In the context of a public safety net focused on limiting dependency and encouraging participation in the labor market, policymakers and researchers are especially interested in individuals who face obstacles to finding and keeping jobs. The…

Social policy evaluations usually use classical statistical methods, which may, for example, compare outcomes for program and comparison groups and determine whether the estimated differences (or impacts) are statistically significant — meaning…

This report provides a synthesis of research and existing ACF resources for serving at-risk youth. It describes what we know from research about at-risk youth. It then describes how at-risk youth are currently being served by ACF programs and by…

A number of states have created free Reality Check Calculators to help youth, students, and adults understand how salary, wages, careers, education, training, and budgets all interrelate. Reality Check Calculators can be used to estimate the cost…

The National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan authored this policy brief, which offers lessons learned from New York City’s conditional cash transfer program, Opportunity NYC: Family Rewards. The program was targeted to six of New…

This report summarizes the final impact results for the national Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project. This project tested, using a random assignment design, the effectiveness of numerous programs intended to promote steady work and…

Almost 700,000 people are released from state prisons each year. Ex-prisoners face daunting obstacles to successful reentry into society, and rates of recidivism are high. Most experts believe that stable employment is critical to a successful…

This resource is from the What Works Clearinghouse, which is through the U.S. Department of Education, and provides information on the Job Corps program. The Job Corps program is a federally-funded education and job training program for…

This paper is from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and includes profiles of ten states that have recently invested in improving early care and education (ECE) programs. ECE programs can be crucial for child development in cognitive, social, and…

This is a series of reports from Chapin Hall, which provide evaluation information on the Prime Time Initiative. The Initiative is an effort to strengthen the quality of after-school programs in Palm Beach County, Florida through networks of…