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Family Well-Being & Child Development
  Family Relationships & Family Health  
     
    Designing a Marriage Education Demonstration and Evaluation for Low-Income Married Couples
Working Paper
    2008. Virginia Knox and David Fein.

This working paper introduces the Supporting Healthy Marriage evaluation, the first large-scale, multisite experiment that is testing voluntary marriage education programs for low-income married couples with children in eight sites across the country. The year-long programs consist of a series of marriage education workshops with additional family support services and referrals.
 
    Transitional Jobs for Ex-Prisoners
Early Impacts from a Random Assignment Evaluation of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) Prisoner Reentry Program
Working Paper
    2007. Dan Bloom, Cindy Redcross, Janine Zweig (Urban Institute), and Gilda Azurdia.

After one year, CEO’s transitional jobs program generated a large but short-lived increase in employment for ex-prisoners. A subgroup of recently released prisoners showed positive effects on recidivism: They were less likely to have their parole revoked, to be convicted of a felony, and to be reincarcerated than the control group.
 
    Four Strategies to Overcome Barriers to Employment
An Introduction to the Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project
    2007. Dan Bloom, Cindy Redcross, JoAnn Hsueh, Sarah Rich, and Vanessa Martin.

This demonstration is evaluating four diverse strategies designed to improve employment and other outcomes for low-income parents and others who face serious barriers to employment.
 
    The Power of Work
The Center for Employment Opportunities
Comprehensive Prisoner Reentry Program
    2006. The Center for Employment Opportunities and MDRC.

The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) serves nearly 2,000 reentering prisoners a year with a structured program of pre-employment training, immediate short-term transitional work, and job placement services. This report, written jointly by CEO and MDRC, describes how the CEO program operates. Results from a random assignment evaluation by MDRC are expected next year.
 
    Turning Welfare into a Work Support
Six-Year Impacts on Parents and Children from the Minnesota Family Investment Program
    2005. Lisa A. Gennetian, Cynthia Miller, and Jared Smith.

While positive effects on most parents’ earnings and income faded after six years, young children in some of the most disadvantaged families were still performing better in school than their counterparts in a control group. And, for the most disadvantaged parents, MFIP seems to have created a lasting “leg up” in the labor market.
 
    Married and Poor
Basic Characteristics of Economically Disadvantaged Couples in the U.S.
Working Paper
    2004. David J. Fein.

Using recent surveys and published reports, this working paper assembles a portrait of the attitudes and behaviors of disadvantaged married couples. It gathers and assesses descriptive statistics on the formation and stability, characteristics, and quality of marriages in the low-income population in the U.S. We welcome discussion and comments on this working paper.
 
    The Effects of Marriage and Divorce on Families and Children
Presented Before the Science, Technology and Space Subcommittee of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate
Congressional Testimony
    2004. Gordon Berlin.

 
    The Long-Term Effects of the Minnesota Family Investment Program on Marriage and Divorce Among Two-Parent Families
    2003. Lisa A. Gennetian.

Building on findings that the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) resulted in higher rates of marital stability among two-parent recipient families who participated in this initiative that provided financial incentives to welfare recipients who worked, this report documents MFIP’s long-term effects on marriage and divorce among participants in the program’s sample of nearly 2,500 two-parent families who were married or cohabiting at study entry.
 
    The Challenge of Helping Low-Income Fathers Support Their Children
Final Lessons from Parents’ Fair Share
    2001. Cynthia Miller, Virginia Knox.

 
    Parenting and Providing
The Impact of Parents' Fair Share on Paternal Involvement
    2000. Virginia Knox, Cindy Redcross.

 
    Working and Earning
The Impact of Parents' Fair Share on Low-Income Fathers' Employment
    2000. John M. Martinez, Cynthia Miller.

 
    Reforming Welfare and Rewarding Work
A Summary of the Final Report on the Minnesota Family Investment Program
    2000. Virginia Knox, Cynthia Miller, Lisa A. Gennetian.

 
    Reforming Welfare and Rewarding Work
Final Report on the Minnesota Family Investment Program
Volume 1 Effects on Adults
    2000. Cynthia Miller, Virginia Knox, Lisa A. Gennetian, Martey Dodoo, Jo Anna Hunter, Cindy Redcross.

 
    Final Report on the Implementation and Impacts of the Minnesota Family Investment Program in Ramsey County
    2000. Patricia Auspos, Cynthia Miller, Jo Anna Hunter.

