- Log in to post comments
Subgroups
In San Antonio, evaluators identified newly employed Level 1 welfare recipients (those who had a high school diploma or general education diploma [GED], had worked in at least 12 of the last 24 months, or had a certificate from a training program). The research team randomly assigned people to either the PESD group or to a comparison group. Among the 778 newly employed welfare recipients identified, 386 (49.6 percent) were randomly assigned to the intervention group. Researchers attempted to collect administrative records for every person in the study and selected a random subsample of 428 newly employed welfare recipients who enrolled in the demonstration between July 1994 and August 1995 for a follow-up survey about one year after random assignment.
Individuals were randomly assigned from March 1994 to December 1995 and were followed for two years thereafter.
The Illinois Department of Human Services, Office of Employment and Training coordinated the evaluation, with individual sites using grants provided by ACF, U.S. Department of Human Services ACF
On average, sample members were 29 years old. Most sample members were female (99 percent), and, on average, their households included two children, the youngest of whom was nearly 5 years old. About 10 percent of sample members had not, at the time of random assignment, completed high school or a GED. Two-thirds of people in the study were required to participate in JOBS. About 97 percent had received Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) all of the year before random assignment. About 16 percent reported receiving welfare most of the time while growing up.
Texas Health and Human Services
The program is a demonstration program implemented for the first time during the evaluation.
Between spring 1994 and fall 1996, Texas received waivers to its Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) rules to provide additional case management services and financial support to newly employed welfare recipients in San Antonio. PESD case managers provided people enrolled in PESD with counseling and support, job search assistance, help with benefits, and service referrals tailored to the needs of individual recipients. The program also increased the amount of financial support available to newly employed welfare recipients for initial employment expenses and expanded the range of eligible expenses.
Sample members in the comparison group received the regular services available to employed AFDC welfare recipients in Texas. In San Antonio, JOBS case management services were available for 90 days after clients started a job, but large caseloads meant that employed clients were not likely to receive any substantial services.
Most participants were required to participate in JOBS to receive benefits.
The program expected to maintain contact with all clients during the first few months after they became employed, then expected the need for contact to decline. Case managers still had contact with about half of intervention group members one year after they became employed.
ACF, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
San Antonio, TX
None