Self-Sufficiency, Welfare & Employment
View all reports on this topicTopic Overview
This portfolio addresses innovative approaches for increasing economic self-sufficiency and reducing welfare dependency, including rigorous evaluations of promising employment strategies. Studies address a variety of topics including alternative welfare-to-work strategies, career ladders, employment retention and advancement, and strategies to promote work in rural areas. Many studies are designed and implemented in close collaboration with other offices within HHS as well as with other federal agencies such as the Department of Labor and the Social Security Administration.
Projects on this Topic
Assets for Independence (AFI), 1999-2008
This evaluation examines Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) under the largest federally funded IDA program: the Assets for Independence (AFI) program administered by ACF. IDAs are personal savings accounts targeted to low-income persons that...
Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS), 2010-2014
The purpose of the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project is to explore the application of behavioral economics principles to the programs and target populations of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF)...
Descriptive Study of Tribal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Programs, 2011-2013
This project will provide a descriptive study on the implementation of Tribal TANF programs and document lessons learned...
Design Options of the Search for Employment (DOSE), 2011-2013
Nationally, job search activities are a significant area of program attention, including TANF and WIA...
Employment Retention and Advancement Project (ERA), 1998-2011
The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) evaluation was a comprehensive effort to learn about effective strategies to promote employment retention and advancement among welfare recipients and low-wage workers. The project began in 1998, when HHS...
Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project, 2001-2012
The Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation project will assess the effectiveness of programs designed to enhance employment outcomes for current or former TANF recipients and other low-income parents who have demonstrated...
Evaluation of 2010 Summer Subsidized Employment Activities for Youth, 2010-2011
OPRE jointly sponsored with the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) a study of subsidized summer 2010 employment opportunities for low-income youth operated with the TANF Emergency Fund offered as part of the...
Evaluation of Tribal Health Profession Opportunity Grants (ETHPOG), 2010-2015
OPRE awarded a contract to NORC at the University of Chicago, in conjunction with Red Star Innovations and the National Indian Health Board (NIHB), to design and conduct a comprehensive process and outcome evaluation of the Health Profession...
Evaluation Portfolio for the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program
Authorized by the Affordable Care Act, the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program provides education and training to TANF recipients and other low-income individuals for occupations in the health care field that pay well and are expected...
Federal-State Partnerships to Build Capacity in the Use of TANF and Related Administrative Data, 2008-2011
This project is designed to help States improve the effectiveness of their TANF programs and to bolster their ability to conduct program evaluation and research. To achieve this goal, ACF will provide selected states with technical assistance and...
Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Impact Studies, 2011-2015
This project will support impact studies of a subset of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program grantees (three to six). These studies will complement and augment the impact evaluations that will occur as part of the Innovative...
Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Implementation, Systems and Outcome Evaluation, 2010-2015
The purpose of this project is to provide recommendations for the design of an evaluation intended to be universal to the 27 Health Profession Opportunity Grant (HPOG) sites focused on TANF recipients and other low-income individuals and to assess...
Identifying Promising Practices for Helping TANF Recipients with Disabilities Enter and Sustain Employment, 2006-2008
This project explored current strategies to facilitate employment of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) adult recipients living with mental, intellectual and physical disabilities. It examined innovative efforts to promote and support the...
Identifying Promising TANF Diversion Practices, 2006-2008
The purpose of this study was to examine state and local efforts to divert TANF applicants from applying for cash assistance. This examination involved gathering information from a range of sources such as state and local TANF offices and national...
Innovative Strategies for Increasing Self-sufficiency, 2007-2014
The Innovative Strategies for Increasing Self-Sufficiency (ISIS) project will test strategies to promote employment and self-sufficiency among economically disadvantaged families, including those receiving, or at risk of receiving, TANF...
Rural Welfare to Work Strategies Demonstration Evaluation Project, 2000-2008
This multi-year national evaluation project, Rural Welfare-To-Work Strategies Demonstration, was designed to learn how best to help TANF and other low-income rural families move from welfare to work. The evaluation increased information on rural...
Self-Sufficiency Research Clearinghouse, 2009-2011
The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation awarded a grant to ICF International to fund the launch and maintenance of the Self-Sufficiency Research Clearinghouse (SSRC). In the initial phase, they will publicize the launch and build the...
State TANF Policies: Welfare Rules Database Expansion, 2009-2013
For several years, ACF has provided resources to facilitate updating and expanding the State TANF Policies Database. The Urban Institute began developing the database in early 1997, as part of the Assessing New Federalism project...
Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (STED), 2010-2017
This project will evaluate subsidized and transitional employment approaches for critical low-income populations, potentially including welfare recipients and low-income non-custodial parents. The project will examine subsidized employment strategies...
TANF and CCDF Research Synthesis, 2009-2011
The purpose of the TANF and CCDF Research Synthesis Project was to inform research planning and support evidence-based decision making related to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) programs...
