About MDRC
Bigelow works to design, evaluate, and strengthen human services programs and systems in a variety of domains. He is currently contributing to tests of self-sufficiency interventions among households receiving federal housing subsidies (the Rent Reform Demonstration), an evaluation of expanded employment services (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training Evaluation), and an initiative testing new housing mobility strategies (Creating Moves to Opportunity). His work encompasses program technical assistance, implementation research, and study operations management. Before joining MDRC, Bigelow worked in program management roles with workforce development and housing finance agencies in New York City. He holds a master’s degree in public policy analysis from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and a BA in classical studies from Duke University.
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MDRC Publications
ReportJanuary, 2021Creating Moves to Opportunity greatly increased the number of families with young children leasing in areas with high upward income mobility in the Seattle area. It offered education, coaching, housing search assistance, landlord engagement, and financial supports to Housing Choice Voucher program applicants. This report offers lessons about implementing the model.
ReportHighlights from the Jobs Plus Pilot Program Evaluation
September, 2017Jobs Plus promotes employment among public housing residents through employment services, rent rule changes that provide incentives to work, and community support for work. Within the first 18 months, all nine public housing agencies in this evaluation had begun structuring their programs, building partnerships, and implementing the model’s core components.
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Other Publications
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Projects
The concentration of Housing Choice Voucher Program participants in high-poverty neighborhoods has been a concern of practitioners and policymakers for decades. Compelling research by Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, and Lawrence Katz found that when young children move to “high-opportunity” areas, their prospects for better economic outcomes as adults can greatly...
Barbara S. Goldman, Frieda Molina, Donna Wharton-Fields, Stephen Freedman, Richard Hendra, David Navarro, Alexandra Pennington, Susan Scrivener, Betsy L. Tessler, Jonathan Bigelow, Keith Olejniczak, Kelsey SchabergThe 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...
James A. Riccio, Nandita Verma, Gilda Azurdia, Edith Yang, Jonathan Bigelow, Keith Olejniczak, Joshua VermetteThe Housing Choice Voucher Program is one of the federal government’s major programs for helping very low-income families with children, elderly people, and disabled people afford decent and safe housing in the private rental market. Housing vouchers are administered locally by public housing agencies with funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban...
Nandita Verma, James A. Riccio, Donna Wharton-Fields, Betsy L. Tessler, Nikki Ortolani, Jonathan Bigelow, M. Victoria Quiroz Becerra, Edith YangPublic housing developments are among the most economically challenged neighborhoods in the United States. In fact, many public housing residents face obstacles to employment even beyond those normally experienced by other low-income people. To address this problem, Jobs-Plus was conceived in the mid-1990s by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ( HUD...