Breaking the Cycle: How Two YDPA Apprentices Are Healing Their Communities

“To me, that’s the biggest message with this apprenticeship — this is the perfect way to learn how to change lives.”

As we celebrate National Apprenticeship Week 2024, we highlight two Lake County Youth Development Practitioner Apprentices who use their work to break the cycles of trauma and heal their communities: Luis Garcia Jr. and Jenessa Armstrong. Click here to read about their journeys in becoming the person they wanted to have in their corner growing up.

A Community Approach to Addressing Native Incarceration: Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts

Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts have emerged as a promising community-based, culturally competent solution to disproportionate Native incarceration in the United States, drawing on the community to appropriately address the needs of justice-involved Native Americans. This review examines the disparities in Native incarceration in federal and state systems, as well as how these disparities can be addressed, including the role of Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts in effectively improving outcomes for participants.

A Legacy of Partnership

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.

Career MAP Overview

Designed in partnership with the Greater Washington Urban League (GWUL), the Career Mobility Action Plan (MAP) project takes a holistic approach to career mobility and success. A groundbreaking pilot, Career MAP is designed to remove barriers that families with low income confront as they pursue employment that can sustain them.

National Institute for Work and Learning (NIWL) Fact Sheet

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.

Research & Evaluation Fact Sheet

The National Institute for Work and Learning (NIWL) at FHI 360 conducts high-quality research and evaluation to inform policies, practices and program models in education, employment, social services, and community systems. Our expertise is cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary. Our approach combines methodological rigor with deep content knowledge and a commitment to collaboration.

Going the Extra Mile: A Case Study of Rural Reentry in Arkansas

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

Providing Education Inside the Walls: A Michigan Pilot

In 2021 FHI 360 began a collaborative project with the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Career and Technical Education, to test a replicable 360 model designed to enhance the career and technical educational program offerings for teachers within Michigan juvenile justice facilities and potentially juvenile facilities throughout the nation. FHI 360’s technical assistance specialists in justice, education, workforce, community development, and research and evaluation, provided four hours of comprehensive and responsive training and technical assistance to 34 teachers and direct service staff at four Michigan juvenile justice facility schools. Learn more about how educational programs offered in facilities reduce recidivism and improve employment outcomes.

NIWL 2020 Year In Review

This highlights the work and success of NIWL programming in 2020.

The Show Must Go On: FHI 360’s Alliance Building and Training Session (ABTS) As A Model Online 3-day Event

This document provides a brief overview of NIWL’s capabilities as it relates to pivoting in person conferences to engaging virtual events