Four Strategies to Overcome Barriers to Employment: An Introduction to the Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project

• NCJ Number: 221349
• Author(s): Dan Bloom; Cindy Redcross; JoAnn Hsueh; Sarah Rich; Vanessa Martin
• Date Published: October 2007
• Length: 107 pages
• Contract Number(s): HHS-233-01-0012
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services; US Dept of Health and Human Services
• Corporate Author: Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC)
• Sale Source: Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC)
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The publication describes the origin of the Enhanced Services for the Hard-to Employ-Demonstration and Evaluation Project, the rationale for the demonstration, the research design, and the four programs in New York City, Kansas and Missouri, Philadelphia, and Rhode Island, including the characteristics of the participants.

Abstract

The results of the early assessments describe particular challenges that each individual site encountered and how they are addressing those challenges. The chapters describe the specific details of each program, the strategy, the evaluation's design, and the characteristics of the program participants and the control group members. The Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project, sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with addition funding from the Department of Labor, is evaluating four diverse strategies designed to improve employment and other outcomes for low-income parents and others who face serious barriers to employment. The project includes: a comprehensive employment program for former prisoners in New York City; a two-generation Early Head Start program in Kansas and Missouri that provides enhanced self-sufficiency services and skill training to parents, as well as high-quality child care; two alternative employment strategies for long-term welfare recipients in Philadelphia--one that emphasizes services to assess and treat recipients' barriers to employment, and another that places recipients in paid transition employment; and intensive telephonic care management program for Medicaid recipients in Rhode Island who are experiencing serious depression. The evaluators include: MDRC, the Urban Institute, the Lewin Group, Group Health Cooperative, and United Behavioral Health. The sample consisted of 4,000 members enrolled by December 2006, using surveys and administrative records. Tables, references