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A total of 4,750 eligible families were randomly assigned from July 2007 through January 2008, with equal probabilities, to the Family Rewards program or to a comparison group that was not offered the incentives. Eligibility requirements included: living in selected community districts, income at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level, and at least one child in the fourth, seventh, or ninth grade. All participants had to be legal residents of the United States. Of the 4,093 families randomly assigned by the end of October 2007, 3,750 were randomly selected to participate in the 18- and 42-month surveys. Randomization was blocked evenly by the grade of the target child (a third of the sample came from families with a fourth grade child, a third from families with a seventh grade child, and a third from families with a ninth grade child). A "core" set of survey modules was administered to the families selected for the survey and 3,082 families completed this survey. A randomly chosen subset of the survey sample (2,502) was also administered a "noncore" set of survey modules.
Random assignment occurred from July 2007 through January 2008 and participants were followed for 42 months.
The Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City funded the study, under the direction of the New York City Center for Economic Opportunity.
Most families in the sample (80 percent) were headed by single parents, with an average of 1 to 2 children per household. Less than a third (30 percent) were living in public housing, and 59 percent were receiving Food Stamps. Ninety-four percent were female parents. The average age was 40 years old. Most (83 percent) were U.S. citizens, 47 percent were Hispanic/Latino, 51 were percent not Hispanic and Black, and 53 percent were currently working.
Seedco, a private national economic and workforce development agency, acted as an intermediary between Opportunity-NYC Family Rewards, which funded the conditional cash transfer program, and six community-based organizations that facilitated the program in each of the target neighborhoods. The six neighborhood partner organizations were: Urban Health Plan (UHP) and BronxWorks in the Bronx; Brownsville Multi-Service Center (BMC) (part of the Brownsville Commuity Development Corporation) and Groundwork, Inc. (GW) in Brooklyn; and Catholic Charities (CC) Community Services, Joseph P. Kennedy Center and Union Settlement Association (US) in Manhattan.
Opportunity NYC/Family Rewards was created at the same time as the study was undertaken.
Family Rewards is a conditional cash transfer program that ties cash rewards to pre-specified activities and outcomes in children’s education, families’ preventive health care, and parents’ employment. Cash assistance is offered to reduce immediate hardship as well as to build human capital to support reducing poverty over the long-term. Participants could receive cash incentives if they met education-focused conditions such as school attendance, achievement levels on standardized tests, and engagement with student's education; health-focused conditions such as maintaining health insurance coverage for parents and their children; and workforce-focused conditions aimed at parents, such as maintaining full-time work and participating in approved education and job-training activities. Family Rewards operates as an "incentives-only" program, providing no case management or other services outside of cash rewards.
The comparison group was not eligible to receive cash incentives.
None.
Clients received services for 36 months.
Private foundations including the Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Starr Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the Robin Hood Foundation, the Tiger Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, American International Group, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the New York Community Trust.
New York City
Health, Housing, Nutrition, Substance use, Financial assets, Savings behavior, Parenting and co-parenting, Couple relationships, Family formation, Child health and well-being, Child time use, Child academic performance