Recent Impact Findings from Demonstrations Serving Noncustodial Parents
Three recently completed federal demonstrations examined the impact of different program models that were designed to increase the earnings of noncustodial parents and improve the well-being of their children. All three demonstrations found positive impacts, suggesting that these types of program models can benefit noncustodial parents and their children. OPRE has published a brief that describes these demonstrations and their impacts, which is summarized below.
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How Effective are Different Job Search Approaches for TANF Applicants and Recipients?
Job search assistance is a common feature of state and local cash assistance programs that are trying to move low-income populations into employment and help increase their earnings, and a core component of employment activities in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF).
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Recognizing National Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month
January is National Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and OPRE is highlighting our work building knowledge to improve services and programs for victims of human trafficking.
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Introducing the ACF Research and Evaluation Agenda
For some time, ACF has been pursuing learning agendas and related activities at multiple levels. At the broadest level, ACF contributes to the HHS multi-year evidence plan and HHS annual evaluation plan required of cabinet agencies by the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (the Evidence Act). At the same time, ACF’s Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation has been working closely with several individual ACF program offices to develop detailed learning agendas related to specific ACF programs.
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Exploring Core Components Research in Social Services Settings
Each year OPRE convenes a meeting on innovative social science research methods. These annual meetings support OPRE’s mission to build rigorous and relevant evidence to improve the lives of children and families. Our most recent meeting, Exploring Core Components Research in Social Service Settings, held in October 2020, highlighted approaches to identify the common elements, or core components, of effective interventions, programs, and services. These core components approaches are efforts to unpack why evidence-based practices may be effective and ultimately to better understand how practices can be tailored to the specific needs of individuals and communities.
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OPRE End of Year Message 2020
2020 was a challenging year. Like many others, we in OPRE managed concerns about our families’, our friends’, and our own health; mourned losses; and adjusted to working from home and extra caregiving responsibilities. We also handled interruptions or adjustments in many data collection efforts and several conferences. I applaud the resilience and creativity of OPRE staff and our partners as we adjusted studies to explore the impacts and implications of the pandemic, and embraced our new virtual reality.
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The Virtual RECS 2020 Highlighted Collaboration, Engagement, and Resiliency
OPRE’s Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) featured two weeks of virtual content in October. This biennial gathering offers attendees an opportunity to hear the latest findings from evaluations of human services and employment programs and policies, discuss ways to incorporate findings into the design and implementation of programs, and identify future evaluation needs.
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Celebrating Native American Heritage Month with AI/AN FACES
We are celebrating Native American Heritage Month by sharing some of the accomplishments of the American Indian/Alaska Native Family and Child Experiences Survey (AI/AN FACES). AI/AN FACES was designed to provide descriptive, nationally representative information on tribally operated Region XI Head Start programs, staff, families, and children.
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Examining the Conversion of Enrollment Slots from Head Start to Early Head Start
This year, the Administration for Children and Families is celebrating 25 years of providing family-centered services to pregnant women, infants, and toddlers through the Early Head Start program --#EHS25. As we celebrate this milestone, we are excited to highlight a new project examining how and why Head Start grantees shift funding from services for Head Start preschool-age children to Early Head Start services for pregnant women, infants, and toddlers (i.e., convert enrollment slots from Head Start to Early Head Start).
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Improving our Understanding of How Family Strengthening Programs Can Address and Prevent Domestic Violence
As we observe Domestic Violence Awareness month this October, we renew our commitment to learning how to promote the safety of domestic violence survivors and end violence in the communities we serve. We are committed in our research to providing information that can help in identifying domestic violence, working with those impacted by domestic violence, and promoting the safety of domestic violence survivors.
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