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Riverside Community College and the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services randomly assigned 1,043 volunteers to an intervention group that was allowed to participate in New Visions (a part of Riverside County's welfare-to-work program) or to a comparison group that was not allowed to participate. Clients were Phase 2 (post-employment) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients who had at least one child and worked at least 20 hours per week in an unsubsidized job. During Phase 2 of Riverside County's welfare-to-work program, the emphasis for clients shifts from job entry to education and job advancement.
Intake for the experiment ran from September 1998 to May 2002. Data collection ran through the end of 2003 for earnings and employment data and through summer 2004 for welfare payments and receipt and community college enrollment.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ACF, funded the evaluation.
The sample was all welfare clients who were parents. They were 94 percent female. Among people in the study, 45 percent had children younger than age 3, and 35 percent had three or more children. Slightly more than half the sample (53 percent) had never married, 35 percent were formerly married, and 11 percent were currently married. One-third were White (not Hispanic), 31 percent were Black (not Hispanic), 31 percent were Hispanic, and 4 percent were another race.
Riverside Community College and county TANF offices
The program began in 1998, concurrently with the evaluation, in response to welfare reform.
New Visions was a special college program for TANF recipients. Its goals were to prepare TANF recipients for community college–based occupational training programs, encourage lifelong learning, and improve employment outcomes. The program consisted of a 1-week orientation session followed by 24 weeks of academic instruction geared to preparation for college, occupational training, or both. The program included courses in mathematics, English, reading, and office-related computer software. In addition, during the 24 weeks, participants took a guidance class designed to prepare them with critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, job search, interpersonal relationship, and study skills. After the 24-week program, participants were placed in occupational training. The training was organized into modules of courses with breaks in between so that participants could more readily combine training sessions with work and family demands.
Individuals randomly assigned to the comparison group were not allowed to participate in New Visions; instead, they were encouraged to take part in other vocational programs offered through Riverside County's Phase 2 employment and training program, including other courses offered at the same community college accessed by intervention condition clients.
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The core New Visions program lasted 24 weeks. People in the treatment group could then enroll in a mini-program, and mini-programs typically required four to seven months of part-time study.
CalWORKS program for California community colleges; general community college funds.
The study took place in Riverside County, a large, diverse region in southern California with more than 1.6 million residents. It includes urban, rural, and suburban areas.
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