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Low-Wage Workers & Communities |
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Supports for Low-Income Workers |
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Learning Together
How Families Responded to Education Incentives in New York City’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program
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2011. David Greenberg, Nadine Dechausay, and Carolyn Fraker.
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.
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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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The Effects of Child Care Subsidies for Moderate-Income Families in Cook County, Illinois
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation
2010. Charles Michalopolous, Erika Lundquist, and Nina Castells.
This report seeks to answer two policy questions: whether providing subsidies to families whose incomes are just over the state’s eligibility limit affects their child care and employment outcomes, and whether extending the length of time before families must reapply for subsidies affects the receipt of subsidies and related outcomes.
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Effects of Reducing Child Care Subsidy Copayments in Washington State
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation
2010. Charles Michalopoulos.
This final report of a two-year evaluation is intended to help states determine how to structure child care subsidy programs. Focusing on how much families should be required to contribute when they receive child care subsidies, the study examined the effects of reduced copayments on subsidy use, employment and earnings, and receipt of public assistance.
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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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Toward Reduced Poverty Across Generations
Early Findings from New York City’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program
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2010. James Riccio, Nadine Dechausay, David Greenberg, Cynthia Miller, Zawadi Rucks, and Nandita Verma.
Targeted toward low-income families in six high-poverty New York City communities, Opportunity NYC-Family Rewards offers cash payments tied to efforts and achievements in children’s education, family preventive health care practices, and parents’ employment. In its first two years, the program substantially reduced poverty and material hardship and had positive results in improving some education, health-related, and work-related outcomes.
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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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A Preliminary Look at Early Educational Results of the Opportunity NYC – Family Rewards Program
A Research Note for Funders
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2009. Cynthia Miller, James Riccio, and Jared Smith.
Targeted toward very low-income families in six high-poverty New York City communities, Family Rewards offers cash payments tied to efforts and achievements in children’s education, family preventive health care practices, and parents’ employment. This paper reviews data on participants’ receipt of rewards and offers preliminary estimates of the program’s impacts on selected educational outcomes during the first year.
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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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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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Poverty and Philanthropy: Strategies for Change
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2008. Gordon Berlin.
This paper, by MDRC President Gordon Berlin, traces the economic and social trends that help explain the persistence of poverty, describes some of the unintended consequences of public policies that have exacerbated the challenges facing poor families, and discusses four overarching strategies to address one of the most powerful contributors to poverty: stagnant wages for low-income workers, particularly among men, young men, and men of color.
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New Hope for the Working Poor
Effects After Eight Years for Families and Children
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2008. Cynthia Miller, Aletha C. Huston, Greg J. Duncan, Vonnie C. McLoyd, and Thomas S. Weisner.
Implemented in 1994 in Milwaukee, New Hope provided full-time, low-wage workers with several benefits for three years: an earnings supplement, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. A random assignment study shows positive effects for both adults and children, some of which persisted five years after the program ended.
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New Hope’s Eight-Year Impacts on Employment and Family Income
Working Paper
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2008. Greg Duncan, Cynthia Miller, Amy Classens, Mimi Engel, Heather Hill, and Constance Lindsay.
Implemented in 1994, New Hope provided full-time workers with several benefits for three years: an earnings supplement, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. This working paper examines the program’s impacts on employment and earnings, as well as on family income and poverty, up to eight years beyond the point of random assignment.
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New Hope’s Effects on Children’s Future Orientation and Employment Experiences
Working Paper
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2008. Vonnie C. McLoyd, Rachel Kaplan, and Kelly M. Purtell.
Implemented in 1994, New Hope provided full-time workers with several benefits for three years: an earnings supplement, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. This working paper examines the program’s impacts on children’s future orientation and employment experiences eight years after random assignment.
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Long-Term Effects of New Hope on Children’s Academic Achievement and Achievement Motivation
Working Paper
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2008. Aletha C. Huston, Jessica Thornton Walker, Chantelle J. Dowsett, Amy E. Imes, and Angelica Ware.
Implemented in 1994, New Hope provided full-time workers with several benefits for three years: an earnings supplement, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. This working paper examines the effects of New Hope on children’s academic achievement and achievement motivation eight years after random assignment.
