The BNF program provided customized, interactive life-skills education, mentoring, and service coordination through home visits. BNF participants received weekly or biweekly home visits during which master’s-level educators (with small caseloads of 12 to 18 clients) delivered curricula designed to improve life skills and family management practices.
WOW placed participants in specific training courses, based on standardized testing, that either provided basic education and skills training or specific technical training. Participants who scored at the sixth- or seventh-grade level on standardized testing enrolled in an 11-week basic educational skills and employability development course, followed by three weeks of unpaid work.
Cleveland ERA, also referred to as Achieve, delivered services directly in the workplace to low-wage workers.
Per Scholas participants enrolled in a 15-week computer technician training program that consisted of instruction and practice related to assembly, configuration, installation, upgrade, and repair of personal computers, printers, and copiers.
The training program prepared participants to obtain an entry-level computer certification. After the training, Per Scholas offered participants internships with local employers or with the Per Scholas recycling and refurbishing center.
Individuals first worked intensively with a case manager to determine the most appropriate services to help them find employment, including attending an orientation; receiving assessments measuring their educational attainment, interests, and needs; and developing an individual employability plan.
Year Up began with 21 weeks of technical skills training in areas such as information technology and financial operations. The program also included training in professional skills and classes in business writing and communication. Young adults could earn college credit for their coursework. Year Up participants were then placed in a six-month internship with companies in the region. Participants received a weekly stipend during both phases.
Participants started the program with a four-day preemployment, life-skills class focusing on job-readiness issues, such as workplace behavior, job search skills, and decision making. The program then placed participants in transitional jobs at New York City agencies. Participants worked in these transitional jobs for four days a week at the state minimum wage and were paid at the end of each day. On the fifth day of each week, participants met with job coaches at the CEO office to discuss their performance at the transitional job and prepare for future interviews.
The TWC’s transitional jobs program began with a two-week orientation, and from 2004 to 2007, the TWC paid participants a stipend of $25 for each day of orientation that they attended. The TWC staff then used information from interest assessments and other orientation tools to place participants in a transitional, subsidized job where the TWC paid them minimum wage. The TWC also trained on-site partners to mentor participants in the workplace. Participants worked at those jobs for 25 hours per week for up to six months.
Six employment and training organizations implemented the Fathers at Work Initiative. All sites offered three strategies: employment services, fatherhood workshops, and child support services. Each site had flexibility to determine how services were provided and diverged in how they provided skills training, the intensity of available fatherhood services, and the way they worked with child support agencies.
The TWC’s transitional jobs program began with a two-week orientation, and from 2004 to 2007, the TWC paid participants a stipend of $25 for each day of orientation that they attended. The TWC staff then used information from interest assessments and other orientation tools to place participants in a transitional, subsidized job where the TWC paid them minimum wage. The TWC also trained on-site partners to mentor participants in the workplace. Participants worked at those jobs for 25 hours per week for up to six months.
