This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation report highlights a study comparing the Back to Work (B2W) and Independent Job Search (IJS) programs administered by the New York City Department of Social Services/Human Resources Administration. B2W required daily attendance at the program office and offered a range of group and one-on-one job search services, while IJS program participants were required to attend weekly in-person meetings at the program office. The study examined the level and duration of job search assistance, services received, and job search tools that each program offered and explored the difference in outcomes regarding program participants’ employment, earnings, time to employment, and public assistance.

In this report, the Urban Institute assesses New York City’s Arches Transformative Mentoring program, a group mentoring program that serves young adult probation clients by engaging mentor “credible messengers” or direct service providers with backgrounds similar to those they serve. The evaluation found that Arches participants experienced reduced felony reconviction rates by approximately two-thirds after one year of participation and by approximately one-half after two years of participation.

On December 6, the Annie E. Casey Foundation will conclude its Leading with Evidence: Informing Practice with Research webinar series on child welfare. This presentation will explore how researchers and child welfare practitioners can form partnerships to learn from each other to execute the best possible evidence-based initiatives. Because federal program funding is increasingly tied to research quality, this topic is especially important. Researchers and practitioners alike will share their experiences working together to implement youth-oriented programs and services and discuss available resources for research-practice partnerships.

This MDRC policy brief identifies the positive earnings and employment outcomes of three programs designed to support upward mobility in youth: YouthBuild, Year Up, and New York City’s Young Adult Internship Program. In particular, a key finding from evaluating these programs is that a systems approach is needed to help young people navigate these programs and address their tailored needs.

Prepared by the Police Executive Research Forum, this report looks at the opioid epidemic from the perspective of police, sheriffs, and health agencies and how these agencies can step up their response to the crisis. City law enforcement officials detail specific actions that police chiefs and sheriffs across the country can take. The report looks at the role of the police in getting addicted people into treatment; identifies how to teach communities about addiction risks; and looks at a New York City data-driven collaborative model that brings together multiple agencies to look at specific opioid crisis issues and determine resolution for those issues with the ultimate goal of reducing drug overdoses.

In high-demand sectors, employers often have difficulty finding applicants with the right skills, and job seekers need training to qualify for those positions. WorkAdvance is a workforce development model that treats both employers and jobseekers as customers in these high demand sectors. This MDRC brief draws on an evaluation of four WorkAdvance programs to analyze whether they impact the long-term upward economic mobility of participants. The programs were Per Scholas and St. Nicks Alliance in New York, Madison Strategies Group in Oklahoma, and Towards Employment in Ohio. The researchers analyzed economic impacts through three years of follow-up, and they found that some sector programs had positive effects that lasted beyond two years. In some cases the economic impacts strengthened after two years, especially for long-term unemployed participants who were reentering the labor market.

While youth involved in Child Welfare or Runaway and Homeless Youth systems are at high risk of being trafficked, there has been no consensus screening tool available for providers to use to identify victims of human trafficking. This Urban Institute report describes the pretesting of a Human Trafficking Screening Tool (HTST) for 617 youth involved in the child welfare or runaway and homeless youth systems in New York, Texas, and Wisconsin. The HTST took about two minutes to administer, and the researchers found that it covered key dimensions of youth’s trafficking experiences, could be used in both child welfare and runaway and homeless youth settings, and correctly predicted trafficking victimization. The researchers conclude that the HTST is an effective, accessible tool for youth ages 12-24, but they recommend additional testing for youth under age 18 in child welfare settings.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) helps increase the benefits of work for low-income individuals, but workers without children can only receive a maximum of $500 a year. This MDRC report includes interim findings from the Paycheck Plus Demonstration in New York City, which tested the idea of expanding the EITC to working single adults without dependent children. The project recruited over 6,000 adults in New York City, and half were randomly selected to receive a Paycheck Plus bonus if they went through the process of applying for it. Interim results showed that individuals who received bonuses had higher income, increased employment, increased payment of child support, and increased tax filing.

While students attending alternative schools are often at higher risk for teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, there has not been much research conducted on teen pregnancy prevention programs implemented at alternative schools. This Mathematica report, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Family & Youth Services Bureau aims to fill that research gap. Mathematica conducted a rigorous evaluation of the Teen Choice prevention curriculum in alternative schools in the New York City area. This report covers the implementation of that curriculum. The programs suffered from low attendance rates, but the students who did attend were engaged and willing to participate in group discussions. Program staff liked the flexibility of the Teen Choice curriculum and the mutual aid approach that encourages facilitators to build trust with participants.