Providing Technical Assistance to Grantees Helping Families Navigate the Workforce and Child Care Systems

The U.S. Department of Labor established the Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI) to help parents gain the training and education needed to increase their skills to obtain or advance in jobs in high-growth industries that often rely on visas to hire skilled foreign workers. SWFI grantees aimed to increase access to education and training by mitigating barriers that parents face, especially barriers to child care. To achieve SWFI’s ambitious goals, grantees also sought to create sustainable local changes to help families navigate the workforce and child care systems after the grants end. This brief shares how the Mathematica technical assistance team supported SWFI grantees in their program operations. The SWFI TA team collaboratively worked with SWFI grantees to identify challenges, brainstorm solutions, and implement strategies to provide services to parents seeking to improve their skills. The SWFI TA team used multiple methods to support SWFI grantees, including coaching, peer sharing, webinars, convenings, and tip sheets.