Resource Library

The Workforce Development Council of Seattle—King County’s Health Careers for All program aimed to help low-income adults, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients, access and complete healthcare occupational training that could lead to increased employment and higher earnings. It is one of nine programs being evaluated under the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) project sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the...

This report documents the impacts three years after random assignment for the Bridge to Employment in the Healthcare Industry program, operated between 2010 and 2015 by the San Diego Workforce Partnership in San Diego, California. Bridge to Employment aims to help low-income adults, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients, enroll in and complete occupational healthcare training and find healthcare employment...

This report describes the implementation and impact study findings from an evaluation of the relative effectiveness of two approaches to assist cash assistance applicants and recipients in finding and keeping jobs. Conducted from 2016 to 2018 in two counties in Michigan, the study compares: (1) an enhancement to the state’s existing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program that provides goal-oriented coaching...

Social service organizations and policy makers increasingly recognize that they can accomplish more and improve outcomes for those they serve when they work together with other organizations. They forge new partnerships, develop new relationships, and often implement changes to practice as a result of collaboration and coordination efforts.

Collaboration and coordination efforts occur along a continuum, from early planning stages towards more fully developed or mature levels of partnership...

The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has a long history of supporting rigorous research and evaluation on the broad range of human services programs that fall under ACF’s auspices. Many of ACF’s programs have components aimed at supporting employment among low-income populations, and, consequently, OPRE regularly supports...

This Year 4 Annual Report describes results for participants in the second round of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program from the beginning of the Program through the end of Year 4 (September 30, 2015 through September 29, 2019). HPOG grants are awarded to organizations that provide education and training to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients and other low-income individuals for occupations in the healthcare field...

Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is a model for helping people who have serious mental illness find employment. There is a good deal of evidence showing the model’s success, but less is known about the model’s effectiveness with those who have other types of disabilities and health conditions, such as physical disabilities or less severe types of mental illness...

The Breaking Barriers program, based in San Diego, California, provided employment services to lower-income individuals with disabilities. 

MDRC carried out a random assignment impact evaluation of the program, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, in order to assess the effectiveness of the program at improving employment outcomes for program participants. Findings from that evaluation were released in September 2019...

Savings and assets play an important role in economic stability and upward mobility for families with low incomes. To help households with low incomes build assets, the federal government launched the Assets for Independence (AFI) program, authorized by Congress in 1998. This program funded individual development accounts (IDAs) that matched personal savings for assets such as a first home, capital to start a business, or higher education and training...

Several ACF programs interact with justice-involved parents and youth in an effort to promote economic self-sufficiency and social well-being for the individuals and their families. Across ACF, we are implementing rigorous research and evaluation projects to better understand how to serve this population.