Young Adults

Young adulthood involves a series of high-stakes transitions in education, work, and family arrangements. MDRC develops and evaluates programs to ease these transitions for young people and to support those facing challenges and setbacks in finding a path to a stable adult life.
Highlights
Brief

Findings from Three New Studies of Youth Employment Programs

Over four million young people in the United States are “disconnected,” meaning they are not in school and are not working. In the past few months, studies of three programs aimed at such young people have released new findings. This brief discusses these findings and their implications.

Brief

Two Proven Strategies to Boost Summer Enrollment

Summer courses can help students progress to graduation, but most students do not enroll in them. An informational campaign incorporating behavioral science, tested with and without tuition assistance, increased summer enrollment. This brief presents findings from the Encouraging Additional Summer Enrollment (EASE) project following the reinstatement of year-round Pell grants.

Report

Summary Report on the Youth Villages Transitional Living Evaluation

This report summarizes an evaluation of a program that helps young people with histories of foster care or juvenile justice custody become independent adults. The program improved earnings, housing stability and economic well-being, and some health and safety outcomes. It did not improve education, social support, or criminal involvement outcomes.