The CSPED provided noncustodial parents with case management, employment services, enhanced child support services, parenting classes, and domestic violence services. Each participant was assigned a case manager to assess needs and monitor progress. Employment services included job search assistance; job-readiness training; and assistance with job placement, job retention, and rapid reemployment following job loss. Participating sites were also encouraged, though not required, to provide job skills training, vocational training, education related to employment, and supportive services.

GRCC’s Pathways to Prosperity program served adults with low incomes and low educational and basic skill levels in high-poverty areas in Kent County, MI. The program focused on providing services to individuals who were unemployed, had not completed high school, or had been formerly incarcerated. Pathways to Prosperity offered an eight-week course known as Career Prep, occupational training programs that resulted in a GRCC certificate, basic skills courses, and adult basic education and GED courses. Through the Career Prep course, participants earned the Michigan Employability Certificate.

Six months before justice-involved adults were scheduled for release from prison, individuals were transferred to one of two facilities in Racine, WI. In these facilities, social workers would provide case management workups, which included an assessment of needs; risks; child support; credit; and personal documentation issues, such as a lack of driver’s license or Social Security number.

Individuals who enrolled in PCPP received accelerated instruction and academic advising by participating in one or more of three health care skills academies. The academies provided basic skills remediation and occupational training along with academic advising, instructional supports, access to emergency funds for one-time expenses, such as car repairs, and continued support after program completion. Each skills academy lasted for one semester, although students were able to enroll in up to three academies for a possible total duration of 1.5 academic years.

Caseworkers conducted an initial assessment interview and skills test to determine their clients’ needs and assigned clients to various activities. Clients without a high school diploma or equivalent were typically assigned to basic education classes. Clients with a high school diploma or equivalent and little work experience were typically assigned to a Community Work Experience Program. Clients with both a high school diploma or equivalent and work experience were typically assigned to a job club for intensive job search.

Integrated Case Management participants worked with a single case manager to improve their educational and vocational skills and to determine their welfare eligibility and payment issuance. Participants who did not have a high school diploma or general education diploma were assigned to basic education classes; participants with basic education credentials were assigned to vocational training, postsecondary education, or work experience. Case managers provided job search assistance after they determined that participants were employable.

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.

The Grand Rapids HCD program stressed that participants should spend time receiving education or training to prepare for good jobs. The program began with a 15-hour, week-long formal assessment component, during which public school staff assessed participants’ achievement, aptitude, and career interests. Participants then usually completed either high school completion programs (distinct from GED classes) or vocational training.

The Grand Rapids LFA program encouraged clients to move quickly into work without being selective about which job to take. Participants spent two weeks in a job club operated by public school staff, then began applying to jobs for up to three weeks. Participants who did not find a job during this period participated in unpaid work experiences, more job searching, vocational training, or basic education. Participants who completed the job club but remained unemployed could receive multiple rounds of short-term education or vocational training for periods of nine months.

The Indiana Welfare Reform Initiative was one of the demonstration projects made possible by Section 1115 waivers to the rules in effect at the time for the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program.