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The Illinois Department of Human Services referred unemployed, long-term recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families who were available to work to the Transitional Community Jobs (TCJ) program, a subsidized employment program. The prospective participants underwent an intake process focused on barriers to employment, educational background, and current substance use. The program referred people with substance abuse challenges to treatment, while the remaining prospective participants began the employment services component of the program.
After completing the employment services component, the program placed some participants in subsidized jobs. The authors do not specify how these participants were selected but note that "evaluators formed these groups after assessing service utilization patterns in order to best assess the impact of the subsidized job on employment and other outcomes."
The program was studied between January 2000 and June 2001.
Catholic Charities hired Heartland Alliance’s Mid-America Institute on Poverty to evaluate the TCJ program. The Joice Foundation provided funding for the program evaluation.
Catholic Charities
Members of the subsidized job group received traditional employment services like job-readiness classes, resume coaching, and interviewing skills development, as well as a six-month paid position in a nonprofit organization.
The limited services group received the same employment services—job-readiness classes, resume coaching, and interviewing skills development—but was not eligible for placement in a subsidized job.
None.
Participants began the program with employment services like job-skills classes, job banks, and life-skills peer groups. Those deemed most likely to benefit from the subsidized job component were placed in a Catholic Charities nonprofit position for six months, at which point they were to seek unsubsidized employment. The authors note, however, that program officials maintained contact with participants after they left the transitional job to provide further assistance in case of job loss or difficulty finding an unsubsidized position.
The program took place in Chicago, IL, from January 2000 through June 2001.