The Healthy School Meals for All Program (HSMA) provides funding opportunities for Colorado public school food authorities participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Programs (SBP) via reimbursement for meals provided to students who would otherwise pay full price for a meal. This reports provides an overview of…

This report illustrates the statewide implementation and effectiveness of school breakfast in Ohio. In the 2024-2025 school year, approximately 94% of Ohio schools with USDA nutrition programs serve breakfast. In the 2023-2024 school year, 27.2% of enrolled children participated in the School Breakfast Program and 54.5% participated in the…

Background: Children residing in households with very low food sufficiency (VLFS), where there is "often" not enough to eat, are more likely to experience academic, health, and psychological challenges. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a temporary universal free school meals (UFSM) policy was implemented, improving food access for children…

"Pathways to Implementation" highlights innovative strategies and effective models in career pathways policy, implementation, and programming, as well as challenges states encounter in this work. This seven-part series addresses the key elements of Bellwether's framework for career pathways policy implementation. Each brief defines the…

For more than a decade, the US Department of Labor (DOL) has prioritized apprenticeship expansion by promoting apprenticeship in nontraditional occupations (i.e., outside the construction sector) and by encouraging apprenticeship as a training option to increase the number of apprentices. Two ways to expand apprenticeships are to approve new…

This report is prepared in compliance with SB 5950, Section 4(e), which directs the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to report enrollments and active caseload for the Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) program to the governor and the legislative fiscal committees and the legislative-executive WorkFirst Poverty…

The use of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) has grown dramatically over the past decade to support the skills and reflective capacity of adults who care for infants and young children birth to kindergarten entry. Research to date has shown promise for IECMHC to support children's social and emotional development.…

Promise programs are discussed as a policy movement that began with the 2005 launch of the Kalamazoo Promise. Since then, programs bearing the Promise label or sharing similar features have spread across the higher educational landscape, appearing in most states and across postsecondary sectors. Simultaneously, scholarly literature discussing…

Even in good economic times, many adults in the United States have trouble finding jobs that pay enough to support their families. One policy response has been to help these workers build more skills, with promising findings from some sector-based programs that train individuals to work in specific high-demand industries. The Pay for Success Clean…

Concerns about the rising cost of college and growing student loan debt have intensified in recent years, with 85% of non-enrolled adults citing affordability as a key barrier (Gallup & Lumina Foundation, 2024) and a third of currently enrolled college students agreeing that their "institution charges too much for an undergraduate…

We examined the impact of 4-H participation on workforce readiness skill development, including personal, work, communication, and problem solving/decision-making. The study examined two levels of 4-H activities: county-level and state-level. The online survey instrument contained questions about demographics, skill development and 4-H…

The "Achieving Academic Equity and Excellence for Black Boys" (AAEEBB) grant is designed to address the academic and socioemotional needs of Black boys in Maryland Public Schools. In year two of the grant (2022-2023), 14 schools were each awarded $50,000 to implement programs that addressed recommendations from a state-level task force…

In Spring 2025, the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) launched one of its most concentrated financial aid outreach campaigns yet. The goal: Raise Washington's historically low Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion rates so more students could access the aid they deserve. With only three months left in the school…

Community-led solutions to educational challenges "can and will" sustainably increase the number of Washingtonians with education and training after high school. This framework demonstrates how the authors measure short- and long-term outcomes to capture partnership impact and population-level change. Washington Student Achievement…

A recent Common Sense Institute report addresses two important policy questions about Arizona's ESA program. First, how much will the ESA program cost in the upcoming year? Second, what are the characteristics of ESA users by household income and race/ethnicity? The report concludes that the ESA program is "essentially fully subscribed,"…