Atlanta’s HCD program stressed that participants should spend time receiving education or training to prepare for good jobs. At the start of the program, case managers assigned participants to adult basic education courses or vocational training programs. Participants were assigned to adult basic education courses more often than training programs because many vocational programs required GEDs or certificates that the participants did not have when starting the HCD program. Case managers had limited individualized involvement with participants but emphasized the importance of participation and supported participants by offering child care and transportation assistance when needed. Case managers could enforce participation rules by imposing sanctions on nonparticipating clients that temporarily reduced their welfare grant amounts by $45 for a family of three (in 1993 dollars). The sanction could last until the participant agreed to participate in the program activity. The program expected that most participants would complete training or educational activities within two years but approved longer durations based on participant needs.
The program focused on single-parent AFDC recipients who were required to enroll in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills program. AFDC recipients were exempt from the enrollment requirement if they (1) had children younger than 1; (2) had 3 or more children younger than 10; (3) were employed 30 hours or more per week; (4) were medically unable to work; (5) were in the last trimester of pregnancy; (6) had resided in a mental institution at all during the previous 5 years; (7) had been enrolled in a rehabilitation center; or (8) were taking medication for a mental illness. Atlanta’s HCD program was implemented in Atlanta, GA.
The effectiveness of HCD when compared with LFA indicates the effect of being referred to a set of services unique to HCD, or how much better the offer of HCD meets participants’ needs than the offer of LFA. HCD focused on providing education and training as a precursor to employment, whereas LFA focused on placing people into jobs quickly to build work habits and skills. Atlanta’s HCD and LFA programs were examined as part of the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies that also evaluated HCD and LFA programs in Riverside, CA, and Grand Rapids, MI, and programs in Portland, OR; Detroit, MI; Oklahoma City, OK; and two programs in Columbus, OH (Columbus Integrated and Columbus Traditional).
To help participants secure jobs that could lead to economic self-sufficiency, Atlanta’s HCD program focused on providing education and training to single parents who were Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients. This evaluation directly compared HCD with a separate intervention, LFA, in order to better understand which of the two interventions might be more effective. The distinctive features of HCD were adult basic education courses or vocational training programs.