For more information about the interventions covered in this profile, use the hyperlinks in Exhibit 1 below.
Are you looking for the best ways to support the young adults you serve? Young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 can face unique challenges and opportunities as they transition into the labor market. This Population in Focus page summarizes what we know about how labor market outcomes for young adults experiencing economic hardship are affected by interventions that aim to improve their education, employment, and economic self-sufficiency.
As of April 2023, the Pathways Clearinghouse identified 14 interventions that served young adults and had at least one study with evidence rated high or moderate. These 14 interventions were described in 14 studies. Across all interventions measuring impacts on a given outcome domain—earnings, employment, public benefit receipt, and education and training—the interventions with the largest long-term effects and a supported rating were the following:
Year Up had the largest effects on long-term annual earnings (an average of $12,466 per year). Year Up offered training and work experience in the information technology and investment operations fields to young adults to help them access careers with good pay and advancement opportunities.
National Guard Youth ChalleNGe had the largest effects on long-term employment (an average of 6 percentage points). The ChalleNGe Program aimed to improve the lives of youth who were out of school and under- or unemployed by providing education, positive youth development, and mentorship.
Teenage Parent Demonstration had the largest effects on long-term benefit receipt (decreasing the amount of public benefits received by $282 per year). The Teenage Parent Demonstration provided education, training, and supportive services to teenage first-time parents who were recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).
Decrease long-term benefit receipt
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.
The Success Program was a mandatory academic coaching program for freshmen who were placed on academic probation at the end of their first academic quarter, consisting of a two-hour workshop led by faculty coaches followed by either a one-on-one session with a coach or the completion of a reflection assignment after visiting a campus resource.
The Roca Pay for Success Pilot Program (Roca PFS Pilot) adapted an existing program focused on justice-involved youth to support men ages 17-24 who were on adult probation and aging out of foster care by connecting them to youth workers and providing individualized employment services, transitional employment, job placement, and post-employment follow up. Strong participant engagement with youth workers trained in evidence-based and clinical techniques of behavior change was a core component of the Roca PFS.
The Center for Employment Opportunities Prisoner Reentry Program (CEO Prisoner Reentry) was a 4-6 month program to help parolees get a job, make money, and build workplace skills. The Pay for Success (PFS) Pilot program adapted the CEO program by targeting participants with higher risks of recidivism, participation being a special condition of parole rather than a voluntary program, and increasing resources for outreach and communication with parole officers.
Ecologically-Based Treatment provided short-term housing assistance with intensive supportive services to young mothers experiencing homelessness and substance use disorders to facilitate stabilization. Participants received three months of rental and utility assistance and six months of supportive services, including strengths-based case management, HIV prevention, and clinical counseling for substance use and mental health needs using the Community Reinforcement Approach.
The program was evaluated in central Ohio.
Adult Connections Team (ACT) was an enhanced services intervention for youth in foster care ages 17 to 20 to promote employment, education, and mental health that included outreach by a youth specialist, coordinated mentoring, job readiness training, and externship services. After outreach from a youth specialist, youth could choose to participate in the mentoring component, the employment component, or both. After youth specialists coordinated a match, trained mentors met with youth for at least one year, with ongoing support from agency staff.
