Abstract

The Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project (HtE) seeks to learn what services improve the employment prospects of low-income persons who face serious obstacles to steady work. The project is sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).

The HtE project is a multi-year, multi-site evaluation that employs and experimental longitudinal research design to test four strategies aimed at promoting employment among hard-to-employ populations. The four include: 1) intensive care management and job services program for Rhode Island Medicaid recipients with serious depression; 2) job readiness training, worksite placements, job coaching, job development and other training opportunities for recent parolees in New York City; 3) pre-employment services and transitional employment for long-term participants receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) in Philadelphia; and 4) two-generational Early Head Start (EHS) services providing enhanced self-sufficiency services for parents, parent skills training, and high quality child care for children in low-income families in Kansas and Missouri.

The purpose of the current document is to request approval of the 36-month participant survey in Philadelphia. The research team plans to collect participant-reported surveys assessing participants’ employment, education and economic outcomes, participation in employment and training services, receipt of benefits and services such as food stamps and mental health services, housing and household information, health and health care coverage, child care, and child outcomes.

The 36-month follow-up survey in Philadelphia will be used for the following purposes: to study the extent to which pre-employment services and transitional employment affect employment, earnings, income, and welfare dependence of low-income TANF recipients; to examine the impacts of these services on participants’ health and receipt of benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid, and child-care subsidies; and to collect data on a wider range of outcomes measures than is available through welfare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Social Security, and UI records.

The 36-month data collection elements have the potential to significantly add to this study’s contribution to the literature by examining the sustained impacts of pre-employment services and transitional employment for welfare recipients. These programs are designed to help welfare recipients overcome barriers to employment, achieve long-term employment, and reduce long-term welfare dependency. Few studies have examined whether these types of programs can address the needs of long-term, hard-to-employ welfare recipients. The 36-month survey will indicate whether these programs have sustained employment and economic impacts over time with this population.