Forging a Path: Impacts and Costs of New York City’s Young Adult Internship Program

This report presents findings from an OPRE evaluation of New York City’s Young Adult Internship Program (YAIP) that strove to provide subsidized employment and support services for disconnected youth. Implementation and short-term impact studies were previously conducted, so this report details longer term impacts and performs a cost analysis. While the program initially led to strong employment and earnings gains for participants, the results faded after 30 months and participants did not transition into education, employment, military, or training programs at higher rates than the control group. At $5,431 per participant, this intervention is on the lower end of the spectrum of similar programs, which can range from $4,200 to $10,000 per group member. The authors concluded that “light-touch employment and personal development services” are insufficient to translate into sustained employment and earning outcomes, and that future programs should pay more attention to transitioning their participants from subsidized work to long-term unsubsidized employment.