Study Details | Pathways to Work

101035-Study of Bridges to

Study quality: High

High

Reason for the rating: This study received a high study quality rating because it is a low-attrition randomized controlled trial with no known issues that suggest the findings cannot be attributed to the intervention.

Intervention: Bridges to Success

Services provided:

Case management, Performance- or behavior-based financial incentives

Setting: Urban only

Study design

Design:

Randomized controlled trial

Study group formation:

Participants were recruited from high-poverty neighborhoods in Rochester, NY, through door-to-door visits and agency referrals. Study participants were randomly assigned to a treatment group that could access the BtS program or a control group that could not. For the first study cohort (those enrolled between January 2017 and April 2018), participants were randomly assigned to each group with 50 percent probability, stratified by time of enrollment. For the second study cohort (those enrolled between February and July 2020), participants were randomly assigned with two-thirds probability of being assigned to the treatment group and one-third probability of being assigned to the control group, with no stratification.

Time period of study:

7 years (2017-2023)

Primary outcome domains examined:

Increase short-term employment, Increase long-term employment, Increase short-term earnings, Increase long-term earnings, Decrease short-term benefit receipt

Other outcome domains examined:

Housing, family relationships, health, social networks, finances

Study funded by:

J-PAL North America, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Arnold Ventures, and the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO).

Results

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Outcome domain	Measure	Timing	Study quality by finding	Impact	Units	Sample size
Increase short-term earnings	Quarterly earnings	1 year	High	83.00	2021 dollars	356
Increase long-term earnings	Quarterly earnings	3 years	High	38.00	2023 dollars	356
Increase short-term employment	Employed in quarters 3, 4, or 5 since random assignment	1 year	High	6.00	percentage points	356
Increase long-term employment	Employed in quarters 11, 12, or 13 since random assignment	3 years	High	8.00	percentage points	356
Decrease short-term benefit receipt	Amount of AFDC/TANF benefits, annual	1 year	High	15.00	2019 dollars	273
Decrease short-term benefit receipt	Amount of food stamps/SNAP benefits, annual	1 year	High	44.00	2019 dollars	273
Decrease short-term benefit receipt	Received AFDC/TANF, follow-up period	1 year	High	2.00	percentage points	273
Decrease short-term benefit receipt	Received food stamps/SNAP, annual	1 year	High	6.00	percentage points	273

Short-term outcomes are those measured 18 months or fewer after participants are first offered services. Long-term outcomes are those measured between 18 months and 5 years after participants are first offered services. Very long-term outcomes are those measured 5 years or more after participants are first offered services.

Findings quality key:

High
Moderate

Study quality terms?

The findings quality describe our confidence that a given study’s finding is because of the intervention. We do not display findings that rate low.

Findings key:

A moderate-to-large favorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance
A moderate-to-large favorable finding that might to be due to chance
A small favorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance
A small favorable finding that might be due to chance
A favorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size
A favorable finding that might be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size
A moderate-to-large unfavorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance
A moderate-to-large unfavorable finding that might to be due to chance
A small unfavorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance
A small unfavorable finding that might be due to chance
An unfavorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size
An unfavorable finding that might be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size
A finding that is unlikely to be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size or direction
A finding of no effect that might be due to chance

Favorable findings are impacts in a direction that is socially desirable. Statistical significance indicates the likelihood that a study finding is due to the intervention, rather than due to chance. Findings are described as moderate-to-large if the intervention produced a sufficiently large change in the outcome. An impact receives this designation if the standardized effect size is equal to or greater than 0.25 or equal to or less than -0.25.

Sample characteristics

Most study participants were female (77 percent), black (64 percent), and had children (60 percent). About a third (32 percent) did not have a high school degree or equivalent, with an average age of 37.3 years. Study participants had very low incomes, with only about a third of participants working at baseline and with average earnings of less than $1,200 per quarter.

Age

Mean age

37 years

Sex

Female	77%
Male	23%

Participant race and ethnicity

Black or African American	64%
White	9%
Hispanic or Latino of any race	26%
Another race	27%

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

Family status

Parents

60%

Participant employment and public benefit status

Were employed

34%

Participant education

Had a high school diploma or GED	68%
Did not have a high school diploma or GED	32%

Intervention implementation

Implementing organization:

The Catholic Family Center, Action for a Better Community, and Community Place of Greater Rochester

Program history:

BtS was part of pilot adult mentoring programs that did not exist prior to the study

Intervention services:

Bridges to Success (BtS) is an intensive adult mentoring and comprehensive case management program in Rochester, NY. Treatment group participants were assigned a mentor who worked with participants over two years to identify their short- and long-term goals, create step-by-step plans for progress, and provide cash incentives for completing planned steps.

Mandatory services:

None

Comparison services:

The control group could access temporary services through referrals to meet immediate needs, but not the intenstive case management and long-term mentoring, structured goal-setting, or financial incentives provided by BtS.

Service receipt duration:

2 years

Intervention funding:

The City of Rochester, NY, and the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative

Study publications

Espinosa, Javier, William N. Evans, David C. Phillips, and Tim Spilde (2024). How Do Holistic Wrap-Around Anti-Poverty Programs Affect Employment and Individualized Outcomes? NBER Working Paper 32911. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3386/w32911

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The Pathways Clearinghouse refers to interventions by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some intervention names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.

Study of Bridges to Success