Earnings

Earnings

Parent Success Initiative (PSI) had the largest effects on long-term annual earnings (an average of $983 per year). PSI provided noncustodial parents with low incomes support in finding work with the goal of improving participants’ employment skills and ability to pay child support.

Employment

Employment

Welfare Restructuring Project (WRP) had the largest effects on long-term employment (an average of 5 percentage points). The WRP created a work requirement for single parents and for two-parent families with a disabled or unemployed parent receiving cash assistance. It also provided financial incentives to work, with a goal of encouraging employment and reducing reliance on welfare.

Public benefit receipt

Public benefit receipt

Parent Success Initiative (PSI) had the largest effects on long-term benefit receipt (decreasing the amount of public benefits received by $503 per year). PSI provided noncustodial parents with low incomes support in finding work with the goal of improving participants’ employment skills and ability to pay child support.

Effects on long-term benefit receipt

$503

Decrease long-term benefit receipt

Education and training

Education and training

Supporting Families Through Work (SFTW) had the largest effects on education and training (increasing the attainment of a degree or credential by an average of 3 percentage points). SFTW provided noncustodial parents with low incomes with support to find transitional jobs; SFTW’s goal was to improve employment outcomes and participants’ ability to pay child support.

Work-Related Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (WCBT)

WCBT was delivered in two-hour group sessions, held twice weekly. Each group had two to seven participants. Sessions focused on psychoeducational topics related to work, cognitive restructuring, social skills education, and navigating work with a social anxiety disorder. Vocational services employees who had been trained in cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders led the sessions, with two leaders per session. WCBT participants were eligible to receive 16 hours of WCBT over the course of four weeks.

Enhanced Job Club (EJC)

Intervention (standard name)

EJC provided five weeks of classroom and job search workshops that aligned with participants’ occupational interests. During the first week, participants explored careers, identified their field of interest, developed career plans, and created resumes and master job applications. During the second week, participants refined their career development plans, practiced mock interviews, discussed previous job searches with EJC staff, and focused on specific job searches that aligned with their occupational interests.

Parent Success Initiative (PSI)

Intervention (standard name)

PSI participants attended a job-readiness course, called Learning Expectations and Developing Employment Readiness Skills (LEADERS), course for two weeks. In addition to providing information about the program services and its expectations, LEADERS included conflict resolution, work readiness, mock interviews, and help preparing resumes. LEADERS was intended to prepare participants for the National Work Readiness assessment, which they took at the end of the course to be placed on a work crew.

Supporting Families Through Work (SFTW)

Intervention (standard name)

SFTW started with a three- to five-day job-readiness workshop, during which participants took assessments and engaged in job-readiness activities. Participants were then assigned a case manager, who helped participants become more job ready; develop soft skills; and address barriers to work, such as a lack of clothing, transportation, or housing. Case managers also served as job coaches and helped match participants to transitional jobs based on their skills and interests, mostly with private-sector employers.

Transitional Jobs Program at the Transitional Work Corporation (TWC) [as compared to Success Through Employment Preparation (STEP)]

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.

Transitional Jobs Program at the Transitional Work Corporation (TWC)

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.

Success Through Employment Preparation (STEP)

Intervention (standard name)

STEP participants received home visits from community liaisons to identify and mitigate any barriers that might prevent participants from traveling to the program offices. In the program offices, participants were assigned a case coordinator, who conducted assessments to determine barriers to employment. Case coordinators worked with no more than 20 participants at a time. The case coordinator and specialized vocational rehabilitation staff developed a plan to address the barriers, and participants began activities tailored to overcoming their barriers.