Earnings

Earnings

Transitional Jobs Reentry Demonstration (TJRD) had the largest effects on long-term annual earnings (an average of $1,094 per year). The TJRD provided people who were formerly incarcerated with job search and placement assistance and subsidized employment opportunities to help reduce recidivism and increase self-sufficiency among participants.

Employment

Employment

Abstinence-Contingent Wage Supplements for Drug Use had the largest effects on long-term employment (an average of 18 percentage points). Abstinence-Contingent Wage Supplements for Drug Use was designed to promote drug abstinence and vocational entry among unemployed adults in treatment for opioid use disorder by providing financial incentives dependent on verified abstinence.

Public benefit receipt

Public benefit receipt

Re-Integration of Ex-Offenders (RExO) Program had the largest effects on long-term benefit receipt (decreasing the amount of public benefits received by $0 per year). The RExO program aimed to promote employment and reduce recidivism by providing case management, mentoring, and other employment services to people recently released from prison.

Effects on long-term benefit receipt

$0

Decrease long-term benefit receipt

Education and training

Education and training

Bridges to Pathways (Bridges) had the largest effects on education and training (increasing the attainment of a degree or credential by an average of 4 percentage points). Bridges offered educational services and subsidized internships to help Chicago male youth with previous justice system involvement earn a GED and find employment.

Re-Integration of Ex-Offenders (RExO) Program

Intervention (standard name)

Twenty-four grantees offered the RExO program, including national nonprofits, faith-based community organizations, community health organizations, and local or regional nonprofits. The exact bundle of services each grantee provided varied significantly. In all programs, case managers coordinated service delivery and supported participants. Most grantees offered group mentoring for participants, and a smaller subset offered individual mentoring.

Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies Project

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To further build the evidence around effective strategies for helping individuals with low incomes find and sustain employment, OPRE contracted with Mathematica to conduct the Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies (NextGen) Project. This project will identify and test innovative, promising employment interventions designed to help individuals facing complex challenges secure a pathway toward economic independence. These challenges may be physical and mental health conditions, substance misuse, a criminal history, or limited work skills and experience.

Employment Intervention for Justice-Involved and Substance-Dependent Adults

The employment intervention for justice-involved and substance-dependent adults offered 26 weeks of employment services, case management, and life-skills training by trained clinicians with experience in employment and substance abuse counseling. The intervention was offered in three sequential phases. The first phase, offered for four to five weeks, consisted of five one-on-one and five group sessions focused on obtaining immediate employment and initiating case management services.

Clean Slate Clinic

Intervention (standard name)

The Clean Slate Clinic provided services to people with criminal records to help them remove some or all items listed in their criminal records that job applicants are required to disclose as part of their employment applications. A lawyer obtained the client’s records of arrests and prosecutions (known as a rap sheet), reviewed the records to identify arrests and convictions that might be eligible to be cleared from the client’s criminal history, and then submitted a petition on behalf of the client for all eligible items.