Earnings

Earnings

Broadened Horizons, Brighter Futures (BHBF) had the largest effects on long-term annual earnings (an average of $3,900 per year). BHBF aimed to improve economic self-sufficiency among youth receiving disability benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA) through person-centered planning (PCP), employment and education services, case management, financial work incentives, work-based experience, and job development.

Employment

Employment

Broadened Horizons, Brighter Futures (BHBF) had the largest effects on long-term employment (an average of 3 percentage points). BHBF aimed to improve economic self-sufficiency among youth receiving disability benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA) through person-centered planning (PCP), employment and education services, case management, financial work incentives, work-based experience, and job development.

Public benefit receipt

Public benefit receipt

Transitional Employment Training had the largest effects on long-term benefit receipt (decreasing the amount of public benefits received by $0 per year). Transitional Employment Training was a work training program for people receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI). It aimed to help them participate in the labor market by providing job training and transition-to-work support services.

Effects on long-term benefit receipt

$0

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.

Project NetWork Waivers

Intervention (standard name)

Participants received financial incentives, in the form of waivers, once their earnings reached $200 or self-employment exceeded a total of 40 hours. The provisions of the waiver were in effect for 12 months. During this period, the waivers allowed participants to circumvent mandatory special disability or blindness reviews for SSI applicants earning over $500 per month, which could lead to the determination that the applicant was no longer disabled. The waivers also prohibited employment from counting as a trial work period for SSDI recipients, and prevented an interruption of benefits..

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Employment Services [as compared with Transitional Work Experience (TWE)]

As part of the VA’s IPS program, an employment specialist worked with a larger team of clinicians and support staff to integrate mental and physical health treatment into the employment services of veterans experiencing homelessness. The employment specialist assessed participants’ vocational abilities and helped tailor an accelerated job search based on their strengths and preferences.

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

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Transitional Work Experience (TWE) Followed by Typical Services for Competitively Employed Veterans (CE)

TWE, part of the VA’s Compensated Work Therapy Program, helped participants develop work restoration plans and provided a rehabilitative work setting within the VA, other federal agencies, or private businesses in the community. After their participation in TWE, participants moved into CE, during which they could receive standard VA services (including the VA health care, education benefits, home loan assistance, disability compensation, and vocational rehabilitation and employment assistance).

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Transitional Work Experience (TWE) Followed by Typical Services for Competitively Employed Veterans (CE) (as compared with TWE Only)

TWE, part of the VA’s Compensated Work Therapy Program, helped participants develop work restoration plans and provided a rehabilitative work setting within the VA, other federal agencies, or private businesses in the community. After their participation in TWE, participants moved into CE, during which they could receive standard VA services (including the VA health care, education benefits, home loan assistance, disability compensation, and vocational rehabilitation and employment assistance).

Typical Services for Competitively Employed Veterans (CE)

CE participants were military veterans who found unsubsidized jobs in the competitive market on their own. They received the standard VA services, including VA health care, education benefits, home loan assistance, disability compensation, and vocational rehabilitation and employment assistance, but no specific employment-focused intervention. Veterans could receive the standard services indefinitely.