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.

JOBSTART

Intervention (standard name)

Thirteen JOBSTART sites provided youth with instruction in basic academic skills, occupational skills training, supportive services, and job search assistance. Basic academic skills instruction was individualized and commonly focused on developing skills needed to pass a GED examination. Occupational skills training was classroom based. Youth could choose from various occupational skills courses that generally prepared participants for jobs requiring moderate or higher skills.

Accelerated Training for Illinois Manufacturing (ATIM) Program

ATIM case managers helped participants develop training plans to help them achieve their employment and career advancement goals. ATIM provided access to trainings, including basic skills training, occupational training focused on manufacturing and safety, and on-the-job training. Manufacturing safety training modules lasted 1 to 12 weeks, and participants could receive on-the-job training during internships lasting about 3 to 4 weeks. On average, participants completed the program in five months.

Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) 2.0

HPOG aimed to prepare participants for careers in health care occupations that paid well and were expected to experience labor shortages or increased demand. HPOG 2.0 refers to the second round of five-year HPOG grants that the Administration for Children and Families awarded in 2010. HPOG 2.0 used a career pathways framework with three core components: basic skills training, health care occupational training, and wraparound supports and services. Local HPOG 2.0 programs varied in how they implemented the career pathways framework.

Transitional Employment Training

Intervention (standard name)

Transitional Employment Training program participants first completed an intensive training with a job coach on tasks for a specific, competitive job and appropriate behavior in the workplace. Program staff placed participants into competitive, integrated employment with the potential to become permanent. Participants were placed into the jobs for which they received training or similar positions, accompanied by additional training with the job coach. Participants also received job retention services to help them resolve difficulties that emerged in the workplace.

Moving to Opportunity (MTO) Housing Vouchers for Use in Low-Poverty Neighborhoods Plus Mobility Counseling

Between 1994 and 1998, MTO offered housing vouchers to families with low incomes who lived in public housing or private assisted housing projects in high-poverty neighborhoods and who had at least one child younger than 18. Private assisted housing projects are rental housing built by private owners through federal programs that required them to price some units to be affordable to people with low incomes. The vouchers subsidized the cost of renting private housing in low-poverty neighborhoods.

Moving to Opportunity (MTO) Housing Vouchers for Use in Any Neighborhood Plus Mobility Counseling

Between 1994 and 1998, MTO offered housing vouchers to families with low incomes who lived in public housing or private assisted housing projects in high-poverty neighborhoods and who had at least one child younger than 18. Private assisted housing projects are rental housing built by private owners through federal programs that required them to price some units to be affordable to people with low incomes. The vouchers subsidized the cost of renting new housing in neighborhoods of their choosing.

Chicago Section 8 Housing Vouchers

Intervention (standard name)

The Chicago Housing Authority Corporation Inc. offered families a Section 8 housing voucher, which they could use to subsidize rent for housing purchased in the private market. The voucher value was equal to the difference between either the fair market rent amount or the selected unit's rent (whichever was lower) and 30 percent of the family's adjusted income.

National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program (ChalleNGe)

Intervention (standard name)

The ChalleNGe program consisted of three phases. In Phase 1, participants attended a two-week, intensive orientation and assessment. Following this orientation, participants were formally enrolled in the program and considered cadets. The cadets then began Phase 2, which consisted of a 20-week education program focused on preparation for the GED exam and positive youth development. Phases 1 and 2 required the cadets to live on-site and experience a quasi-military environment. During Phase 3, the cadets participated in a nonresidential structured mentoring program for a year.

Maximum Customer Choice (as compared with Structured Customer Choice)

Maximum Customer Choice participants could request counseling from program staff to guide them to appropriate training selections, but they did not automatically receive counseling. Participants received an individual training account in the amount of $3,000 to $5,000, depending on the program site. Most Maximum Customer Choice participants requested counseling and completed counseling and training program selection in five sessions. Then, participants engaged in their selected training program for an average of 18 weeks.