to access child care assistance as part of enrolling in occupational programs, but access varies across states, localities, and training providers. Accessing care for education and training can depend on numerous factors—from local policies and funding to the availability of child care that meets parents…
Work requirements for key safety net programs are currently being discussed across the country. It is important that this debate be based on an understanding of what recipients need to meet those requirements and to successfully place themselves on a path toward self-sufficiency. Among those potentially subject to work requirements are low-income parents with limited education and low skills who need education and training to find and keep stable jobs. However, a lack of quality, affordable child care often stands in their way. To inform current policy deliberations, we have compiled…
Training Materials, Report
Several decades of research on the impact that fathers have on the lives of children demonstrate that fathers have a significant influence on their children’s lives—whether by virtue of their presence, or by their absence. We designed this toolkit for professionals working to establish healthy relationships with fathers to improve service and/or program engagement. It includes a full complement of tools to help you use this film in your work. (Author abstract, modified)
Strong, healthy families give their children the best chance at success in school and in life. The Family Goal-Setting Guide explores how strong partnerships can positively influence the goals families set in the Family Partnership Process. (Author abstract)
The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) Project team implemented 15 behavioral interventions, involving close to 100,000 clients. This compendium contains all the printed materials that were designed as part of those interventions. (Some interventions included nonprinted components, like robocalls and personal phone calls, which are not reflected in this document.) The interventions contribute to a body of knowledge about what works in human services settings. The BIAS team’s objective in sharing these materials is to assist practitioners and program designers in…
Families on limited incomes can struggle to navigate low-wage jobs or education and training programs while also searching for quality early care and education for their children. Some programs provide integrated services to parents and their children in an effort to solve this problem. This practice is sometimes called a two-generation or whole-family approach. This report provides: (1) key findings from a literature review, an environmental scan, and field work to identify and describe existing program models; (2) development of a conceptual framework to inform program design and research;…
The STEP Forward program attempted to address issues facing low-income job seekers by offering them opportunities to interview for jobs with private sector employers at weekly job fairs, and by offering employers temporary wage subsidies to encourage them to try out job seekers whom they might not otherwise hire, with the goal of ultimately hiring these workers into permanent unsubsidized employment. A diverse group of low-income job seekers enrolled in the program, the vast majority of whom were either CalWORKs (California’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program) clients,…
Among the key findings and conclusions of the report is the critical role and value that human services CBOs play in communities across the nation—improving health outcomes and reducing health care costs;ensuring children are safe and live in supporting neighborhoods, can succeed in school and have strong and economically secure families; helping older adults maintain a high quality of life; equipping people with disabilities so they can live their lives fully; building quality affordable housing; and providing crucial mental health and substance abuse services, particularly in the face of…
Work activity among prime-age (25 to 54) men in America has declined precipitously, leaving seven million or more working-age men in the US outside the labor force. The causes are widespread and include a lack of postsecondary education, dependence on benefit programs, opioid dependency, the rising prevalence of criminal records, a lack of available jobs in economically distressed areas, and weakening cultural norms. A wide range of policies should be implemented to address these causes. These include increased education and training, subsidized jobs for the hard-to-employ, wage subsidies or…
The evaluation of the Community-Centered Responsible Fatherhood Ex-Prisoner Reentry Pilot Projects (“Fatherhood Reentry”) documented the implementation of six programs designed to help stabilize fathers and their families, help move fathers toward economic self-sufficiency, and reduce recidivism. This report presents the findings from the evaluation and provides an overview of the activities implemented by the programs, describes their various approaches to implementation, and identifies the implementation challenges they faced and the solutions they used to overcome those challenges. We…
