This brief addresses how reentry programs can best support young people in meeting their mental health needs. Reentry programs provide a range of services to help individuals successfully return to their communities after incarceration. The brief provides an overview of why addressing mental and behavioral health needs is so critical. Additionally, the brief provides some practical tools to support this work. It recommends building comprehensive knowledge, taking actionable steps, and addressing challenges and overcoming barriers to assist youth with their reentry journey. The document also provides additional resources to support reentry work.

This report describes comprehensive efforts to review and assess the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV) and recommends alternate approaches. The NatSCEV obtains information about children’s exposure to a broad spectrum of crimes, abuse, and neglect, including witnessing violence and crime. The NatSCEV study design and methodology warranted reassessment. One reason for this reassessment is because response rates have seriously declined over NatSCEV cycles, decreasing from 79% of eligible respondents in 2003 to rates as low as 10% for some components of the sample in 2014. Additionally, previous versions of NatSCEV were lengthy and could be shortened to reduce respondent burden and enhance response rates, especially in the context of a move to self-administration. The redesign work identified ways to substantially reduce the length without sacrificing critical content, as well as ensuring the content is developmentally appropriate. The report presents three possible designs for a future NatSCEV: one that turns the NatSCEV into a supplementary collection of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), one based on a mixed online and face-to-face administration, and one based on a representative online panel.

This study investigates the relationship between placement status and arrest rates among adolescents who experienced a group home placement. Using California child protection system records matched to California Department of Justice arrest records, the authors evaluate the effect of placement setting on likelihood of experiencing arrest. The results indicated that the probability of arrest was higher when adolescents were living in group homes or absconded from care, compared to periods in which the adolescents had transitioned to reunification or guardianship. During periods where adolescents were in family foster care settings, arrest rates were comparable to those who had exited to reunification/guardianship.

High-quality career and technical education and work-based learning opportunities can support students along a pathway to credential attainment, employment and upward economic mobility through intentional skill development and experiential learning. A career and technical education (CTE) concentration in high school can increase graduation rates while helping students build employability skills that can support positive outcomes in the workforce. When CTE concentration is paired with opportunities for postsecondary credit or a quality work-based learning experience, students are more likely to attain postsecondary and workforce credentials, successfully enter the workforce and earn higher wages. Researchers interviewed state leaders and policymakers, including state education agency staff, state workforce development agency staff, higher education agency staff and district leaders in Delaware, Iowa, Maryland, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Washington to better understand how they align CTE and work-based learning policies and programs with workforce needs. Based on this input, considerations for policy makers include 1) with a focus on inequities, collect and use data to identify and address inequities in CTE and work-based learning access; 2) recognize and support the diverse needs of districts and schools based on geographic and resource limitations; 3) leverage data alongside a strong and consistent definition of quality to evaluate and improve CTE and work-based learning programs; and 4) engage various stakeholders at each stage from ideation to program evaluation.

Building on prior work that examines community college students’ barriers to success and their relationship to student outcomes, this descriptive study examines the relationship between students’ time utilization, engagement with campus resources, financial and mental well-being, with academic persistence. Specifically, the researchers examined the relative importance of these barriers on students’ educational attainment and found that the incidence of adverse mental health is comparable to 4-year undergraduate populations. The rates of food and housing insecurity are comparable to previous studies, though strikingly high. While a plurality of respondents engage with multiple campus resources, this engagement is unrelated to their propensity to remain enrolled or complete additional credits. Most notably, mental health conditions were negatively related to persistence and credit accumulation, while the relationship between academic outcomes and measures of food and housing insecurity was smaller and not significant. The findings suggest that facilitating access to mental health supports is a prominent avenue for supporting student engagement and success.

The 2020 Census enumerated 331.4 million people in the United States, 323.2 million of whom lived in 126.8 million households. The remaining 8.2 million people lived in group quarters arrangements such as school dormitories, nursing homes, or military barracks. This report presents information on who lived together in American households in 2020, derived from the relationship question on the 2020 Census. Since 1880, the decennial census has included a question about the relationship of each person in the household to the householder—or the person designated as the one who owns or rents the home. This question tells a lot about the composition of families and households. This includes information about relatives of the householder such as biological children, adopted children, stepchildren, spouses, siblings, parents, parents-in-law, grandchildren, and sons-/daughters-in-law. It also includes information about non-relatives of the householder, such as roommates or housemates, unmarried partners, and foster children. In 2020, specific categories were introduced for opposite- and same-sex married and cohabiting couples. While there is a lot of variation in who lives together, the majority of the 323.2 million people living in households were the householder, the householder’s spouse or partner, or the householder’s children. These groups (288.1 million people) made up 89.1% of the household population. From 2000 to 2010, the number of households in the United States grew by about 11 million (a 10.7% change). But from 2010 to 2020, the number of U.S. households grew by about 10 million (an 8.7% change). This may reflect the slowing of total population growth during this time period. Nonfamily households increased more (12.3%) than family households (6.8%). However, family households remained about two-thirds of all households, as they were in 2010. Married-couple households remained the majority of family households, at 70.9%.

