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Jobs-Plus providers targeted 18 public housing developments across New York City and focused on recruiting residents who "lacked meaningful connections to the labor market." Recruitment strategies included hiring community coaches from within the developments to help with recruitment, utilizing social media, word of mouth, referral prizes, and community events. Although most participants lived in the targeted developments, some did not live in public housing or lived in a non-targeted development. This study focused on effects of living in a targeted development. To assess these effects, researchers compared earnings and employment outcomes of all working-age, nondisabled people who were officially living (on-lease) in targeted developments when Jobs-Plus was first implemented to outcomes of working-age, nondisabled individuals who were on-lease residents in a set of comparison public housing developments at the same time. To select the comparison developments the study team matched each targeted housing development to 2 to 4 non-target public housing developments that were similar with regards to structure (including mixed-income status); resident characteristics (including proportion of working-age nondisabled adults race, ethnicity, and average annual household income); and neighborhood characteristics.
This study focuses on Jobs-Plus sites that began operating in the third quarter of 2013. The evaluation tracks earnings and employment through 2016.
The NYC Human Resources Administration contracted with community-based organizations to provide Jobs-Plus services. The NYC public housing authority (NYCHA) implemented the Earned Income Disallowance and activities to promote community support for work. The NYC Office of Financial Empowerment oversaw the financial counseling.
Jobs-Plus primarily served residents of one of 18 public housing developments in New York City and focused on individuals with minimal connection to the labor market. Jobs-Plus members received employment-related services including job search assistance, job placement support, work readiness activities, soft skills training, and supportive services. Members also received financial counseling and assistance applying for Earned Income Disallowance benefits to avoid increases in rent based on increases in earnings. Jobs-Plus also included activities intended to strengthen community and community support for work within the target public housing developments. This study examines the effects of living in one of the 18 targeted public housing developments. Therefore, the intervention group includes all on-lease residents of the 18 targeted developments—including those that did and did not enroll in Jobs-Plus.
Comparison group members were on-lease residents in about 36 public housing developments that did not offer Jobs-Plus. Although Jobs-Plus was intended to be exclusively for residents of the targeted developments, the program did serve individuals not in public housing and those outside the targeted developments. Thus, comparison group members could have accessed Jobs-Plus.
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This study evaluated Jobs-Plus as implemented in 18 public housing developments in New York City, NY. Community-based organizations provided Jobs-Plus services under contract with the city.