TANF Separate State Programs, Time Limits, and Participation Requirements, 2005-2008
The introduction of Federal time limits on the receipt of cash assistance under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program was a central and major part of welfare reform. The purpose of this study was to conduct a follow-up to an...
TANF/SSI Disability Transition Project, 2008-2011
Numerous studies have identified substantial overlap in families and individuals served by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. Over the past decade, as the TANF program has developed...
Understanding the Child-Only TANF Caseload, 2010-2011
This grant to Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago is jointly administered by OPRE and ASPE. Its purpose is to document differences in state policies that affect child-only TANF cases, describe characteristics and dynamics of such cases, and...
Understanding the Dynamics of Disconnection from Employment and Assistance, 2011-2013
Since the creation of TANF in 1996, there has been concern about the substantial minority of TANF recipients who leave TANF without finding work, as well as low-income individuals who may be eligible for TANF but are neither receiving TANF nor working...
Understanding Two Categories in TANF Spending: "Other" and "Authorized Under Prior Law", 2007-2009
This project documented the types of services or activities funded by states with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and state Maintenance-of-Effort (MOE) program funds categorized in Federal reporting as “Other” and...
Understanding Urban Indians' Interactions with ACF Programs and Services, 2011-2013
The purpose of this project is to implement an exploratory research study to better understand the challenges and context for family self-sufficiency of low-income Alaska Natives and American Indians living in urban areas and their interactions with...
University Partnership Research Grants for the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program, 2011-2015
ACF awarded five grantees funding through the University Partnership Research Grants for the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to support research and evaluation that will inform and improve HPOG...
Work Participation and TANF/WIA Coordination Project, 2011-2013
This is a two-part project dealing with Work Participation and TANF/WIA Coordination. The Claims Resolution Act of 2010 extended the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program and contains a section on reports required from the states...
Achieving Change for Texans, 1997-2002
Achieving Change for Texans: Statewide, the following were key program provisions: (1) time limit of 12 to 36 months for able-bodied adults, depending on work experience and education, with exemptions for severe local economic conditions and personal...
Approaching Time Limits, 2001-2002
The Approaching Time Limits study explored what States have done with clients as they approached or already reached Federal and/or State TANF time limits....
Assessing Enhanced Transitional Employment Programs (ETE), 2000-2001
The Assessing Enhanced Transitional Employment Programs (ETE) project identified and described operating employment-focused programs that helped individuals who faced significant employment challenges by providing transitional employment or work...
Assessing Medicaid and Food Stamps Access and Participation, 1998-2000
Assessing Medicaid and Food Stamps Access and Participation project, with the cooperation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation helped participating States create and analyze performance data on how their Medicaid, SCHIP, and Food stamps enrollment...
Child Outcomes Synthesis Project, 2000-2004
The Child Outcomes Synthesis Project was designed to synthesize the results from the Project on State-Level Child Outcomes, a series of demonstrations in five States that measured the impacts of welfare reform on the well-being of children...
Connecticut Welfare Reform Evaluation Project, 1997-2002
The Connecticut Welfare Reform Evaluation Project continued the originally planned evaluation of Reach for Jobs First, which was implemented in January 1996, as an amendment to an earlier welfare reform demonstration, and subsequently incorporated in...
Economic Analysis of the Prenatal and Early Childhood Nurse Home Visitation Program, 2000-2004
The Economic Analysis of the Prenatal and Early Childhood Nurse Home Visitation Program study examined cost savings to the government resulting from a prenatal and early childhood home visitation program that had been studied in a series of three...
Evaluation of Community Based Job Retention Programs, 1997-2000
The Evaluation of Community Based Job Retention Programs project included two phases. In Phase 1, the project provided a detailed implementation analysis and short-term outcome findings for participants receiving various mixes of job retention and...
Evaluation of Los Angeles County GAIN Program, 1997-2000
The Evaluation of Los Angeles Jobs-First GAIN project evaluated the results of changing Los Angeles' Greater Avenues to Independence (GAIN) program, a human resource focused welfare-to-work program into Los Angeles Jobs-First GAIN, a labor force...
Florida Family Transition Program Evaluation (FTP), 1997-2000
Provisions of the Florida Family Transition Program (FTP) Evaluation demonstration included: (1) a time limit of 24 months on assistance in any 60-month period for most recipients, with a limit of 36 months of receipt out of any 72 months for certain...
Improving State Capacity to Address the Needs of Low Income Working Families, 2001-2004
The Improving State Capacity to Address the Needs of Low-Income Working Families project was jointly funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation and the Office of Family Assistance within ACF, and the Assistant Secretary for Planning and...
Indiana Welfare Reform Evaluation Project, 1997-2003
The Indiana Welfare Reform Evaluation Project implemented the following major policy provisions: a 24-month time limit for adults eligible for JOBS; a family benefit cap; child immunization and school attendance requirements; a higher resource limit...
