FHI 360’s National Institute for Work and Learning (NIWL) partners with federal, state, local, and Tribal governments, community-based organizations, education and workforce agencies and community members to design, implement and evaluate social programs. Along the way, we and our partners learn alongside one another to develop our collective capacities to advance equity, health and well-being through data-driven, locally led solutions — so that humanity thrives.
Audience: Policy Leaders
Our work in 2023 highlights our pivotal role as an intermediary organization. In fulfilling our mission to advance access, equity and excellence in education and workforce systems, we focus on bringing people together, listening to our partners and local leadership, fostering networks of support and providing a comprehensive spectrum of services for learning and workforce development.
Read NIWL’s 2023 Annual Report to learn more about our work to strengthen our partners and forge connections so that we can all reach our fullest potential.
Just looking for the highlights? Check out our 2023 Infographic.
FHI 360’s National Institute for Work and Learning partners with federal, state, local, and Tribal governments, the private sector, and civil society to improve the education and employment outcomes of young adults, ages 18 through 24, during and after involvement in the U.S. criminal justice system. Read this overview of our comprehensive services.
This fact sheet profiles the work of FHI 360’s National Institute for Work and Learning (NIWL), which focuses on two key drivers of individual well-being: education and employment.
The individuals and communities we serve include those from historically underserved communities, who may be impacted by poverty, displaced from education or the workforce, involved with the justice system, or experience systemic and institutional inequities. By collaborating with these communities to devise responses to their needs and priorities we advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in work and learning. This Annual Review summarizes our work in 2022.
FHI 360 has launched the Post-Release Employment Program (PREP) to fast-track participants from behind bars to employment within six weeks. Participants complete two-thirds or more of the employment training pre-release with expedited connection to employers upon graduation. PREP is designed to respond to the critical needs and challenges of individuals returning from jails or prison into their communities.
Going the extra mile: A case study of rural reentry in Arkansas provides an exploration of a rural community in southeast Arkansas that takes a unique, individualized approach to reentering young adults ages 18-24. The received wisdom on rural reentry is that it is generally more difficult than reentry in an urban setting. Phoenix Youth and Family Services, which serves a rural part of Arkansas, has excelled on key outcomes as part of FHI 360’s Compass Rose Collaborative (CRC)1, a project funded by the U.S. Department of Labor to improve the education and employment outcomes of young adults,
ages 18 through 24, after involvement in the U.S. criminal justice system.
Phoenix Youth and Family Services provides wraparound support services to its participants to help juveniles, young adults, and families secure a safe, healthy, and strong life
Restorative, or humanizing language, removes stereotypes and labels and shows solidarity and support to people and communities impacted by a variety of circumstances. Through this guide, we encourage our clients and partners to support and lead change.
This highlights the work and success of NIWL programming in 2020.
A New Justice Paradigm: Collaborative Approaches for an Equitable System, explores the justice system from the perspective of criminal justice practitioners and young adults aged 18 to 24 who have been impacted by the justice system. We take this approach both to understand better— at the ground level—the system that exists and to help imagine a more supportive, more efficacious, and more equitable alternative. Some of the striking elements of the current justice system include the overwhelmingly disproportionate representation of young Black males in the system and the tragedy of how trauma has affected their young lives. Institutional inflexibility, from first contact with law enforcement through incarceration, limits young people’s chances to break the cycle of poverty and to pursue work and learning opportunities that could enrich their lives and their communities.