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Low-Wage Workers & Communities |
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Job Retention & Advancement |
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Breaking the Low-Pay, No-Pay Cycle
Final Evidence from the UK Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration
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UK Department for Work and Pensions.
2011. Richard Hendra, James A. Riccio, Richard Dorsett, David H. Greenberg, Genevieve Knight, Joan Phillips, Philip K. Robins, Sandra Vegeris, and Johanna Walter, with Aaron Hill, Kathryn Ray, and Jared Smith.
The British ERA program’s 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.
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Providing Earnings Supplements to Encourage and Sustain Employment
Lessons from Research and Practice
Policy Brief
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2011. Karin Martinson and Gayle Hamilton.
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.
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Career Advancement and Work Support Services on the Job
Implementing the Fort Worth Work Advancement and Support Center Program
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2011. Caroline Schultz and David Seith.
This report examines the design and operation of a program called Project Earn, in Fort Worth, Texas, one of four sites in MDRC’s Work Advancement and Support Center demonstration. The program combined two types of income-building services for low-wage workers — skills training and connection to work supports, such as food stamps, child care subsidies, and tax credits — and delivered them in workplaces in collaboration with employers.
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Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration
Delivery, Take-Up, and Outcomes of In-Work Training Support for Lone Parents
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UK Department for Work and Pensions.
2011. Richard Hendra, Kathryn Ray, Sandra Vegeris, Debra Hevenstone, and Maria Hudson.
This report presents new findings from Britain’s Employment Advancement and Retention demonstration, which tested the effectiveness of a program to improve the labor market prospects of low-paid workers and unemployed people. The report assesses whether coaching by advisers and financial incentives encouraged single-parent participants to take and complete training courses and whether training had an impact on their advancement in the labor market.
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Can Low-Income Single Parents Move Up in the Labor Market?
Findings from the Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Policy Brief
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2011. Cynthia Miller, Victoria Deitch, and Aaron Hill.
This 12-page practitioner brief examines the work, education, and training patterns of single parents in the national Employment Retention and Advancement Project, which evaluated strategies to promote employment stability among low-income workers. The findings support other research in underscoring the importance of changing jobs and of access to “good” jobs as strategies to help low-wage workers advance.
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Paths to Advancement for Single Parents
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2010. Cynthia Miller, Victoria Deitch, and Aaron Hill.
This report from the national Employment Retention and Advancement Project examines the 27,000 single parents who participated in the studied programs to understand the characteristics of those who successfully advanced in the labor market.
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Background Characteristics and Patterns of Employment, Earnings, and Public Assistance Receipt of Adults in Two-Parent Families
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2010. Sonya Williams and Stephen Freedman.
This report from the national Employment Retention and Advancement Project demonstrates that low-income single-parent and two-parent families have a roughly equivalent need for services to support employment retention and advancement and that this need does not differ substantially between men and women in two-parent families.
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Finding the Next Job
Reemployment Strategies in Retention and Advancement Programs for Current and Former Welfare Recipients
Policy Brief
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2010. Melissa Wavelet, Karin Martinson, and Gayle Hamilton.
When current and former welfare recipients find jobs, they often lose them quickly and have trouble finding another job. This brief, based on the experiences of 12 programs in the national Employment Retention and Advancement evaluation, offers advice on how to design and implement practices that turn a recent job loss into an opportunity to find a better one.
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Does Easier Access to Food Stamps Increase the Food Stamp Error Rate?
Evidence from the WASC Demonstration
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2010. Mark van Dok.
Although many states are taking steps to offer simplified access to the food stamp program, little is known about the effect this might have on food stamp error rates. This paper studies the effects on error rates in two sites that were part of the Work Advancement Support Center demonstration, which aimed to help individuals in low-income jobs boost their income by making the most of available work supports, including food stamps.
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Different Settings, Common Strategy
Using Earnings Supplements to Improve Employment Retention and Advancement Programs in Texas and the United Kingdom
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2010. Erika Lundquist and Tatiana Homonoff.
Although much is known about how to help welfare recipients find jobs, there is less hard evidence about what can be done to help current and former recipients and other low-wage workers stay employed or advance in the labor market. This paper looks closely at one strategy — providing earnings supplements, or stipends, to current and former welfare recipients who maintain stable full-time employment — that was used at sites in Texas and in the United Kingdom.
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Benefit-Cost Findings for Three Programs in the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Project
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2010. Cindy Redcross, Victoria Deitch, and Mary Farrell.
