For participants with low educational attainment or low math, reading, or English language skills at program entry, GAIN began with adult education or job search assistance. For all other GAIN participants, the program began with job search assistance, including job clubs and supervised job searches.

MFIP Incentives Only was one of the demonstration projects made possible by Section 1115 waivers to the rules in effect at the time for the AFDC program. These Section 1115 waivers allowed states to test new approaches to advance the objectives of the AFDC program. MFIP Incentives Only used financial incentives to encourage AFDC recipients to work and reduce their dependence on public assistance.

Career Builders began with two weeks of daily three-hour classes designed to help individuals understand why they had not succeeded previously in the labor market. In addition, to guide their job search, participants underwent extensive screening that identified barriers to employment and their strengths and interests.

PROGRESS assigned participants to a team of one case manager and one career development specialist. Case managers checked in with participants monthly and helped them obtain access to health care through Medicaid and assistance with child care and transportation. They also helped participants with housing, substance abuse, or other personal issues by providing counseling and connecting them to community resources.

Reach for Success revolved around case managers who recruited participants for the intervention, connected them with services, and helped them navigate through life crises and job loss. Case managers contacted participants at least once a month and provided individualized counseling to help them navigate new job responsibilities or interpersonal issues (at work or at home) that presented a challenge to their continued employment. Case managers were given a reduced caseload of 40 to 85 cases compared with the typical 100 to 120 cases per case manager.

MFIP was one of the demonstration projects made possible by Section 1115 waivers to the rules in effect at the time for the AFDC program. These Section 1115 waivers allowed states to test new approaches to advance the objectives of the AFDC program. MFIP used several strategies to encourage AFDC recipients to find employment and reduce their dependence on public assistance.

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.

HPOG aimed to prepare participants for careers in health care occupations that paid well and were expected to experience labor shortages or increased demand.

LARCA provided participating youth with case managers who worked with the youth to develop and monitor individualized plans identifying services that could improve youth’s life skills and work-readiness.

Next STEP participants received 2 weeks of work-readiness training and then worked with a job developer to search for a private job with subsidized wages. The subsidized job lasted for 16 weeks, with a full subsidy for 8 weeks and a half subsidy for the subsequent 8 weeks. All employers agreed to retain participants if they did well, and hired participants were invited to quarterly job retention meetings. In addition to subsidized employment, participants had access to case management, mental health services, financial incentives, and legal assistance.