Participants in the comparison condition were randomly assigned to the HCD program. The HCD program focused on providing education and training to support future employment. Staff stressed that clients should spend time receiving education or training to prepare them for good jobs. Staff could impose financial sanctions (by reducing welfare grant amounts) if clients did not participate in required activities. In Grand Rapids, HCD began with a formal group assessment in the first week, during which public school staff spent 15 hours assessing achievement, aptitude, and career interests. Clients then usually participated in high school completion programs (distinct from GED classes) or vocational training. Case managers, who had limited individualized involvement with clients, emphasized participation and enforced participation rules by sanctioning nonparticipating clients. Case managers supported clients by directly paying child care providers and reimbursing transportation costs. A community education center offered job clubs. The program expected that most clients would complete training or educational activities within two years, but a longer duration could be approved based on client needs. The study did not specify how long the program monitored clients’ participation to examine whether a sanction should be applied to their case.
The cost per participant was $8,940, including $3,314 in postsecondary education, $1,804 in vocational training, $1,422 in job search, and $1,368 in basic education costs. Program services for the HCD group were estimated to be $10,727 per participant, so services for LFA participants cost $1,787 less per participant. The study did not discuss a comparison of costs and benefits.
Individuals were randomly assigned between September 1991 and January 1994. The study reports impacts five years after random assignment.
The LFA program focused on rapid job placement. Staff encouraged clients to move quickly into work without being selective about which job to take. LFA program staff first assigned clients to a job club operated by public school staff in a community education center, which lasted for two weeks. Clients then spent up to three weeks applying to jobs. Clients had to make 6 in-person job inquiries or send 15 job inquiry letters per week. Participants who did not find a job during this period could go on to participate in unpaid work experiences, more job searching, vocational training, or basic education. Key elements of the program included the following:
- Job clubs. Job clubs taught appropriate work behavior, job search skills, and career exploration. They included time for participants to call potential employers and schedule interviews from a “phone room.”
- Basic education. Basic education programs included high school completion, GED, adult basic education, and English-as-a-second-language programs.
- Vocational training. Vocational training was offered in areas such as automotive maintenance and repair, cabinet and furniture making, and truck driving. Participants could engage in vocational training for up to nine months.
- Case management. Case managers, who had limited individualized involvement with clients, emphasized participation and enforced participation rules by requesting sanctions on nonparticipating clients. Case managers regularly visited service providers to ensure participants were attending programming. Case managers supported clients by directly paying child care providers and reimbursing transportation costs.
- Sanctions. Sanctions were imposed by income maintenance staff and temporarily reduced AFDC grants by $88 per month. The first time participants were sanctioned, they had to meet participation requirements for five days before a sanction was lifted. Subsequent sanctions were only lifted after 10 days of appropriate participation.
Though education and training activities were available to LFA participants, they were not emphasized, and only 31 percent of participants engaged in any education or training activity. In contrast, 61 percent of HCD participants engaged in an education or training activity. Work experience, college education, and individual job search were available but rarely assigned in either condition.
The study did not discuss any tools to measure fidelity to the intervention model.
Grand Rapids LFA was funded by the state of Michigan and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Education programs were typically funded by state and local education departments.
Grand Rapids LFA took place in Grand Rapids, MI. In 1993, the county unemployment rate was 5.5 percent. Grand Rapids averaged an AFDC caseload of 7,508, and the AFDC monthly grant was $474 for a family of 3. This grant amount was above the national median.
Grand Rapids LFA was implemented by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which was the state agency for AFDC.
A community education center provided job clubs. Adult education programs were primarily provided by state and local educational institutions (though some participants attended programming at a for-profit learning center). Job Training Partnership Act agencies, public schools, and community colleges offered vocational training.
All Grand Rapids LFA study participants were single parents who received AFDC benefits and were required to enroll in the JOBS program, a welfare-to-work program that required activities such as job searching, education, and job training as part of the Family Support Act of 1988. At the time of random assignment, 96 percent of participants were female, and the average participant was 28 years old. Half of participants were White; 39 percent of participants were Black or African American, not Hispanic; and 8 percent were Hispanic. Forty-one percent of participants did not have a high school diploma or GED.
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.
Job clubs lasted for about one month, and clients who completed job club but remained unemployed could receive multiple rounds of short-term education or vocational training for periods of nine months. The study did not specify how long the program monitored clients to confirm that they participated in required activities.
Of the participants assigned to Grand Rapids LFA, 69 percent participated in any LFA activity, 48 percent participated in job search, and 31 percent participated in any education or training. Participants engaged in JOBS activities for an average of five months.
Case managers developed participants’ service plans, provided supportive services, monitored participation, and requested that sanctions be imposed or lifted. They had about 10 years of work experience and about 6 years of experience in their current position, on average, and they all held bachelor’s degrees. They did not receive formal training on the JOBS program, though supervisors explained policies and procedures to new staff.
Income maintenance staff were authorized to impose and remove sanctions and referred individuals to the program. Their average caseload was 152 cases. On average, they had worked in their positions for 5.5 years. Less than one-third (30 percent) held a bachelor’s degree or higher. Case managers’ average caseload was 120 participants.
Teachers in the Adult Education programs had an average of eight years of experience.
The study authors did not include information on the number of staff.