This report examines the financial benefits and costs of three different programs in the national Employment Retention and Advancement project, sponsored by the federal Administration for Children and Families, that have increased employment and earnings among current and former welfare recipients.
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How Effective Are Different Approaches Aiming to Increase Employment Retention and Advancement?
Final Impacts for Twelve Models
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2010. Richard Hendra, Keri-Nicole Dillman, Gayle Hamilton, Erika Lundquist, Karin Martinson, and Melissa Wavelet.
This report presents the final implementation and impact findings for 12 programs in the national Employment Retention and Advancement project, sponsored by the federal Administration for Children and Families. These programs attempted to promote steady work and career advancement for current and former welfare recipients and other low-wage workers, most of whom were single mothers.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Results from the Los Angeles Reach for Success Program
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2009. Jacquelyn Anderson, Stephen Freedman, and Gayle Hamilton.
A program in Los Angeles offering individualized and flexible case management services to working welfare recipients did not substantially increase the use of work-based services by participants – and did not lead to greater employment or higher earnings than did the county’s existing postemployment program.
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Workforce Investment Act Reauthorization
Will the Past Be Prologue?
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2009. Gordon L. Berlin.
In remarks given at a conference sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, MDRC President Gordon Berlin looks at the extraordinary challenges the current labor market presents to employment policy generally and WIA reauthorization specifically, outlines what we have (and haven’t) learned from research, and makes recommendations for future directions.
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Helping Low-Wage Workers Access Work Supports
Lessons for Practitioners
Policy Brief
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2009. Kay Sherwood.
This 12-page brief distills practical implementation lessons from four programs that help low-wage workers access and retain child care subsidies, public health insurance, the Earned Income Tax Credit, food stamps, and other related government benefits.
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Findings for the Eugene and Medford, Oregon, Models
Implementation and Early Impacts for Two Programs That Sought to Encourage Advancement Among Low-Income Workers
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2009. Frieda Molina, Mark van Dok, Richard Hendra, Gayle Hamilton, and Wan-Lae Cheng.
While these two different programs in the Employment Retention and Advancement Project both increased service receipt, neither had effects on job retention or advancement after 1.5 years of follow-up.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Results from the Substance Abuse Case Management Program in New York City
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2009. John Martinez, Gilda Azurdia, Dan Bloom, and Cynthia Miller.
Participants in an intensive care management program for public assistance recipients with substance abuse problems were slightly more likely to enroll in treatment than participants in less intensive services. However, the intensive program had no effects on employment or public benefit receipt among the full sample.
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Strategies to Help Low-Wage Workers Advance
Implementation and Early Impacts of the Work Advancement and Support Center (WASC) Demonstration
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2009. Cynthia Miller, Betsy L. Tessler, and Mark Van Dok.
WASC is an innovative strategy to help low-wage workers increase their incomes by stabilizing employment, improving skills, increasing earnings, and easing access to work supports. In its first year, WASC connected more workers to food stamps and publicly funded health care coverage and, in one site, substantially increased training activities.
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The Cost of Services and Incentives in the UK Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration
Preliminary Analysis
Working Paper
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UK Department for Work and Pensions.
2009. David Greenberg, Johanna Walter, and Genevieve Knight.
This report presents a preliminary analysis of the cost of operating Britain's Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) demonstration, which is being evaluated though a large-scale randomised control trial. This assessment of costs will become an important element of the full cost-benefit analysis to be presented in future ERA reports.
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Findings for the Cleveland Achieve Model
Implementation and Early Impacts of an Employer-Based Approach to Encourage Employment Retention Among Low-Wage Workers
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2008. Cynthia Miller, Vanessa Martin, and Gayle Hamilton, with Lauren Cates and Victoria Deitch.
An on-site program at long-term nursing care facilities had little effect overall on retention of low-wage employees, aside from a small increase in retention in the short term and among subgroups with particularly high turnover rates.
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Moving from Jobs to Careers
Engaging Low-Wage Workers in Career Advancement
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2008. Betsy L. Tessler, David Seith, and Zawadi Rucks.
The Work Advancement and Support Center (WASC) demonstration offers a new approach to helping low-wage and dislocated workers advance by increasing their wages or work hours, upgrading their skills, or finding better jobs. This report presents preliminary information on the effectiveness of strategies that were used to attract people to the WASC program and engage them in services.
