http://www.mdrc.org Low-Wage Workers & Communities Publications, Fast Facts, Issue Focus Briefs, and Videos from MDRC us-en © 2007 MDRC 2012-01-12 Brad Petrie <brad.petrie@mdrc.org> Brad Petrie <brad.petrie@mdrc.org> http://www.mdrc.org/images/site/nav_logo.gif http://www.mdrc.org http://www.mdrc.org/sps/go.cgi?c=pCosrK0AZh08QobmfWCP The British ERA programs distinctive combination of post-employment advisory support and financial incentives was designed to help low-income individuals who entered work sustain employment and advance in the labor market. It produced short-term earnings gains for two target groups but sustained increases in employment and earnings and positive benefit-cost results for the third target group, long-term unemployed individuals. http://www.mdrc.org/sps/go.cgi?c=j6seg6g4McVJNUNxGCri This 12-page practitioner brief offers lessons for policy and practice from MDRC-conducted random assignment studies of five programs that provided earnings supplements to low-income parents to encourage employment and increase the payoff of low-wage work. http://www.mdrc.org/sps/go.cgi?c=QSEJ3y3r1jhSru87Lc5G Opportunity NYC-Family Rewards was a conditional cash transfer program that provided payments to low-income families for achieving specific health, education, and employment goals. Drawing on in-depth interviews, this report looks at how families viewed the education incentives, communicated about them with their children, reinforced educational rewards, and advanced their quality of life through the program. http://www.mdrc.org/sps/go.cgi?c=vLC3N_S1tQ6f4sVog6NT In this article reprinted from True/Slant, Chicago-based journalist Megan Cottrell takes a second look at MDRCs recent report on early findings from New York Citys conditional cash transfer demonstration, Opportunity NYC-Family Rewards. http://www.mdrc.org/sps/go.cgi?c=WoaoxJBs_fuQiP8WRSOQ Policymakers are exploring ways for rental subsidy programs to encourage tenants to work and strive for self-sufficiency -- including new rent policies or other financial incentives, better employment services, and work requirements as a condition of getting and keeping housing assistance. http://www.mdrc.org/sps/go.cgi?c=8mHizxx5_XClat12JfjD MDRC has built a diverse portfolio of research projects focused on improving the lives of poor families throughout the city, developed in collaboration with state and local agencies, schools, and nonprofits. MDRC's newest hometown venture is Mayor Bloomberg's Opportunity NYC, a conditional cash transfer program to help families break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. http://www.mdrc.org/sps/go.cgi?c=cDyvTmRdKB5T99aTo1YU The findings from a long-term study of Jobs-Plus an employment program that substantially increased the earnings of people in some of the nations poorest urban public housing developments are summarized in a short video by Jim Riccio, director of research for the study. http://www.mdrc.org/sps/go.cgi?c=umikzc4ZKd6iYO_4v30I Policies that supplement the earnings of welfare recipients and other low-wage workers increase work, raise incomes, reduce poverty, and improve the well-being of young children. http://www.mdrc.org/sps/go.cgi?c=wqGUSxD23QZ3nXYaIWSg http://www.mdrc.org/sps/go.cgi?c=xcNhCTEDDpt2BHjkd4D4 http://www.mdrc.org/sps/go.cgi?c=blUfC1nFg1hy53i2AurP