On July 16, 2009, Senators Jim Webb, Sherrod Brown, and Representatives Patrick Kennedy and Ruben Hinojosa introduced the "Adult Education and Economic Growth Act of 2009" ( S. 1468 and H.R. 3238). This legislation would invest in workforce development, education, and training to prepare adults to participate in the changing workforce.

New York City faces a civic crisis of “disconnected” youth and young adults. There are over 163,000 young people ages 16 to 24 who are neither in school nor in the labor force. When we add the number of “unemployed” young adults, who are actively seeking work but unable to find it, we have more than 220,000 young people who are not in school nor working—nearly one in five of the total age group. These young people—largely youth of color from poor communities—are at high risk of becoming permanently disengaged from the labor market, threatening their ability to break out of the cycle of poverty and contribute to our economy and community. Their idleness represents a great waste of resources and human potential. The Community Service Society of New York looks offers recommendations.

More than 20,000 public housing residents are seeking jobs in New York City’s
recession economy. The city and the Housing Authority have every reason to
connect them to opportunities.

A new report from the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics tracks 40 key indicators measuring children’s economic circumstances, health, physical environment and safety, family and social environment, behavior, and education. Some troubling statistics include: In 2007, the poverty rate for children rose from 17% to 18% from the previous year and 12.4 million children in America - or 17% of all kids - live in households that are food-insecure.

The National Women's Law Center reports that unemployment among women who maintain families -- who have no other income to fall back on and are especially vulnerable -- jumped to 11.7 percent, an increase of 17 percent in three months.

New hires often lack the basic skills they need to do the job and efforts on the job to help them fill the gaps are only moderately successful. This report from Corporate Voices for Working Families argues that corporate America needs to strengthen partnerships with community colleges to prepare entrants before they enter the workforce.

First passed in 1998, the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) is up for reauthorization. Jobs for the Future has specific recommendations to strengthen a modernized workforce development system. This system should be powerful enough to build and maintain a 21st century workforce, multifunctional to meet the needs of youth, workers, employers and communities, and flexible enough to adapt to a dynamic, competitive global economy.

Here�s something you don�t see every day: a recent Aspen Institute report looks at the impact of job training programs on low-skilled and low-income workers � but this time, it�s from their own perspectives. The report captures participants� sense of how programs affected their families, community interactions, and self-esteem, and what challenges to success and stability remain. Among the continued struggles were finding affordable child care, medical care, and transportation and balancing the demands of work and family life, typically with little job flexibility or leave.

Low-income students who drop out—or are pushed out—of school without a high school diploma face long odds in their search for a path to a successful and stable adult life. In Birmingham, Ala., a former public school teacher is waging a fierce campaign to give such students a second chance. Gin Phillips reports on the World of Opportunity School.

Are state officials putting their money—and their measurements—where their mouths are when it comes to boosting postsecondary education among residents? This 50-state survey from Jobs for the Future finds that fewer than half of states specify measurable goals for increasing the proportion of their population with a postsecondary degree. Even those that do may not be doing enough to reach out to the public, and in particular under-represented populations, to promote an agenda of increased education, and to connect people to programs to make it possible to enroll and finish. The report concludes with concrete policy goals for states.