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New Hope’s Effects on Social Behavior, Parenting, and Activities at Eight Years
Working Paper
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2008. Aletha C. Huston, Anjali E. Gupta, Alison C. Bentley, Chantelle Dowsett, Angelica Ware, and Sylvia R. Epps.
Implemented in 1994, New Hope provided full-time workers with several benefits for three years: an earnings supplement, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. This working paper examines the effects of New Hope on children’s social behavior, parent-child relationships, and participation in out-of-school activities eight years after random assignment.
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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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Rewarding the Work of Individuals
A Counterintuitive Approach to Reducing Poverty and Strengthening Families
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2007. Gordon L. Berlin.
In this article in The Future of Children journal, MDRC President Gordon Berlin answers the question: If you could do one thing to reduce poverty in America, what would it be? He explores the potential advantages of expanding the federal Earned Income Tax Credit to all low-wage adults who work full time — whether they have children or not and whether they marry or not.
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Congressional Testimony by Gordon Berlin on Solutions to Poverty
Congressional Testimony
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2007. Gordon L. Berlin
In his testimony before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, MDRC President Gordon Berlin argues that the most direct way to alleviate poverty is to tackle the legacy of falling wages, particularly for men with less education.
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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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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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Turning Welfare into a Work Support
Six-Year Impacts on Parents and Children from the Minnesota Family Investment Program
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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.
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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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The Long-Term Effects of the Minnesota Family Investment Program on Marriage and Divorce Among Two-Parent Families
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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.
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New Hope for Families and Children
Five-Year Results of a Program to Reduce Poverty and Reform Welfare
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2003. Aletha C. Huston, Cynthia Miller, Lashawn Richburg-Hayes, Greg J. Duncan, Carolyn A. Eldred, Thomas S. Weisner, Edward Lowe, Vonnie A. McLoyd, Daniella A. Crosby, Marika N. Ripke, Cindy Redcross.
This rigorous long-term evaluation reveals that building a safety net of financial supports for low-income parents who work improved the well-being of their children.
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Making Work Pay
Final Report on the Self-Sufficiency Project for Long-Term Welfare Recipients
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
2002. Charles Michalopoulos, Doug Tattrie, Cynthia Miller, Philip K. Robins, Pamela Morris, David Gyarmati, Cindy Redcross, Kelly Foley, Reuben Ford.
Recognizing that welfare recipients who find jobs may remain poor, the "make work pay" approach rewards those who work by boosting their income. This strategy was the centerpiece of the Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP), a large-scale demonstration program in Canada that offered monthly earnings supplements to single parents who left welfare for full-time work.
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Work Support Centers
A Framework
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2002. John W. Wallace.
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When Financial Incentives Pay for Themselves
Interim Findings From the Self-Sufficiency Project's Applicant Study
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
2001. Charles Michalopoulos, Tracey Hoy.
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Work Support Centers
A Concept Paper
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2001. John W. Wallace.
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SSP Plus at 36 Months
Effects of Adding Employment Services to Financial Work Incentives
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
2001. Ying Lei, Charles Michalopoulos.
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Reforming Welfare and Rewarding Work
A Summary of the Final Report on the Minnesota Family Investment Program
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2000. Virginia Knox, Cynthia Miller, Lisa A. Gennetian.
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Reforming Welfare and Rewarding Work
Final Report on the Minnesota Family Investment Program
Volume 1 Effects on Adults
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2000. Cynthia Miller, Virginia Knox, Lisa A. Gennetian, Martey Dodoo, Jo Anna Hunter, Cindy Redcross.
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Final Report on the Implementation and Impacts of the Minnesota Family Investment Program in Ramsey County
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2000. Patricia Auspos, Cynthia Miller, Jo Anna Hunter.
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Reforming Welfare and Rewarding Work
Final Report on the Minnesota Family Investment Program Volume 2 Effects on Children
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2000. Lisa Gennetian, Cynthia Miller.
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The Self-Sufficiency Project at 36 Months
Effects of a Financial Work Incentive on Employment and Income (SRDC)
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
2000. Charles Michalopoulos, David Card, Lisa Gennetian, Kristen Harknett, Philip K. Robins.
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The Self-Sufficiency Project at 36 Months
Effects on Children of a Program That Increased Parental Employment and Income (SRDC)
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
2000. Pamela Morris, Charles Michalopoulos.
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Does SSP Plus Increase Employment?
