This presentation was given at the 57th National Association for Welfare Research and Statistics (NAWRS) Workshop in 2019. Moderated by Mike Fishman, this presentation provides an overview of the results of studies comparing the work rates of formal versus subsidized employment and the impact of social enterprise on subsidized employment.
The objective of the Family Options Study is to provide research evidence to help federal policymakers, community planners, and local practitioners make sound decisions about the best ways to address homelessness among families. The study will compare four combinations of housing and service interventions for homeless families who have been in emergency shelters for at least seven days. The study is conducted as a rigorous, multi-site experiment, to determine what interventions work best to promote family stability and well-being.
This brief summarizes the experiences of leaders and staff from eight career pathways programs that participated in the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) Evaluation. Based on firsthand accounts, the brief describes how staff perceived the benefits of participating in the randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluation, the challenges they experienced—in particular recruiting study participants and implementing its random assignment procedures—and how they overcame challenges. The brief then describes lessons staff learned from participating in PACE.
This presentation draws on: 1) administrative program data collected from over 700 individuals participating in International Rescue Committee career programs (workforce development programs that are explicitly focused on supporting refugees – regardless of previous professional experience or educational background – to move into higher-skill, higher-wage jobs); 2) in-depth, semi-structured interviews with more than 40 refugees from nearly a dozen countries that have participated in International Rescue Committee career programs and; 3) interviews with nearly 20 program staff and key
Subsidized employment and transitional jobs programs seek to increase employment and earnings among individuals who have not been able to find employment on their own. First-hand accounts of participants’ experiences in these programs can inform efforts to improve long-term employment outcomes for various “hard-to-employ” populations.
Since the mid-2000s, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has supported grants to provide healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) programming for youth and adults. More than half of grantees receiving HMRE funding since 2011 have offered relationship education to youth. The current grantee cohort, awarded in 2015, includes 47 HMRE programs, 32 of which serve youth in high school and/or community-based settings.
The Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) evaluation is a study of nine promising programs that use a “career pathways” framework for increasing education, employment, and self-sufficiency among low-income individuals and families. Funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, PACE will include three points of participant follow-up—at 18 months, three years, and six years after random assignment.
Despite this broad support, an EITC expansion for adults without children has yet to become policy in today’s environment of budget ceilings and efforts to rein in spending. The Paycheck Plus study will inform this debate by presenting evidence on the effects of this type of policy on low-wage workers’ income and earnings. This brief, the second in a series, provides an update on the project, describing the implementation of the bonus during the first year and receipt rates during the 2015 tax season.
This brief provides five practical tips for healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) practitioners interested in teaching HMRE in high schools. The tips are primarily for HMRE practitioners developing a school-based program for the first time, but they also have use for practitioners looking to improve or expand an existing school-based program. The tips help address a current need for research and information on HMRE programs for youth (Scott et al. 2017).
Research indicates that most families using emergency shelters stay briefly—one to four or five months—and rarely return (Culhane et al. 2007). However, some families remain homeless for long periods of time or experience repeated episodes of homelessness. These families may have characteristics and service needs that differ from those of families who leave shelter quickly and permanently. Communities and homelessness practitioners might benefit from identifying those families’ characteristics and experiences to improve targeting of services.