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Evaluators matched six counties into three pairs on a number of economic and demographic characteristics. Within each matched pair, evaluators randomly selected one county to serve as the ASSETS intervention group and the other to serve as the comparison group. The resulting ASSETS and comparison county pairs were Limestone and Chilton, Clarke and Butler, and Madison and Tuscaloosa, respectively.
This review focuses on one matched pair of urban counties in northern Alabama (Madison and Tuscaloosa counties). Madison was randomly selected as the intervention group and Tuscaloosa as the comparison group.
Individuals were enrolled in the study from July 1990 to June 1993. Outcomes were observed until June 1994.
Alabama's Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and Food Stamp Program
The ASSETS program focused on several design features to increase administrative efficiency and recipient self-sufficiency. First, ASSETS restructured Alabama's major income security programs for low-income households. Under ASSETS, the Food Stamp Program (FSP) and AFDC program were consolidated into a single administrative process. This resulted in a more streamlined approach. Benefits from these programs were offered in the form of a single cash grant, rather than as coupons or checks, and financial eligibility criteria and program participation requirements were simplified and standardized. Second, ASSETS broadened the requirements for recipients to participate in employment and training programs. Third, ASSETS required the cooperation of recipients to establish court-ordered child support obligations. Finally, case managers administered all income assistance programs, determined Medicaid eligibility, and provided recipients with access to employment and training services.
The comparison group received services from the FSP and the AFDC program separately in two distinct administrative units, so the form of benefits, the administrative procedures, and benefits calculations were all different in the two units. Participation in employment and training programs and cooperation with efforts to establish court-ordered child support obligations followed the standard requirements of the AFDC program, the FSP, or both.
Nonexempt benefit recipients were required to register and participate in the ASSETS program and could face sanctions for failing to do so.