Here's another installment of the Thursday Resources.  Enjoy!
Donna

Donna Brian
Moderator, LINCS Workplace Literacy Discussion List
Off-list contact djgbrian at utk.edu

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The Working Poor Families Project (WPFP) http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/indicators.html 
	This project is a national initiative designed to strengthen state policies that support and facilitate the economic advancement of low-income working families. The Project is focused on state policies involving: 1) education and skills training for adults; 2) economic development; and 3) work supports and job quality. Several reports have already been issued as a part of this project:

"Strengthening State Policies: The Process for Change"
http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/pdfs/WPFP_policy_brief_summer08.pdf 

"Using the Workforce Investment Act to Develop and Foster Innovative State Workforce Policies and Programs"
http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/pdfs/WPFP_policy_brief_summer08.pdf 

"Securing State Commitments to Family Economic Prosperity"
http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/pdfs/PovertyWinter20071.pdf 

"Strengthening State Financial Aid Policies for Low-Income Working Adults"
http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/pdfs/Policy_Brief-Financial_Aid_Fall2007.pdf 

"Strengthening State Adult Education Policies for Low-Skilled Workers"
http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/pdfs/PB_adult_education.pdf 

"Strengthening State Policies to Increase the Education and Skills of Low-Wage Workers"
http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/pdfs/WPFP_policy_brief_spring07_pdf.pdf 

"Using the American Community Survey to Strengthen State Policies"
http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/pdfs/wpfp_policy_brief_winter06.pdf 

"Promoting Student Success in Community Colleges by Increasing Support Services"
http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/pdfs/wpfp_policy_brief_fall06.pdf 

"Promoting Economic Self-Sufficiency as a State TANF Outcome"
http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/pdfs/wpfp_policy_brief_spring06.pdf 

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>From the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education   http://www.wiche.edu/ 

 
 "Beyond Social Justice: The Threat of Inequality to Workforce Development in the Western United States"
	This new report from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education paints a sobering picture of the future if the United States fails to bridge racial/ethnic gaps at all stages of the education pipeline.  The report examines how these gaps impact the current workforce, the wealth of individual states, and the future in a global economy.
http://www.wiche.edu/policy/Ford/beyondSocialJustice.pdf 

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>From the National Association of Manufacturers http://www.nam.org 


"Manufacturing Institute Launches First Industry-Focused Education Council"
	More than 25 education leaders from across the country have been named charter members of the first-ever Education Council focused on expanding and enhancing the manufacturing workforce, which met in Washington, D.C. Representing K-12, community and technical colleges, 4-year colleges and universities, the educators and officials were tapped by The Manufacturing Institute to assist in developing national strategies to keep the American manufacturing workforce globally competitive and create more high-paying jobs. The Manufacturing Institute is the research, education and workforce arm of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
http://www.nam.org/NewsFromtheNAM/ManufacturingInstituteLaunchesFirstIndustryFocusedEducationCouncil.aspx 

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>From NCVER (National Centre for Vocational Education Research, Australia)


"To have and to hold: Retaining and utilising skilled people"
	This report examines the ways in which Australian employers retain skilled staff and the ways in which employers enhance their ability to use the skills of their people. The study found that while strategies such as increasing wages and family friendly policies may increase an employee's job satisfaction, the key driver in employee retention is if they feel they are learning and progressing in their careers.
http://www.ncver.edu.au/research/proj/nr06004.pdf 

"Combining formal, non-formal and informal learning for workforce development"
	This literature review, undertaken for Australian Industry Group, shows how multiple variations and combinations of formal, informal and non-formal learning, accompanied by various government incentives and organisational initiatives (including job redesign, cross-skilling, multi-skilling, diversified career pathways, action learning projects, quality assurance arrangements, job rotations and mentoring programs), can be used to prepare workers to gain, maintain or progress through jobs.
http://www.ncver.edu.au/research/commercial/op03830.pdf 


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Brought to our attention by Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/mobility_and_opportunity.aspx 

"The Next Stage for Social Policy: Encouraging Work, Family Formation among Low-Income Men"
	The Earned Income Tax Credit enjoyed marked success bringing low-income women into the labor force in recent years. At the same time, labor force participation by low-income or less-education men stagnated, and declined among young black men. In response to these labor market conditions, this paper analyzes several EITC reform options directed at increasing the EITC for low-income workers, in the hopes of drawing these men into the labor force. We estimate the cost of various proposals and put forth an additional proposal that breaks the EITC into two components one focused on individual workers and one focused on supporting children.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411774_encouragingwork.pdf 

"The Transformation in Who is Expected to Work in the United States and How it Changed the Lives of Single Mothers and People with Disabilities"
	Using data from the Current Population Survey we follow the economic well-being and employment of single mothers and working age men and women with disabilities over the past two major United States business cycles (1982-1993 and 1993-2004) and show that despite the dramatic decline in AFDC/TANF funding, single mothers' economic well-being, labor earnings and employment all have risen substantially. In contrast, despite the dramatic increase in SSDI/SSI funding, the economic wellbeing of working age men and women with disabilities remained stagnant, as their labor earnings and employment plummeted.
http://www.aei.org/docLib/20081016_TheTransformationBurkhauser.pdf 

"Job-to-Job Transitions: More Mobility and Security in the Workforce"
	Between 1975 and 1976, only 8 percent of employees stopped working for one employer and promptly started working for another. Fully 12 percent chose to change jobs between 2006 and 2007. The labor market offers workers much more mobility than in the past. This benefits American workers. Increased mobility increases workers' choices and opportunities.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Labor/cda08-06.cfm 

"Bridging the Gaps: A Picture of How Work Supports Work in Ten States"
	This report analyzes the gaps in public policies intended to support low-wage working families, and shows how policy could be designed to give all working families the opportunity to bridge the gaps between their earnings and a basic standard of living.
http://www.bridgingthegaps.org/publications/nationalreport.pdf 

"Opportunity in America: The Role of Education" 
	One of the most accurate predictors of poverty is one's family economic status. Isabel Sawhill examines the evidence of intergenerational poverty and emphasizes the role of education in breaking the cycle of poverty from one generation to the next.
http://www3.brookings.edu/es/research/projects/foc/20060913foc.pdf 

"Parents Work, Depressive Symptoms, Children, and Family Economic Mobility: What Can Ethnography Tell Us?"
	Low-income work, job training, depressive symptoms or depression, and children's school performance. These topics have occupied the attention of scholars and policy makers in recent years, particularly as they pertain to single mothers in the context of welfare reform. Broadening this landscape, findings from longitudinal, multi-city ethnographic research reveal that low-income fathers also experience depression or depressive symptoms that hinder family economic mobility. Further, repeated scores from a community-based depressive symptoms measure embedded in the ethnographic inquiry show that the timing of parents' training and employment pathways, economic conditions, and policies in firms and children's schools intersect with parents' depressive symptoms or depression to affect mobility. Program and policy supports seem to mediate these intersecting mobility challenges.
http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1084&context=spp_papers 

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Brought to our attention by New Zealand Literacy Portal 

"ESOL in the post-compulsory learning and skills sector: An evaluation"
	This UK survey (34 pages) from the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills evaluates the quality of provision of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) offered in the post-compulsory learning and skills sector and reports on the programmes available to learners.
http://www.natecla.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_2987.pdf 

"The interplay between formal and informal learning for low skilled workers: Project description and methods"
	This Canadian report (25 pages) from Partnerships in Learning looks at the methods and description of a two-year project to trace the learning paths, trigger events and decisions that lead basic level workers to become engaged in both formal and informal training at the workplace.
http://www.nald.ca/library/learning/interplay/methods.pdf