Federal and state funding for infrastructure, workforce and economic development, and apprenticeship expansion are flowing into states and regional and local entities. Here we describe two of the primary challenges that come with this new funding and promising approaches to address them.
Implementation of sector strategies has been a focus of state and local workforce systems across the country, and evidence suggests there is an opportunity to strengthen and expand these efforts. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is partnering with AIR to develop an updated Sector Strategies ...
37% of adults in the Permian Basin, a 22-county area covering large swaths of West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico, are low literate. The Literacy Coalition of the Permian Basin is committed to confronting this challenge by providing resources, increasing awareness, and convening partners to ensure efforts are aligned and ...
Substance use and mental health conditions often co-occur among youth, but caregivers often do not know what to do when youth show signs of substance use problems. The Caregiver Guide: Substance Use Disorder Treatment Planning for Youth with Co-Occurring Disorders is designed to provide caregivers with a single source of ...
EmployIndy is guiding apprenticeship expansion in non-traditional occupations in Marion County and the greater Indianapolis Region. Through the EmployIndy Apprenticeship Hub project, AIR is providing strategic planning and technical assistance to advance EmployIndy’s strategic apprenticeship goals.
Mary Kay Dugan is a managing technical assistant consultant at AIR. She is passionate about identifying evidence-based promising practices and translating them into policies and effective programs focused on underserved populations including disadvantaged youth and young adults. Dugan has over 30 years of experience helping federal, state, and local governments ...
Raising awareness and increasing the understanding of mental health can change the way society views and responds to this complex issue. AIR promotes positive mental health through school and community-based approaches involving youth, families, school, health care providers, and other stakeholders.
The National Center for Healthy Safe Children offers resources, training, and technical assistance to support states, tribes, territories, and local communities as they promote overall wellbeing for students and their families.
While best-in-class sectoral programs have successfully raised participants’ long-term earnings, far too few individuals are able to reap the benefits of participating in these programs. The PROMISE Center at AIR is dedicated to learning what may work to help integrate these underserved populations into a vital workforce ecosystem. ...
Kathleen Guarino is a senior technical assistance consultant at AIR with expertise in child mental health, trauma, and trauma-informed care. In this Q&A, she discusses the challenges—and some unexpected opportunities—around mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine.