Evaluating the Eligibility Redetermination Period Extension in Illinois: Preliminary Report

Record Description
This Chapin Hall study reviews the impact of eligibility extension from 6 months to 12 months in Illinois for families who receive child care subsidies under the Child Care and Development Fund. Key questions reflect whether families who receive automatic extensions experience longer periods of participation, if fewer child care providers are used by eligible families as result of an extended redetermination period, and whether consistent child care is provided over the longer period of time. The study notes that extending the redetermination period from 6 to 12 months has the potential to broadly impact the stability of child care.
Record Type
Combined Date
2019-03-14T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.chapinhall.org/wp-content/uploads/CCDBG_Preliminary-Report.pdf
Publication Date
2019-03-15
Section/Feed Type
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Reimagining Employer Engagement: A Toolkit for Providers

Record Description
This toolkit issued by Reimagine Retail Chicagoland provides useful information on designing and implementing career pathways in the retail industry. The toolkit offers sources for labor market information that can be used to develop the pathways and provides examples of “scripts” and language to use to create employer partnerships. There is also a section that evaluates how to use engaged employers’ feedback to create and strengthen sustainable workforce partnerships in the retail industry which can be applied to other industry sectors.
Record Type
Combined Date
2019-07-30T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.reimagineretailchicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Reimagining-E…
Publication Date
2019-07-31
Section/Feed Type
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Evaluation of SNAP Employment and Training Pilots: Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Report to Congress

Record Description
This study, prepared by Mathematica, is the fourth annual report to Congress that evaluates 10 SNAP Pilot Projects in California, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. The report identifies grantees’ enrollment goals and services, as well as their respective programs’ achievements and challenges. The evaluation used a random assignment research design to assess the level of support offered to SNAP participants on job search assistance, training, and basic and vocational education, as well as subsidized and unsubsidized work experience.
Record Type
Combined Date
2019-07-16T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/our-publications-and-findings/publications/eval…
Publication Date
2019-07-17
Section/Feed Type
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Webinar: Experiences with Collaborative Place-Based Impact Investing: Lessons from the Field

Record Description
The Urban Institute will host a webinar on July 25, 2019 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET to discuss Benefit Chicago and the Western New York Impact Investment Fund, which are models of place-based impact investing. Drawing from recently released practitioner briefs, the webinar will also cover participants’ experiences with building the collaboration among partners and their deployment of impact capital in the field.
Record Type
Combined Date
2019-07-25T11:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7569041743574866187
Publication Date
2019-07-25
Section/Feed Type
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Employment Coaching Program Snapshots

Record Description
This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report reviews the effectiveness of using coaches to help low-income individuals move toward self-sufficiency. The evaluation profiles four coaching models: Iowa’s Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS); coaching at home visits implemented in Jefferson County, Colorado; LIFT, a national nonprofit organization that delivers career and financial coaching in Washington (D.C.), New York (New York), Chicago (Illinois), and Los Angeles (California); and MyGoals for Employment Success, a model designed by MDRC and piloted in Baltimore (Maryland) and Houston (Texas).
Record Type
Combined Date
2019-05-15T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/resource/employment-coaching-program-snapshots
Publication Date
2019-05-16
Section/Feed Type
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Strengthening Relationships with Employers Using a Question-Based Approach

Record Description
The Aspen Institute will host a webinar on May 29, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. ET to discuss the Question Bank tool designed to build stronger relationships with retail industry employers. The webinar will also feature practitioner perspectives on how to use the tool as a strategy for worker retention and advancement. Speakers include representatives from the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership and the Chicago Jobs Council.
Record Type
Combined Date
2019-05-29T11:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/webinar-strengthening-relationships-with-…
Publication Date
2019-05-29
Section/Feed Type
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Public Housing Work Requirements: Case Study on the Chicago Housing Authority

Record Description
This Urban Institute report examines a case study of the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA’s) work requirement, which has been in existence for 10 years. The study covers the CHA staff and resident perceptions of the work requirement’s implementation and outcomes.
Record Type
Combined Date
2019-04-15T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.urban.org/research/publication/public-housing-work-requirements-cas…
Publication Date
2019-04-16
Section/Feed Type
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Where the Other 1 Percent Live: An Examination of Changes in the Spatial Concentration of the Formerly Incarcerated

Record Description
This Russell Sage Foundation research journal article identifies changes in the spatial distribution of returning citizens in greater Chicago. While traditional reintegration among ex-offenders typically occurs within urban communities, this article also identifies changes in the spatial makeup of metropolitan regions, such as demolition of public housing and greater poverty in suburbs. These changes dispel the conventional wisdom for the reintegration of formerly incarcerated persons using 16 years of prisoner release data.
Record Type
Combined Date
2019-01-31T19:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.rsfjournal.org/content/5/1/255
Publication Date
2019-02-01
Section/Feed Type
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Innovative Programs

Connections to Success

Mission/Goal of Program

Originally founded in 1998 as Dress for Success Midwest, Connections to Success is a nonprofit organization serving Kansas, Missouri and Illinois that empowers individuals in their transformation to economic stability. As an OFA Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education grantee, CTS provides workforce training, life coaching, relationship education, and intergenerational support to low-resourced individuals and families.

Their mission is to break the cycle of generational poverty by helping people living in challenging situations re-establish hope, get connected with needed resources and implement a plan to reach economic independence.

Programs/Services Offered

Connections to Success (CTS) uses a holistic, evidence-based model to help individuals and families gain social capital and achieve economic independence. The organization’s approach is intergenerational, focused on improving outcomes for both parents and their children through programming and collaborations with other service providers. CTS’s model integrates training opportunities, life transformation coaching, support services and job development to equip participants for long-term success. CTS offers ongoing support to foster continued growth and career advancement. Through its holistic Pathways to Success model, CTS targets families impacted by generational poverty, incarceration, and unemployment. The model includes a Personal and Professional Development workforce training and focuses on healthy relationships, parenting, employment services, life coaching, education and skills training, volunteer engagement, and mentoring.

Interagency collaboration has been key to the program’s success. By having multiple partners involved, the team has been able to help remove barriers many individuals coming out of prison face. For example, the team helped enroll the men in SNAP, secure housing, and meet with Child Support and Probation and Parole. Additionally, employers participated in mock interviews and representatives from an apprenticeship program shared opportunities. CTS also provided new suits to each of the men, and many received job offers.

CTS focuses on intergenerational impact to ensure outcomes extend beyond the immediate future and empower the next generation. Of CTS program graduates, 74% become employed and 70% retain employment at nine months following initial employment. Additionally, 82% of those employed received earnings increase within six months of employment. CTS participants involved in the organization’s reentry programs have experienced a 14% recidivism in 12 months after release from incarceration, and for those who also participated in their mentoring program, the recidivism rate is only 8% (compared to the national average of 44%). 

Start Date
Thursday, January 1, 1998
Type of Agency/Organization
Community-Based Organization
City
St. Charles
State
Illinois
Kansas
Missouri
Geographic Reach
Multistate
Clientele/Population Served
Low-income individuals and families transitioning from generational poverty, incarceration, domestic violence and other challenging and disadvantaged situations
Topics/Subtopics
Employment
Assessment
Job Readiness
Mentoring
Supportive Services
Post-employment Supports
Special Populations
Homeless Families
Incarcerated and Individuals with a Criminal Record
URL
https://connectionstosuccess.org/

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TANF and FBCO Partnership Resources

Improving Child Care Subsidy Programs: Findings from the Work Support Strategies Evaluation

Record Description
This report from the Urban Institute explores strategies that five different states used to expand access and improve service delivery for those accessing child care subsidies. This work was part of the Work Support Strategies (WSS) initiative which took place between 2012 and 2015. Following the most recent Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) reauthorization, many states are working on restructuring their programs and improving access; this report highlights relevant practices and lessons learned as states pursue these goals.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-01-31T19:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/96376/improving_child_car…
Publication Date
2018-02-01
Section/Feed Type
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