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Implementation and Second-Year Impacts for New Deal 25 Plus Customers in the UK Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration
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UK Department for Work and Pensions.
2008. Cynthia Miller, Helen Bewley, Verity Campbell-Barr, Richard Dorsett, Gayle Hamilton, Lesley Hoggart, Tatiana Homonoff, Alan Marsh, Kathryn Ray, James A. Riccio, and Sandra Vegeris.
This report published by the UK Department for Work and Pensions presents new findings on the effects of a program to help long-term unemployed individuals who receive government benefits in Great Britain and participate in a welfare-to-work program, New Deal 25 Plus, retain jobs and advance in the labor market.
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A Comparison of Two Job Club Strategies
The Effects of Enhanced Versus Traditional Job Clubs in Los Angeles
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2008. David Navarro, Gilda Azurdia, and Gayle Hamilton.
This report, from the Employment Retention and Advancement Project, finds that unemployed welfare recipients in an enhanced job club had no better employment outcomes than participants in a traditional job club. At the end of the 18-month follow-up period, about half of both groups were employed.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Results from the Valuing Individual Success and Increasing Opportunities Now (VISION) Program in Salem, Oregon
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2008. Frieda Molina, Wan-Lae Cheng, and Richard Hendra.
A program to promote better initial job placements, employment retention, and advancement among unemployed applicants to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program faced implementation challenges and had no employment-related impacts after one year of follow-up.
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Implementation and Second-Year Impacts for Lone Parents in the UK Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration
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UK Department for Work and Pensions.
2008. James A. Riccio, Helen Bewley, Verity Campbell-Barr, Richard Dorsett, Gayle Hamilton, Lesley Hoggart, Alan Marsh, Cynthia Miller, Kathryn Ray, and Sandra Vegeris.
This report presents new and positive findings on the effects of Britain’s Employment Retention and Advancement demonstration. After two years, the program increased employment and earnings for single-parent participants. ERA offered a combination of job coaching and financial incentives to encourage low-income individuals to sustain employment and progress in work.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Results from Two Education and Training Models for Employed Welfare Recipients in Riverside, California
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2007. David Navarro, Stephen Freedman, and Gayle Hamilton.
Two education and training programs for employed, single-parent welfare recipients had small impacts on attendance in basic education or training overall but had larger impacts for disadvantaged groups. However, over two years, neither program increased employment and earnings levels overall or for any subgroup.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Impacts for Portland's Career Builders Program
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2008. Gilda Azurdia and Zakia Barnes.
A program in Portland, Oregon, to remove employment barriers and assist with job placement and employment retention and advancement for welfare applicants and recipients was never fully implemented and, not surprisingly, had no any effects on employment, earnings, or receipt of public assistance.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Results from the Personal Roads to Individual Development and Employment (PRIDE) Program in New York City
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2007. Dan Bloom, Cynthia Miller, and Gilda Azurdia.
A random assignment study of a welfare-to-work program for recipients with work-limiting medical and mental health conditions shows that participants had increased employment and decreased welfare payments.
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From Getting By to Getting Ahead
Navigating Career Advancement for Low-Wage Workers
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2007. Betsy L. Tessler and David Seith.
This report, from MDRC’s Work Advancement and Support Center (WASC) demonstration, explores how WASC career coaches help low-wage workers understand the complex interactions between earnings and eligibility for work support programs and guide them to make the best advancement decisions possible.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Results from the Post-Assistance Self-Sufficiency (PASS) Program in Riverside, California
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2007. David Navarro, Mark van Dok, and Richard Hendra.
A random assignment evaluation of a voluntary postemployment program for workers who recently left welfare shows participants had increased employment and earnings during the first two years of follow-up.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Results from Minnesota's Tier 2 Program
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2007. Allen LeBlanc, Cynthia Miller, Karin Martinson, and Gilda Azurdia
An evaluation of a case management program for long-term welfare recipients shows little effect on participants’ involvement in program services or on their employment, earnings, or public assistance receipt during the first one-and-a-half years of follow-up.
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Implementation and First-Year Impacts of the UK Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration
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UK Department for Work and Pensions.
2007. Richard Dorsett, Verity Campbell-Barr, Gayle Hamilton, Lesley Hoggart, Alan Marsh, Cynthia Miller, Joan Phillips, Kathryn Ray, James A. Riccio, Sarah Rich, and Sandra Vegeris.
