About MDRC
At MDRC, Freedman’s research has focused on programs for disadvantaged young people, individuals involved with the criminal justice system, and other populations with barriers to employment. In her role as a technical research analyst, she is primarily responsible for data management, acquisition, processing, and analysis; she has also held roles in survey design, random assignment system setup, and visits to research sites to study program implementation. Freedman is a coauthor of the interim and impact reports on the evaluation of the PACE Center for Girls, a gender-responsive program offering academic and social services to middle and high school-age girls in Florida who are at risk of delinquency or other negative outcomes. Before coming to MDRC, she worked as a research assistant at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in Washington, DC. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Binghamton University.
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MDRC Publications
BriefMarch, 2020The Breaking Barriers program, based in San Diego, provided employment services to lower-income individuals with disabilities. MDRC carried out a random assignment evaluation of the program. As part of the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-income Families project, MDRC is collecting additional administrative records to extend the original evaluation.
ReportImplementing Individual Placement and Support in a Workforce Setting
September, 2019Breaking Barriers was a San Diego-based program that provided employment services to low-income individuals with a range of disabilities or other health conditions. Preliminary analyses based on a survey found that the program did not have an impact on the primary outcomes measured — employment, length of employment, and total earnings — during a 15-month follow-up period.
ReportResults from the Evaluation of PACE Center for Girls
January, 2019PACE provides academic and extensive social services in a gender-responsive environment to girls at risk of juvenile justice system involvement. Over a one-year period, PACE increased school enrollment and attendance, as well as girls’ likelihood of being “on track” academically.
ReportAn Implementation Study of the PACE Center for Girls
April, 2017To serve at-risk girls, PACE provides academic and social services in a gender-responsive environment, focusing on safety, relationships, and girls’ individual strengths while accounting for the effects of trauma. The program offers low staff-to-student ratios, counseling and case management, and a life skills curriculum targeted to girls.
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Other Publications
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Projects
Kristin Porter, Bret Barden, Melanie Skemer, Chloe Anderson Golub, Brit Henderson, Viktoriya Syrov, Lily Freedman, Emily BrennanJurisdictions across the United States are taking steps to reduce the number of people who are detained in jail unnecessarily while awaiting trial. In particular, they are seeking to reduce the use of cash bail as a mechanism to ensure court appearance. Many jurisdictions have introduced risk-assessment tools to inform release decisions and pretrial supervision...
The Bridging Access to Benefits and Care ( BABC ) project is a partnership among three organizations: Acacia Network (Acacia), St. Ann’s Corner of Harm Reduction ( SACHR ), and Seedco. It is designed to address the social determinants of health for a vulnerable and disenfranchised, opioid-dependent population in the Bronx. The theory is that activities increasing...
Many jurisdictions across the United States are rethinking the “front end” of the criminal justice system — the pretrial period between an arrest and the disposition of a criminal case. Often these reforms focus on the initial decisions that judges and other court stakeholders make about whether to detain defendants in jail while they are awaiting trial, and on the use...
More than one-third of all children under 18 — about 24 million children — live in single-parent families, the vast majority headed by single mothers. Although there have been improvements (such as automatic deductions from paychecks) in collecting and distributing child support from noncustodial parents (those who do not have physical custody of their children), more...
Adults with disabilities and recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families ( TANF ) often struggle to find stable and meaningful employment, while state TANF agencies struggle to provide effective employment services in a timely and cost-effective manner. In 2013, MDRC , in collaboration with MEF Associates, completed an evaluation of Families Achieving Success...
Megan Millenky, Jean Grossman, Louisa Treskon, Melanie Skemer, Sally Dai, Lily Freedman, Caroline MageYoung girls and women make up an increasing share of the youth in the juvenile justice system, despite a national decline in the overall rate of juvenile incarceration in this country. In 2011, girls made up nearly 30 percent of all juvenile arrests, up from 20 percent in 1980. However, girls account for a very small share of the juvenile arrests for violent crimes and...