Year 1 of Paycheck Plus
The Paycheck Plus demonstration is testing the effects of a more generous Earned Income Tax Credit-like earnings supplement for low-income single adults in New York City. This brief describes the implementation of the program during the first year and supplement receipt rates during the 2015 tax season.
Many noncustodial parents do not pay their full child support obligations and therefore accumulate child support debt. At the same time, many children receiving child support assistance have little or no savings to help pay for their higher education. In an effort to increase child support payments, lower child support debt, and expand the future economic opportunities...
Interim Findings from the Work Rewards Demonstration in New York City
This report presents four-year findings from a test of three interventions: the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program, FSS plus cash work incentives, and cash work incentives alone. FSS+incentives improved employment and earnings among participants who were not working at study entry, but none of the interventions had impacts for participants overall.
Early Lessons from Family Rewards 2.0
This project builds on NYC’s earlier experiment with a conditional cash transfer program to reduce poverty and improve education, health, and employment outcomes. It tests a revised model in the Bronx and Memphis, adding family guidance to modified incentives paid more frequently. Early implementation findings suggest deeper family engagement.
This two-page issue focus uses infographics to explain a groundbreaking demonstration project that tests the impact of a new work-based earnings supplement, similar to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), on economic and social outcomes for single adults.
A New Antipoverty Strategy for Single Adults
This 12-page brief describes a pathbreaking demonstration project testing an enhanced Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income single adults without dependent children in New York City. Paycheck Plus aims to improve participants’ economic well-being while promoting employment and other positive outcomes.
Implementation and Interim Impact Findings from the SaveUSA Evaluation
This report describes the early effects of a program helping low- and moderate-income families build up unrestricted-use savings via tax refunds. Individuals who save a pledged amount for a year earn a 50-percent match payment. After 18 months, SaveUSA had increased the percentage of individuals with savings and boosted average savings amounts.
This paper examines the quality of evidence regarding the effectiveness of efforts to promote access to mainstream credit, banking, and financial services for low-income people and offers recommendations for strengthening the evidence base of such programs.
Many U.S. households do not have enough savings to help manage temporary losses of income or increased expenditures from unexpected events. Increased savings might particularly help low- and moderate-income families avoid resorting to high-cost (sometimes “payday”) loans or failing to meet monthly rent bills and minimum credit card payments. To support the buildup of...
The New York City Center for Economic Opportunity has selected MDRC and its partners to implement and evaluate a pilot program to simulate an expanded EITC in New York City for low-income single workers without dependent children, with the goal of increasing employment and earnings and reducing poverty.
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