Families

Focused on improving the circumstances of families with low incomes, MDRC develops and studies program that serve parents and children in a range of family configurations.
Highlights
Report

Final Results from the Family Self-Sufficiency Study in New York City

FSS provides case management services and a long-term escrow-savings account to housing-assisted families; an enhanced version also offered short-term cash work incentives. Six-year results of the random assignment evaluation show few significant effects overall for either program. However, the enhanced program increased employment and earnings for participants not working at enrollment.

Report

Final Report of the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) Project

The BIAS project tested behavioral interventions in child support, child care, and work support programs with nearly 100,000 low-income clients in eight human services agencies. Each site saw at least one significant, low-cost impact. The findings suggest that small environmental changes can enhance client-agency interactions and expanded behavioral strategies might help strengthen programs and policies.

Brief

Home visiting provides information, resources, and support to expectant low-income parents and low-income families with young children. This brief summarizes reports from two national studies of early childhood home visiting.