Youth Transition Demonstration

Project

Overview

STATUS: Current

Basics

Issue: Health and Disability, Disconnected Youth

Focus Area: Youth with Disabilities, Transition to Postsecondary

Population: Young Adults, Children and Schools

Focus Population: Youth with Disabilities, High School Students, People with Disabilities

Locations: California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, West Virginia

Intervention: Benefits Planning, Case Management, Transitional Jobs/Subsidized Employment

Project Overview

In April 2005, approximately 776,000 youth with disabilities ages 14 to 25 were receiving federal Supplemental Security Benefits, and the expected lifetime stay on the disability rolls for those who began receiving SSI under age 18 was a total of 27 years. Programs that can help youth make a successful transition from school to work, and to economic self-sufficiency, hold great promise — for youth with disabilities and for the federal government, which stands to reap significant savings in the long-term costs of benefits.

Recognizing the importance of service intervention at this critical juncture in youths’ lives, the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) initiated the Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) evaluation. SSA is providing the funding to develop and rigorously evaluate promising strategies to help youth with disabilities become as economically self-sufficient as possible as they transition from school to work. SSA has contracted with Mathematica Policy Research (MPR), Inc., to develop and evaluate the YTD projects. MPR has assembled a team for the evaluation that includes MDRC, disability program experts from TransCen, Inc., and academic specialists.

Hallmark features of the YTD evaluation include (1) strong, policy-relevant demonstration projects that serve relatively large numbers of youth with disabilities compared to other programs; and (2) a rigorous evaluation design based on random assignment. By waiving certain federal disability program rules and offering enhanced services to youth with disabilities, the YTD projects are expected to encourage young people to work or continue their education.

FEATURED CONTENT

Report

Interim Report on West Virginia Youth Works
The Youth Transition Demonstration, led by Mathematica Policy Research, MDRC, and TransCen, Inc., is developing and evaluating strategies to help youth with disabilities transition from school to work. A program in West Virginia produced positive impacts on paid employment, earnings, and income but no effects on school enrollment or high school completion or on cessation of disability benefits.
- Overview
- Full PDF
Report

Interim Report on the Career Transition Program
The Youth Transition Demonstration, led by Mathematica Policy Research, MDRC, and TransCen, Inc., is developing and evaluating strategies to help youth with disabilities transition from school to work. While participants in the Career Transition Program were more likely to have used employment-promoting services than youth in a control group, there were no impacts on work, income, or school completion.
- Overview
- Full PDF
Report

Interim Report on Broadened Horizons, Brighter Futures
The Youth Transition Demonstration, led by Mathematica Policy Research, MDRC, and TransCen, Inc., is developing and evaluating strategies to help youth with disabilities transition from school to work. The Broadened Horizons program had positive impacts on paid employment and income but no effect on school enrollment or high school completion.
- Overview
- Full PDF

Agenda, Scope, <br> & Goals

Agenda, Scope, and Goals

The YTD evaluation will produce empirical evidence of the impact of services and waivers of disability program rules on educational attainment, employment, earnings, and receipt of disability benefits for youth with disabilities. It will also measure the consequent impact on the Social Security trust fund and federal income tax revenues. MPR is the prime contractor for the demonstration; MDRC is the lead subcontractor, responsible for site selection, evaluation-related technical assistance, and implementation research.

The evaluation’s reports will be used to inform policymakers and program operators about how to develop and implement interventions to help youth with disabilities increase their economic self-sufficiency as they make the transition from school to work.

Design, Sites, & <br> Data Sources

Design, Sites, and Data Sources

In September 2003, SSA funded YTD projects in seven sites: two in New York and one each in California, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, and Mississippi. As interest in a national impact study grew, it was determined that three of these original sites (the two New York projects as well as the Colorado project) would be able to participate in a random assignment impact study. A separate selection process identified three additional random assignment sites (in Florida, Maryland, and West Virginia); these six projects are currently participating in the national impact study. The projects vary in the types of youth served and the services provided, but most partner with several local organizations and offer counseling, service coordination, and family support.

The evaluation will use analytic methods based on random assignment of youth to a treatment group, which will receive enhanced YTD project services and SSA waivers, or a control group, which will receive only those services that would have been available in the absence of the project. The evaluation will collect administrative and survey data on treatment and control group members at the time of random assignment and periodically for four years thereafter, study the implementation of the projects and their impacts on youth with disabilities, and analyze the benefits and costs.

Funders & <br />Partners

Funders

U.S. Social Security Administration

Partners

Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

MDRC Staff

John Martinez
Project Director
Deputy Director, Health and Barriers to Employment Policy Area
Martinez is an expert in site development, site selection, and evaluation start-up, primarily focusing on programs that serve populations with barriers to employment, including youth.
More
Peter Baird
Senior Associate, Health and Barriers to Employment Policy Area
Baird has extensive experience at the state level in site development and evaluation start-up, and in administering state-run social service programs, primarily employment programs that serve people with disabilities.
More
David Butler
Senior Adviser, Health and Barriers to Employment Policy Area
Butler leads the development and implementation of many of MDRC demonstration projects and evaluations in the Health and Barriers to Employment policy area. He is currently leading MDRC’s work on the ABLE project, the first Social Impact Bond to be tested in the United States.
More
Michelle S. Manno
Research Associate, Health and Barriers to Employment Policy Area
Manno works primarily as an implementation researcher for several of MDRC’s evaluations of policies and programs serving populations with barriers to employment, such as disconnected youth and former prisoners.
More
Sally Dai
Research Associate, Health and Barriers to Employment Policy Area
Sally Dai is a Research Associate at MDRC. She has 15 years of experience in SAS programming and has been working at MDRC for nine years.
More