 
    Reforming Welfare and Rewarding Work
Final Report on the Minnesota Family Investment Program Volume 2 Effects on Children
    2000. Lisa Gennetian, Cynthia Miller.

 
    The Responsible Fatherhood Curriculum
    2000. Eileen Hayes with Kay Sherwood.

Developed as part of MDRC’s Parents’ Fair Share Demonstration, the Responsible Fatherhood Curriculum is intended to help fathers more effectively fulfill their roles as parents, partners, and workers. The curriculum is divided into 20 sessions focusing on such issues as male-female relationships, fathers as providers, managing conflict and anger (on and off the job), and race and racism.
 
    Fathers' Fair Share
Helping Poor Men Manage Child Support and Fatherhood
    Russell Sage Foundation.
1999. Earl Johnson, Ann Levine, Fred Doolittle.

 
    Explaining the Minnesota Family Investment Program's Impacts by Housing Status
    1998. Cynthia Miller.

An evaluation of the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP), the state’s welfare waiver program, found that the program produced substantially larger increases in employment and earnings among welfare recipients living in public or subsidized housing than among recipients in private housing. This paper examines several possible reasons that may account for these findings, including differences in characteristics between the two groups of recipients, differences in their proximity to jobs, differences in residential stability, which might aid in the transition to work, and interactions between MFIP's work incentives and the public/subsidized housing rent rules. The evidence, although indirect, suggests that interactions between MFIP rules and the rent rules in public housing helped to produce larger employment impacts for residents in public or subsidized housing.
 
    Building Opportunities, Enforcing Obligations
Implementation and Interim Impacts of Parents' Fair Share
    1998. Fred Doolittle, Virginia Knox, Cynthia Miller, Sharon Rowser.

 
    Working with Low-Income Cases
Lessons for the Child Support Enforcement System from Parents' Fair Share
    1998. Fred Doolittle, Suzanne Lynn.

 
    Parenting Behavior in a Sample of Young Mothers in Poverty
Results of the New Chance Observational Study
    1998. Martha J. Zaslow and Carolyn A. Eldred, Editors.

 
    Making Welfare Work and Work Pay
Implementation and 18-Month Impacts of the Minnesota Family Investment Program
    1997. Cynthia Miller, Virginia Knox, Patricia Auspos, Jo Anna Hunter-Manns, Alan Orenstein.

 
    New Chance
Final Report on a Comprehensive Program for Young Mothers in Poverty and Their Children
    1997. Janet C. Quint, Johannes M. Bos, Denise F. Polit.

 
    Low-Income Parents and the Parents' Fair Share Demonstration
An Early Qualitative Look at Low-Income Noncustodial Parents (NCPs) and How One Policy Initiative Has Attempted to Improve Their Ability to Pay Child Support
    1996. Earl Johnson, Fred Doolittle.

 
    MFIP
An Early Report on Minnesota's Approach to Welfare Reform
    1995. Virginia Knox, Amy Brown, Winston Lin.

 
    New Chance
The Cost Analysis of a Comprehensive Program for Disadvantaged Young Mothers and Their Children
    1994. Barbara L. Fink with Mary E. Farrell.

 
    New Chance
Interim Findings on a Comprehensive Program for Disadvantaged Young Mothers and Their Children
    1994. Janet C. Quint, Denise F. Polit, Hans Bos, George Cave.

 
    Matching Opportunities to Obligations
Lessons for Child Support Reform from the Parents' Fair Share Pilot Phase
    1994. Dan Bloom, Kay Sherwood.

 
    Lives of Promise, Lives of Pain
Young Mothers After New Chance
    1994. Janet C. Quint and Judith S. Musick with Joyce A. Ladner.

 
    Child Support Enforcement
A Case Study
    1993. Dan Bloom with Bridget Dixon.

 
    Caring and Paying
What Fathers and Mothers Say About Child Support
    1992. Frank Furstenberg, Jr., Kay Sherwood, Mercer Sullivan.

 
    New Chance
Implementing a Comprehensive Program for Disadvantaged Young Mothers and Their Children
    1991. Janet C. Quint, Barbara L. Fink, Sharon L. Rowser.

 
    New Chance
Lessons from the Pilot Phase
    1989. Janet C. Quint, Cynthia A. Guy.

 



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