This research examines changes in labor force participation rates before and after the COVID-19 pandemic for states with and without broadband restrictions. As of January 2020, 18 states had legally restricted local governments and cooperatives from building their own broadband infrastructure and/or providing broadband internet to their communities. Such policies reduced broadband access and competition in states with restrictions compared to states without restrictions leading up to the pandemic. Given that work-from-home requires reliable and fast internet connections (e.g., broadband), the authors focus on married women with children, a population with more elastic labor supply that may especially value the flexibility that work-from-home offers. The authors find that married mothers’ labor force participation and employment decreased by 1.7% and 2.2%, respectively, in states with restrictions after the pandemic compared to states without restrictions. Labor force outcomes for women without children and married men with children were unaffected by broadband restrictions.

As life expectancy in the U.S. increases, older adults will comprise a larger share of the population than ever before. At the same time, older adults will play an increasingly important role in the U.S. economy. Their contributions through consumption, labor, and unpaid activities—such as providing care to others and volunteering—is expected to grow to over $27 trillion by 2050, more than triple their contribution in 2018. For older adults— and America—to thrive amid this transition, it will be vital to ensure their financial stability, the foundation all people need to overcome financial hardships, pursue opportunities, and grow wealth. The authors’ analysis finds that nearly half of older adults don’t have the liquid savings they need to be protected from financial shocks. Fortunately, to fulfill their unmet need for savings, there is a significant opportunity—both at and outside the workplace—for a new generation of emergency savings tools to support older adults’ financial stability. The report provides five recommended priorities for policymakers to accelerate older adults' adoption of purpose-built emergency savings tools in and out of the workplace. 1) Scale and automate all forms of emergency savings at work for older adults. 2) Experiment with automatic enrollment into emergency savings from non-labor sources of income. 3) Ensure that new emergency savings products have best-in-class design features and are optimized for older adults. 4) Raise awareness of the need for an emergency savings account among older adults. 5) Remove barriers to saving that would limit the impact of emergency savings tools, such as asset and income limits.

In the 2016 National Hospital Care Study (NHCS), 146,672 patients had a childbirth delivery hospitalization and were eligible for linkage to 2015–2017 Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administrative data. Among this study population, 9,559 patients (6.5%) received housing assistance from 2015 to 2017. Among those who received housing assistance, 66.5% visited large metropolitan hospitals, 71.8% were insured by Medicaid, and 3.0% experienced severe maternal morbidity. Among patients who did not receive housing assistance, 74.0% visited large metropolitan hospitals, 35.6% were insured by Medicaid, and 1.9% experienced severe maternal morbidity. Nearly two-thirds of patients who received housing assistance from 2015 to 2017 were receiving housing assistance at the time of their delivery hospitalization (63.6%). And although these findings are not nationally representative, this report illustrates how linked NHCS–HUD data may provide insight into maternal health outcomes of patients who received housing assistance compared with those who did not.

This brief presents current estimates of enrollment in health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces and the Medicaid expansion and the subsequent reductions in state-level uninsured rates since the ACA was implemented in 2014. Marketplaces and Medicaid expansion, programs created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), have enrolled millions of Americans in participating states since their implementation in 2014. According to the most recently available administrative data, the authors estimate about 20.5 million consumers were enrolled in Marketplace plans as of February 2024 (across all 50 states and the District of Columbia). Furthermore, 18.6 million people (across 39 participating states and the District of Columbia) were newly enrolled in Medicaid as of September 2023 via the ACA’s expansion of eligibility to adults. Additionally, the brief notes that Marketplace enrollment continues to increase, reaching over 20 million for the 2024 plan year – a record high since the launch of the ACA Marketplaces a decade earlier. This trend has occurred in the context of an overall increase in health insurance coverage in recent years, including a decline in the uninsured rate – from 16% in 2010, prior to ACA implementation, to 7.7% in late 2023 according to the most recent federal survey data.

Kinship care is an important option to consider for kids moving through the child welfare system. A timely placement with relatives or close family friends can reduce the trauma a child experiences from being separated from their parents, siblings, friends, communities and even social support resources, such as schools and churches. Across the nation, more than 2.5 million children and youth live in these arrangements, known as kinship care, mostly outside the direct purview of child welfare agencies. Nearly 134,000 children who are in the custody of a child welfare agency live in a relative placement. This report presents survey results, which demonstrate increasing efforts by states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to promote kinship care and support the caregivers of children who are known to the child welfare system. Agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico received the 2022 survey; 46 agencies completed it. Survey results showed that many states have taken steps to help unlock resources available through licensing for kinship caregivers. Caregivers who are willing and able to become licensed foster parents gain access to important resources, including financial assistance. However, many kin who are willing to fill the role — and who welcome the children placed in their homes by child welfare agencies — cannot meet the licensing requirements of their state or jurisdiction. In most states, these kin caregivers miss out on financial assistance and other support services that would benefit the children in their care. Forty-one states allow relatives who want to become licensed foster parents to begin caring for a child before all required standards are met. However, many states do not provide financial assistance until approval. Compared to licensed foster parents, kin caregivers often receive less support and financial assistance even though they take on similar expenses and responsibilities. Understanding what states are doing to support kinship caregivers can inform new policies and practices. Both provisional licensing and waiver policies suggest that states are committed to placing children with kin, and they are also committed to supporting these placements. States can and should build on this momentum by implementing a new federal rule that allows them to create kin-specific licensing standards. This rule also requires states to offer equivalent support to both licensed kinship caregivers and licensed foster parents.