2017-2028
Building Evidence on Employment Strategies (BEES) is a national study of innovative programs designed to boost employment and earnings among people with low incomes. Many Americans struggle to find jobs, both when economic conditions are good and during periods of economic downturn, and even people who work steadily often have trouble making ends meet. The BEES project aims to strengthen ACF’s understanding of effective programs that help individuals with low incomes find jobs, advance in the workforce, and improve their economic security.
Building on previous research on the effectiveness of various employment strategies, the BEES project is conducting rigorous impact evaluations of promising programs serving people participating in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and other people with low incomes. Programs in the BEES evaluation include those that serve adults whose employment prospects have been affected by substance use disorder and/or mental health conditions. The project also conducted descriptive research with additional programs providing employment services to those populations.
Learn about BEES
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In this eight-minute video, practitioners and researchers reflect on being part of the BEES project, including supporting clients, learning from other programs, and building evidence on effective employment strategies.
In this seven-minute video, practitioners and researchers reflect on implementing an employment services model called Individual Placement and Support (IPS) to help clients facing barriers to employment.
MDRC is the lead contractor for the BEES project; their partners include Abt Global and MEF Associates.
As part of ACF's Innovative Strategies for Addressing Employment Barriers Portfolio, the BEES project is actively coordinating with the Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies (NextGen) project. NextGen is another ACF project focused on building the evidence around effective strategies for helping individuals with low incomes find and sustain employment. Both BEES and NextGen are partnering with the Social Security Administration to evaluate employment-related interventions targeting individuals with current or foreseeable disabilities who have limited work history and are at risk of applying for Supplemental Security Income.
Points of contact: Sarita Barton and Marie Lawrence
Effective March 2026, ACF realigned select research portfolios to be embedded in the ACF offices that manage the programs. Consistent with this approach, this project and the staff that oversee it are under the oversight of the Office of Family Assistance.
BEES is carrying out impact evaluations of the following programs and has registered each study on the American Economic Association’s Randomized Control Trials Registry:
- Breaking Barriers San Diego
- Central City Concern
- Individual Placement and Support within Federally Qualified Health Centers
- Individual Placement and Support within Substance Use Disorder Treatment Settings
- Individual Placement and Support with TANF and SNAP Populations
Information collections related to this project have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under OMB #0970-0537. Related materials are available at the BEES Project page on RegInfo.gov.
Information collections related to this project have also been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under ACF’s Generic Clearances. Related materials are available at the following pages on RegInfo.gov .