Public benefits recipients

Earnings

Earnings

Jobs-First Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) Program had the largest effects on long-term annual earnings (an average of $4,483 per year). Jobs-First GAIN emphasized a rapid employment strategy to help recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) improve their earnings and employment outcomes. 

Employment

Employment

Jobs-First Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) Program had the largest effects on long-term employment (an average of 6 percentage points). Jobs-First GAIN emphasized a rapid employment strategy to help recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) improve their earnings and employment outcomes. 

Public benefit receipt

Public benefit receipt

Delaware's A Better Chance (ABC) Welfare Reform Program had the largest effects on long-term benefit receipt (decreasing the amount of public benefits received by $1,093 per year). ABC aimed to increase earnings for recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) through personal responsibility requirements, work provisions, and time limits on benefit receipt.

Effects on long-term benefit receipt

$1,093

Decrease long-term benefit receipt

Education and training

Education and training

Transition WORKS had the largest effects on education and training (increasing the attainment of a degree or credential by an average of 28 percentage points). Transition WORKS aimed to empower youth receiving disability benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and improve their economic self-sufficiency through a series of workshops focused on self-determination, education and employment services, case management, financial incentives, work-based experience, and job development.

Massachusetts Employment and Training and Choices (ET) Program

AFDC recipients first participated in an assessment to identify barriers to employment success. After receiving counseling from their case managers, participants chose from a set of employment, remedial education, postsecondary education, vocational training, and supported work experience programs that best fit their needs and interests.

Training Focused Program

Intervention (standard name)

To continue to receive benefits, TANF participants were required to engage in employment-related activities for 32 hours per week. Program staff allowed TANF participants in the Training Focused intervention to decrease work hours per week to zero hours to pursue education and training activities, with the philosophy that eliminating the requirement to engage in work would allow participants to access the most useful education and training programs.

Transition WORKS

Intervention (standard name)

Transition WORKS participants completed an initial assessment and then participated in two person-centered workshops focused on self-determination (referred to as "self-determination workshops") in which they set goals and began to plan for their transition to employment.

Broadened Horizons, Brighter Futures (BHBF)

Intervention (standard name)

BHBF was based on the framework developed for the Youth Transition Demonstration funded by the SSA, which focused on making youth with disabilities as economically self-sufficient as possible during their transition to adulthood. BHBF participants met regularly with the community employment development specialists (CEDS), who helped develop and oversee a PCP process, consisting of exercises that helped participants identify their goals in education, emplo

Los Angeles County Transitional Subsidized Employment Program—Paid Work Experience (PWE) (as compared with On-the-Job [OJT] Training)

At the time this evaluation occurred, two Transitional Subsidized Employment programs were active in Los Angeles County: PWE and an on-the-job (OJT) training program. PWE placed each participant in a fully subsidized, six-month position at a public-sector or nonprofit organization, where they were paid minimum wage by the local Workforce Investment Board.

Los Angeles County Transitional Subsidized Employment Program—On-the-Job Training (OJT)

At the time this evaluation occurred, two Transitional Subsidized Employment programs were active in Los Angeles County: OJT and a paid work experience (PWE) program. OJT placed participants in a partially subsidized, six-month position at a for-profit, private-sector organization, where they were paid $8 an hour by the local Workforce Investment Board for the first two months. The intervention aimed to have participants make the transition into unsubsidized positions with the same employer when the subsidy ended. The average placement lasted two and a half months.

Los Angeles County Transitional Subsidized Employment Program—Paid Work Experience (PWE)

At the time this evaluation occurred, two subsidized employment programs were active in Los Angeles County: PWE and an on-the-job training (OJT) program. PWE placed each participant in a fully subsidized, six-month position at a public-sector or nonprofit organization, where they were paid minimum wage by the local Workforce Investment Board. Case management was provided to assist participants in searching for unsubsidized employment, and in the final month of subsidized employment, participants also received 16 hours of paid time to engage in a job search.

Family Rewards 2.0

Intervention (standard name)

The Family Rewards 2.0 program issued payments to participating families’ bank accounts for each activity that families completed or each condition that they met from an established list. The payments varied from $10 for each grade of C that each high school student earned on a report card, to $500 when high school students passed a statewide standardized exam. Payments were delivered every two months based on the activities or milestones recently completed, for up to three years.