TAAG is a model from the Employment Retention and Advancement study. The TAAG program provided job retention and career advancement services customized to participants’ career interests and personal circumstances. A collaboration of four agencies provided TAAG services; the agencies included a local public human services agency, workforce organizations, and a community college. TAAG participants worked with a service team, supervised by a project manager and comprising staff from the four agencies. The teams included job coaches, job counselors, job developers, case managers, learning plan specialists, and employment specialists. Job retention services included job coaching and conflict resolution, assistance developing household budgets, and referrals to mental health and substance abuse services as needed. Advancement services included helping participants identify better jobs in the job market; coaching participants on how to have conversations with employers about pay raises, promotions, or increasing work hours; and counseling participants about appropriate work behaviors for work advancement opportunities. Some participants lost their jobs after they enrolled in the evaluation but before starting TAAG services. In these cases, the TAAG providers offered job search assistance, including identifying job leads, preparing résumés, and helping with job applications. The TAAG program provided additional services to help participants remove barriers to work, such as referrals to the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) to get assistance with food stamps, transitional child care services, and subsidized health insurance. TAAG participants could receive gas vouchers and funding for car repairs. The TAAG program also helped participants identify short-term vocational training programs to support job advancement as well as GED or other education programs. Participants were able to access TAAG program services for one year.
The program served employed people who (1) had recently left or were working enough to leave Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), (2) were participating in the state Food Stamp Employment and Training (FSET) program, or (3) were participating in the Employment-Related Day Care program (which provided child care subsidies to low-income, working families). TAAG took place in Medford, OR.
The TAAG program provided employment-related retention and advancement services to help workers with low incomes maintain their jobs and move ahead in the labor market.