About MDRC
Navarro, a research associate in MDRC’s California office, has over 31 years of experience as an information services and operations liaison for over 60 sites, covering 21 evaluations and demonstrations of innovative programs to help low-income people become self-sufficient. In this capacity he has helped recruit prospective sites for these evaluations, and devised, implemented, and monitored the studies’ research procedures, especially those using random assignment-based designs. Navarro also bears responsibility for drafting and overseeing the contracts and interagency agreements with local and state government agencies that gain MDRC access to the administrative data needed for its evaluations. Navarro is currently the operations leader for the KentuckianaWorks, EmployIndy, and Muskegon Works! sites of the Workforce Investment Act Adult Services and Dislocated Workers Evaluation, a national study funded by the U.S. Department of Labor. He is also the operations leader for the San Francisco sites of the Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration, another Department of Labor initiative, and the Subsidized Transitional Employment Demonstration, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services evaluation. In addition, he is the operations leader for the four Texas sites and two California sites in the national evaluation of the Family Self-Sufficiency Program, a voluntary case management and asset-building program that provides Section 8 voucher recipients with incentives to work. He is a data-acquisition specialist for the 10 states participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training Evaluation, a national study of innovative education and training programs for SNAP recipients. He is also the operations lead for 5 of the 18 Education Opportunity Centers that are participating in the Text Ed Demonstration Project, which will develop and test a strategic text-messaging intervention in these centers and is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. Navarro has a master’s degree in history from San Jose State University.
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MDRC Publications
ReportImplementation and Early Impacts of the STEP Forward Program
November, 2017This report presents implementation and interim impact findings from a random assignment evaluation of STEP Forward, a subsidized employment program in San Francisco serving a diverse group of low-income job seekers. In the first year, STEP Forward boosted employment and earnings, which suggests that participants obtained better jobs.
ReportThe Effects of Enhanced Versus Traditional Job Clubs in Los Angeles
August, 2008This 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.
ReportThe Employment Retention and Advancement Project
November, 2007Two 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.
ReportThe Employment Retention and Advancement Project
May, 2007A 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.
ReportFinal Report on a Work First Program in a Major Urban Center
June, 2000 -
Other Publications
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Projects
Alexander Mayer, David Navarro, Caitlin Anzelone, Evan Weissman, Dan Cullinan, Elena Serna-Wallender, Stanley Dai, Sumner PereraThe college enrollment process is complex and includes many steps. Recent research has shown that short, action-oriented text messages can help people focus on critical tasks at the right times. Building on this promising research, the Text Ed project will develop and test a strategic text messaging intervention at Educational Opportunity Centers ( EOC s). One of eight...
Barbara S. Goldman, Frieda Molina, Donna Wharton-Fields, Richard Hendra, David Navarro, Susan Scrivener, Betsy L. Tessler, Jonathan Bigelow, Keith Olejniczak, Kelsey Schaberg, Annie Utterback, Alexandra Pennington, Brandon HawkinsThe Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ( SNAP ) — formerly the food stamp program —is a critical work support for low-income people and families. Although SNAP has included various employment and training requirements for adult recipients to maintain their eligibility since the 1970s, the SNAP Employment and Training ( SNAP E&T ) program was established as...
Nandita Verma, James A. Riccio, Donna Wharton-Fields, Betsy L. Tessler, Stephanie Rubino, David Navarro, Michelle Ware, Joshua VermetteThe Family Self-Sufficiency ( FSS ) program is the main federal program for increasing employment and earnings and reducing reliance on government subsidies among recipients of housing subsidies. Created in 1990, FSS is administered by state and local public housing agencies with funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ( HUD ). In 2014, HUD...
Some adults have great difficulty finding and holding jobs even when overall economic conditions are good. These individuals typically have low levels of formal education and skills and other characteristics, such as criminal records, that place them at the back of the queue for job openings. Many programs have been developed to assist these job seekers, but few have...
The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 ( WIA ) is the federal government’s largest source of federally funded employment services and training. WIA is the latest in a series of federal employment and training programs, the first having arisen in response to the Great Depression. WIA aims to bring together formerly fragmented public and private reemployment services, make...
Dan Bloom, Richard Hendra, Melanie Skemer, David Navarro, Sally Dai, Bret Barden, Kyla Wasserman, Jillian Verrillo, Chloe Anderson GolubOver the past 80 years, a variety of subsidized employment strategies have been used for two main purposes: (1) to provide work-based income support for people who are not able to find regular, unsubsidized jobs; and (2) to improve the employability of disadvantaged groups. Programs with the first goal have typically emerged during periods of sustained high...
Richard Hendra, Cynthia Miller, Susan Scrivener, Frieda Molina, David Navarro, Barbara S. Goldman, Dan Bloom, John Martinez, Mark van Dok, Erika Lundquist, Edith Yang, Alexandra PenningtonThe federal welfare overhaul of 1996 ushered in myriad policy changes aimed at getting low-income parents off public assistance and into employment. These changes — especially cash welfare’s transformation from an entitlement into a time-limited benefit contingent on work participation — have intensified the need to help low-income families become economically self-...
Frieda Molina, Cynthia Miller, David Navarro, James A. Riccio, Caroline Schultz, Betsy L. Tessler, Mark van Dok, Anne Warren, Alexandra PenningtonThe wages and earnings of low-income workers have been stagnant or declining in real terms for approximately 35 years. Nationwide, the labor market-driven growth of the low-wage workforce has become a major issue for both the business community and the public. Low-wage workers represent a significant segment of the nation’s workforce: According to the Bureau of Labor...