The Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse

2018 - 2028

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The Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse  is a congressionally mandated systematic evidence review and website that provides reliable, accessible information about what works to help people with low incomes succeed in the labor market. People who run programs for job seekers with low incomes and those looking to promote policies that can improve employment outcomes for individuals with low incomes need evidence about what works. It can be challenging for program administrators and policymakers to know where to find that evidence and determine how it might apply to their programs and populations. By systematically reviewing the evidence, Pathways to Work identifies programs that improve employment-related outcomes for people with low incomes. 

Explore the Pathways to Work website

Goals of Pathways to Work

Among the main goals of Pathways to Work are to:

  • Conduct a transparent, comprehensive search to identify studies of employment and training programs designed to improve employment, increase earnings, support self-sufficiency, or advance education and training for people with low incomes.
  • Rate the quality of those studies to assess the strength of the evidence they provide on the different programs.
  • Determine the evidence of effectiveness for those programs.
  • Share the results, as well as other Pathways to Work products, on a user-friendly website (pathwaystowork.acf.gov ) to help state and local TANF administrators, other program providers, policymakers, researchers and the general public understand the results and how the evidence might apply to questions and contexts that matter to them.
  • Summarize the overall state of evidence in the field by creating and sharing synthesis reports.

Resources on the Pathways to Work website

The Pathways to Work website was designed and is regularly updated with significant input from key partners including TANF administrators, employment service providers, researchers, and technical experts to ensure that the findings are presented in a useful and clear manner. 

One the Pathways to Work website, users can find the following:

 

Using Pathways to Work to make decisions

Webinars and presentations related to Pathways to Work are available on the Pathways to Work YouTube playlist .

ACF contracted with Mathematica, Hager Sharp, and MEF Associates to develop and administer the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse from 2018 to 2023.  In 2023, ACF awarded a new contract for the next five years of the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse (2023-2028) to Abt Global, AIR, and Greene Street.

Point(s) of contact: Amelia Popham, Marie Lawrence, Siri Warkentien, and Kim Clum.

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. 

Related Resources

Discover what rigorous research tells us about 12 interventions that used education as an approach to providing services to clients and the interventions’ impacts on earnings, employment, the receipt of public benefits, and education and training.

This Evidence Snapshot summarizes what rigorous research tells us about 27 interventions that used career pathways as an approach to providing services to clients and the interventions’ impacts on earnings, employment, the receipt of public benefits, and education and training.

This Evidence Snapshot describes the effectiveness of occupational and sectoral training programs for people with low incomes, summarizing what we know about these programs and their impacts on employment, earnings, public benefits receipt, and education and training.

This Evidence Snapshot summarizes what rigorous research tells us about 21 interventions that used case management as their primary service and the interventions' impacts on earnings, employment, the receipt of public benefits, and education and training.

This brief describes the effectiveness of programs that were identified by the Pathways Clearinghouse as using work experience and work-based learning as their primary service.

Learn about the effectiveness of programs identified by the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse as using employment retention services as their primary service.

This brief provides guidance for employment service providers and other human services agency staff who wish to implement evidence-based programs but find little information about the core components of those programs.

This evidence snapshot describes the effectiveness of programs that were identified by the Pathways Clearinghouse as using subsidized employment or transitional jobs as their primary service.

This evidence snapshot describes the effectiveness of programs that use financial incentives catalogued by the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse.

This evidence snapshot brief summarizes what we know about programs that use employment coaching catalogued in the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse and their impacts on employment, earnings, and related outcomes for people with low incomes.

Overview of findings from a report from the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse about the interventions and types of services with the strongest evidence of improving employment outcomes during economic recessions and recoveries.

Explore a new OPRE's Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse brief on lessons learned delivering remote services to job seekers with low incomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The Protocol for the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse: Methods and Standards Report, Version 2.0 provides a detailed description of the standards currently used to identify, review, and rate the quality of eligible studies and the procedures followed by Pathways to Work staff.

Discover case studies highlighting innovative interventions that aim to improve employment outcomes for TANF participants and others with low incomes but that have not been rigorously evaluated.

A report from the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse about the interventions and types of services with the strongest evidence of improving employment outcomes during economic recessions and recoveries.