The Effect of Adding Services to the Self-Sufficiency Project's Financial Incentives
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
1999. Gail Quets, Philip K. Robins, Elsie C. Pan, Charles Michalopoulos, David Card.
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When Financial Work Incentives Pay for Themselves
Early Findings from the Self-Sufficiency Project's Applicant Study
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
1999. David Card, Charles Michalopoulos, Philip K. Robins.
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Testing a Re-Employment Incentive for Displaced Workers
The Earnings Supplement Project
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
1999. Howard Bloom, Saul Schwartz, Susanna Lui-Gurr, Suk-Won Lee.
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A Financial Incentive to Encourage Employment among Repeat Users of Employment Insurance
The Earnings Supplement Project
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
1999. Doug Tattrie.
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New Hope for People with Low Incomes
Two-Year Results of a Program to Reduce Poverty and Reform Welfare
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1999. Johannes M. Bos, Aletha C. Huston, Robert C. Granger, Greg J. Duncan, Thomas W. Brock, Vonnie C. McLoyd with Danielle Crosby, Veronica Fellerath, Christina Gibson, Katherine Magnuson, Rashmita Mistry, Susan M. Poglinco, Jennifer Romich, Ana M. Ventura.
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Explaining the Minnesota Family Investment Program's Impacts by Housing Status
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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.
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When Financial Incentives Encourage Work
Complete 18-Month Findings from the Self-Sufficiency Project
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
1998. Winston Lin, Phillip K. Robins, David Card, Kristen Harknett, Susanna Lui-Gurr.
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An Early Look at Community Service Jobs in the New Hope Demonstration
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1998. Susan M. Poglinco, Julian Brash, Robert C. Granger.
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Do Work Incentives Have Unintended Consequences?
Measuring "Entry Effects" in the Self-Sufficiency Project
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
1998. Gordon Berlin, Wendy Bancroft, David Card, Winston Lin, Philip K. Robins.
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Making Welfare Work and Work Pay
Implementation and 18-Month Impacts of the Minnesota Family Investment Program
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1997. Cynthia Miller, Virginia Knox, Patricia Auspos, Jo Anna Hunter-Manns, Alan Orenstein.
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Who Got New Hope?
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1997. Michael Wiseman.
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How Important are "Entry Effects" in Financial Incentive Programs for Welfare Recipients?
Experimental Evidence from the Self-Sufficiency Project
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
1997. David Card, Philip Robins, Winston Lin.
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Implementing the Earnings Supplement Project
A Test of a Reemployment Incentive
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
1997. Howard Bloom, Barbara Fink, Susanna Lui-Gurr, Wendy Bancroft, Doug Tattrie.
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Creating New Hope
Implementation of a Program to Reduce Poverty and Reform Welfare
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1997. Thomas Brock, Fred Doolittle, Veronica Fellerath, Michael Wiseman with David Greenberg and Robinson Hollister, Jr.
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The New Hope Offer
Participants in the New Hope Demonstration Discuss Work, Family, and Self-Sufficiency
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1996. Dudley Benoit.
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When Work Pays Better Than Welfare
A Summary of the Self-Sufficiency Project's Implementation, Focus Group, and Initial 18-month Impact Reports
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
1996.
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Do Financial Incentives Encourage Welfare Recipients to Work?
Initial 18-Month Findings from the Self-Sufficiency Project
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
1996. David Card, Philip K. Robins with Tod Mijanocich, Winston Lin.
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MFIP
An Early Report on Minnesota's Approach to Welfare Reform
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1995. Virginia Knox, Amy Brown, Winston Lin.
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The Struggle for Self-Sufficiency
Participants in the Self-Sufficiency Program Talk About Work, Welfare, and Their Futures
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
1995. Wendy Bancroft, Sheila Currie Vernon.
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Creating an Alternative to Welfare
First-Year Findings on the Implementation, Welfare Impacts, and Costs of the Self-Sufficiency Project
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Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
1995. Tod Mijanovich, David Long.
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Making Work Pay Better Than Welfare
An Early Look at the Self-Sufficiency Project
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Social Research Demonstration Corporation.
1994. Susanna Lui-Gurr, Sheila Currie Vernon, Tod Mijanovich.
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