Innovative Employment Strategies, 2005-2007
The Innovative Employment Strategies project gathered and synthesized information on cutting edge approaches and programs for assisting applicants and recipients to gain, retain and advance in employment. Considerable research has already focused...
Iowa Welfare Reform Evaluation, 1997-2001
Iowa Welfare Reform Evaluation complemented a separately funded evaluation completed on Iowa's Family Investment Program (FIP). The evaluation consisted of two studies–a study of repeat limited benefit plan (LBP) assignments and a study of...
Local Implementation of TANF: A Description of Current Practices / Later Changes Following the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, 2005-2006
This project examined how the local management of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs has evolved and adapted practices in the years following the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of...
Meta-Analysis of Welfare-to-Work Programs, 2002-2005
This study, the Meta-Analysis of Welfare-to-Work Programs, analyzed the results of welfare-to-work demonstrations carried out since 1982. The purpose was to determine how impacts in those demonstrations are related to a wide range of variables...
Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP), 1997-2000
The following were the key features of the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP): 1) requiring long-term public assistance recipients to participate in intensive employment/training services, including mandatory case management; 2) making work pay...
National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS), 1989-2002
The National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS) project evaluated alternative welfare-to-work strategies in seven sites (Riverside, CA; Atlanta, GA; Grand Rapids, MI; Detroit, MI; Columbus, OH; Oklahoma City, OK, and vicinity; and...
New Jersey Substance Abuse Research Demonstration, 1998-2001
New Jersey Substance Abuse Research Demonstration provided information about the effectiveness of a type of evaluation several states have experimented with to move substance abusing welfare clients toward self-sufficiency. The intervention New Jersey...
New Visions Self-Sufficiency and Lifelong Learning Project, 1999-2006
The New Visions Self-Sufficiency and Lifelong Learning Project is a joint venture of the Riverside Community College (RCC) in California and the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services. The purpose of the demonstration is to improve the...
Post-Employment Service Demonstration and Evaluation, 1994-1999
The Post-Employment Services Demonstration and Evaluation project was designed to test whether the provision of additional services, including extended case management and temporary financial supports, promote job retention and advancement or, when...
Research Synthesis of the Effects of TANF, 2000-2002
The Research Synthesis of the Effects of TANF project synthesized the most current research information available on the effect of TANF on income, earnings, receipt of government benefits, and family formation and structure, for individuals and...
Sanction Policies, 2005-2007
The purpose of this study was to understand how sanctions have been implemented in recent years in a select group of sites. It also explored developing more rigorous research on the use of sanctions to achieve higher work participation rates...
TANF Caseload Composition and Leavers, 2005-2007
This study, TANF Caseload Composition and Leavers Synthesis Report, summarized current knowledge on two questions concerning the TANF caseload and those leaving TANF (i.e. leavers): 1) How do the characteristics of the TANF caseload compare with the...
Teenage Parent Demonstration, 1987-1998
The Teenage Parent Demonstration and Evaluation project was designed to test the effectiveness of a mandatory program for first-time teen parents entering the welfare rolls. The program included requirements to attend school or an alternative education...
The Effects of Welfare Reform on Special Populations, 2000-2003
The Effects of Welfare Reform on Special Populations project provided information regarding the extent to which program policy and implementation at different levels influenced the access to, and use of, government assistance programs by immigrant...
The Iowa Family Investment Program (FIP), 1997-2000
The key provisions of Iowa Family Investment Program (FIP) were: (1) recipients were required to help develop a social contract, the Family Investment Agreement (FIA), which established activities and a time frame for achieving self-sufficiency...
Underreporting of Welfare Utilization in Current Population Survey Data Evidence for Matched California Administrative Data (CPS), 2001-2004
The Underreporting of Welfare Utilization in Current Population Survey Data Evidence for Matched California Administrative Data (CPS) study examined the incidence of under- and over-reporting of welfare participation in the Current Population Survey...
Understanding the Demand Side of the TANF Labor Market, 2005-2008
The Understanding the Demand Side of the TANF Labor Market project developed, conducted, and analyzed a national survey of employers, in order to gain a better understanding of the policies, practices, and opportunities in the entry-level, low-skill...
Vermont Welfare Restructuring Project (WRP), 1997-2002
Vermont Welfare Restructuring Project's time limit triggered a work requirement rather than the termination of cash assistance. The following were key provisions of the program: (1) the scope of mandatory participation in work or work activities...
What Works Best for Whom: Effects of Welfare Reform Policies on Subgroups of Current and Former Welfare Recipients, 2000-2004
The What Works Best for Whom: Effects of Welfare Reform Policies on Subgroups of Current and Former Welfare Recipients project investigated the effects of recent welfare policies on various subgroups of welfare recipients. It added to earlier work on...
