Level
child

Social Enterprise Intervention (SEI) (as compared with Individual Placement and Support [IPS])

SEI participants received continuous case management over the full 20-month intervention period. For the first eight months, participants attended classes twice a week for one and a half hours each session. In the vocational skills acquisition phase (four months), participants learned vocational skills such as, photography and silk-screening. In the small business skills acquisition phase (four months), participants learned accounting, budgeting, marketing, and management skills.

Work Experience and Work-Based Learning

Introduction

Work experience and work-based learning are two related strategies for helping people with low incomes improve employment and earnings outcomes. Work experience and work-based learning could include paid or unpaid work or learning experiences in a work setting, such as internships or community service jobs. Because interventions providing work experience are a subset of work and work-based learning interventions, this Evidence Snapshot summarizes the evidence on both of these types of interventions.

JOBSTART

Intervention (standard name)

Thirteen JOBSTART sites provided youth with instruction in basic academic skills, occupational skills training, supportive services, and job search assistance. Basic academic skills instruction was individualized and commonly focused on developing skills needed to pass a GED examination. Occupational skills training was classroom based. Youth could choose from various occupational skills courses that generally prepared participants for jobs requiring moderate or higher skills.

Accelerating Connections to Employment (ACE)

Intervention (standard name)

ACE offered occupational and job readiness training within the workforce system. The types of training varied based on labor market demands at each of the nine intervention sites. ACE also offered learning assessments at program intake; integrated adult education and basic skills training; student support services, including individual case management and additional academic supports when necessary; and transition services, including job search and placement. The duration of the intervention was 12 months.

Behavioral Day Treatment Plus Abstinence-Contingent Housing and Work Therapy (DT+) (as compared with Behavioral Day Treatment Alone [DT])

The DT+ intervention served people experiencing homelessness who had (1) a diagnosis of cocaine or multisubstance dependence that included cocaine use and (2) a coexisting nonpsychotic mental disorder. Participants had access to (1) eight weeks of behavioral day treatment, including lunch and transportation, followed by weekly group therapy; (2) housing; (3) support with setting goals related to employment and housing; (4) vocational counseling; and (5) referrals to job opportunities.