In 2000, federally funded public adult education programs provided basic skills training and English language instruction to over 2.6 million students, or about 1.5% of the U.S. adult population. By 2021, enrollment had plummeted to under 900,000, or less than 0.4% of adults. What explains these declines? This policy brief describes the evolution…

Wages below the living wage are poverty wages for many households. For decades, teachers have been clear about the damaging impact poverty has on childhood development in particular, as well as on individuals and communities as a whole. Teachers experience first-hand the impact that poverty has on children, how it leaves children more vulnerable…

This Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Nutrition Education (SNAP-Ed) Plan Guidance" provides instructions for developing and submitting State nutrition education and obesity prevention grant program plans, commonly referred to as State SNAP-Ed Plans. It describes Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)…

Many welfare programs give greater benefits to unmarried individuals than to a married couple of otherwise identical income. The resulting marriage penalty discourages marriage and rewards single parenthood. Combined marriage penalties across federal and state welfare programs can reach tens of thousands of dollars per year for a given family. One…

The recent health crisis -- and unprecedented, rapid job loss associated with it -- has illuminated how unprepared the United States is for helping workers who lose their jobs reskill to prepare for and successfully enter new employment. Policy responses to the current crisis -- while critical -- have fallen far short of addressing challenges…

Background: The Ohio School Facilities Commission was set up in response to litigation compelling the state to achieve a more equitable distribution in the quality of school facilities. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was a federal policy to stimulate the United States economy and support school facility construction. These two…

Because the earliest years of life are a period of incredible growth, they present an opportunity to shape strong and positive development. Good health, secure and stable families, and positive early learning environments are necessary to foster children's physical, intellectual, and social-emotional development during this significant period. Yet…

In 1965, President Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act, giving birth to the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. The act declared, "Democracy demands wisdom and vision in its citizens. It must therefore foster and support a form of education, and access to the arts…

Substantial increases in federal support for higher education over the last decade or more have made the federal government the largest direct investor in U.S. higher education. That increase however, has not produced the expected level of increase in college educated people in the workforce. This is largely for two reasons. First the investment…

Unaccompanied homeless youth appear to be one of the fastest growing and most vulnerable segments of the larger homeless population, but flawed information-gathering by government entities makes it impossible to be sure. This issue brief examines reasons why the plight of unaccompanied homeless youth is not fully captured through current models of…

In a context where more than 1,000,000 American adolescents are processed by juvenile courts annually and approximately 160,000 are sent to residential placements, this paper examines "what works" and "what doesn't work" in reducing the criminal behavior of juvenile offenders and presents examples of government initiatives that have successfully…

With the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) under consideration in early 2009, an important question is the extent to which uninsured children could be covered under employer-sponsored insurance through premium assistance programs, which use public funding under Medicaid and SCHIP to subsidize…

Nearly all governors have designated a state early childhood advisory council to advise policymakers in the state on how to best meet the needs of children from birth to school entry. Early childhood advisory councils in the states vary in their structure and scope, but all of them provide recommendations on improving the quality, availability,…

Within the City of Chicago, a wide variety of public and private programs are geared towards preparing adults and youth for the workforce. This report of workforce development programs provides an overview of federal, state, and city workforce development programs within the City of Chicago through a detailed inventory table of the programs…

This bibliography summarizes recent research on the structure and effectiveness of workforce development programs. While the term "workforce development" can mean many things, this document focuses on programs to help low-skill, low-wage and displaced workers increase their employment and earnings, as well as labor market trends that…