This report published by the UK Department for Work and Pensions presents encouraging findings on the early effects of Britain’s Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration. Aimed at helping low-income individuals sustain employment and progress in work, ERA offers a combination of job coaching and financial incentives to participants once they are working.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Results from the Chicago ERA Site
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2006. Dan Bloom, Richard Hendra, and Jocelyn Page.
An evaluation of a retention and advancement program for recently employed welfare recipients shows modest increases in employment and large reductions in welfare receipt during the first two years of follow-up.
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A Vision for the Future of the Workforce Investment System
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2007. John Wallace.
In a rapidly growing low-wage labor market, the workforce investment system and the Workforce Investment Act should expand their focus to include job retention and advancement services by engaging private employers and to enhance the accessibility of work supports.
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Staying in Work and Moving Up
Evidence from the UK Employment Retention and Advancement Demonstration
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UK Department for Work and Pensions.
2006. Lesley Hoggart, Verity Campbell-Barr, Kathryn Ray, and Sandra Vegeris.
This study for the UK Department for Work and Pensions explores the attitudes of a sample of participants in the UK Employment Retention and Advancement program. This rare employment study on low-paid workers in the United Kingdom offers a foundation for understanding the receptivity of low-paid workers to programs that help them remain employed and advance.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Results from the Texas ERA Site
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2006. Karin Martinson and Richard Hendra.
An evaluation of a job placement, retention, and advancement program for individuals receiving welfare showed some effects — but not consistent or large effects — on employment and retention outcomes during the first two years of follow-up.
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Making Random Assignment Happen
Evidence from the UK Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration
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UK Department for Work and Pensions.
2006. Robert Walker, Lesley Hoggart, and Gayle Hamilton, with Susan Blank.
The largest ever random assignment test of a social policy in Britain is being applied in a demonstration of the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) program. This report, written by MDRC and British colleagues as part of a consortium of social policy research firms and produced for the UK Department for Work and Pensions, examines how well random assignment worked.
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A New Approach to Low-Wage Workers and Employers
Launching the Work Advancement and Support Center Demonstration
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2006. Jacquelyn Anderson, Linda Yuriko Kato, and James A. Riccio, with Susan Blank.
The Work Advancement and Support Center demonstration tests an innovative approach to fostering employment retention, career advancement, and increased take-up of work supports for a broad range of low-earners, including reemployed dislocated workers. This report examines start-up experiences in the first two sites: Dayton, Ohio, and San Diego, California.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Results from the South Carolina ERA Site
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2005. Susan Scrivener, Gilda Azurdia, and Jocelyn Page.
An MDRC evaluation of Moving Up, a program in South Carolina that aimed to help former welfare recipients obtain jobs, work more steadily, and move up in the labor market, found that the program had little effect on employment rates, earnings, employment retention, or advancement.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Early Results from Four Sites
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2005. Dan Bloom, Richard Hendra, Karin Martinson, and Susan Scrivener.
Early results are mixed for Employment Retention and Advancement project programs in four sites, but programs in two sites appear to help some welfare recipients work more steadily and advance to higher-paying jobs.
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Building Bridges to Self-Sufficiency
Improving Services for Low-Income Working Families
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2004. Jennifer Miller, Frieda Molina.
A collaboration of MDRC and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, this report explores how best to improve job stability and career advancement of low-wage earners and increase their household income.
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Service Delivery and Institutional Linkages
Early Implementation Experiences of Employment Retention and Advancement Programs
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2003. Jacquelyn Anderson, Karin Martinson.
Describing the initial experiences of 15 Employment Retention and Advancement programs in 8 states, this report emphasizes implementation issues and focuses on connections among the agencies and institutions that deliver retention and advancement services to low-income workers and hard-to-employ populations.
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Work Support Centers
A Framework
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2002. John W. Wallace.
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New Strategies to Promote Stable Employment and Career Progression
An Introduction to the Employment Retention and Advancement Project
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
2002. Dan Bloom, Jacquelyn Anderson, Melissa Wavelet, Karen N. Gardiner, Michael E. Fishman.
Welfare reform has resulted in millions of low-income parents replacing the receipt of public cash assistance with income from employment. But what strategies will help the new workforce entrants find more stable jobs, advance in the labor market, and achieve long-term self-sufficiency? The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) evaluation is a comprehensive effort to explore this urgent public policy question.
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Work Support Centers
A Concept Paper
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2001. John W. Wallace.
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