MDRC’s brief revisits the ongoing debate about whether TANF recipients are better served in the long term by finding work quickly or by first obtaining education and training to improve job prospects.  Hamilton and Michalopoulos present findings from three sites who take part in the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS), which randomly assigns participants to labor force attachment (LFA) programs or human capital development (HCD) programs to study the effects they have on participant employment.  Researchers followed up with participants for several years after program completion, comparing wages at years 1-2, years 3-5, and years 10-15.  In the short term, results show that LFA participants had higher earnings than HCD participants.  In the long run, HCD participants eventually surpassed LFA participants, but not in amounts that were statistically significant.  While both programs imporved the earnings of participants, advocates and policy makers should carefully consider their costs in association with their short and long term benefits when considering which programs to promote and fund. 

Read the full report here.

In order to qualify for participation in CPI, participants must be a custodial parent, have qualified as TANF eligible, and be at 250% or less of the poverty level. Many are TEA (Transitional Employment Assistance) clients, who are low-income enough that they qualify for cash assistance.

CollegeCounts conducted an evaluation of the Career Pathways Initiative by matching CPI participants with non-participants of similar education and/or economic backgrounds. They found CPI participants were more likely to graduate with a degree or certificate and earn more than their peers.

Arkansas Career Pathways Site

CollegeCounts Evaluation of Career Pathways

Specifically, this report uses preliminary data to describe observed differences — and possible reasons for the differences — in the participation, outcomes, and experiences of two types of HPOG participants:

• Those receiving TANF benefits when they begin an HPOG program, and
• Those not receiving TANF when they begin an HPOG program

The report then addresses why TANF recipient participation levels vary across HPOG programs and identifies strategies programs used to engage the TANF population and work cooperatively with local TANF agencies.

Training TANF Recipients for Careers in Healthcare: The Experience of the Heath Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program
For more information about HPOG click here

The evaluation design report includes:

• an overview of PACE and the career pathways framework;
• a description of the program selection process, the sites, and research questions;
• a study timeline; a list of deliverables;
• a description of the implementation study;
• a description of the impact study; and
• a description of the cost-benefit study; and information about data sources

Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education Evaluation Design Report

1. A career-focused curriculum
2. Direct connections to postsecondary institutions
3. Managed cohort enrollment
4. Supportive services to help students enter college and a career

A Career Approach to GED Instruction

New Pathways to Careers and College: Examples, Evidence, and Prospects

The HPOG program, authorized by the Affordable Care Act, and administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, funds healthcare education and training programs targeting Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participants and other low-income individuals to prepare them for high-demand healthcare occupations. Five year grants (October 2010– September 2015) were awarded to 32 HPOG grantees in 23 states. Each program aims to improve job prospects for hard-working adults and help them identify and secure employment leading on a path to self-sufficiency. To do so, they offer a range of community and job-driven employment training opportunities, in approximately 50 distinct occupations, such as nurse aides, registered nurses, medical assistants, pharmacy technicians, and home health aides.

Throughout this paper an illustrative case example of a hypothetical HPOG program, Springdale Community College (Springdale CC or Springdale), located in an urban center in the Midwest, is highlighted to show how HPOG programs may develop and streamline each step discussed. At the end of the paper are a “cheat sheet” (Appendix A), data template (Appendix B), and a list of helpful websites (Appendix C) HPOG programs can use to help guide them through these steps and use data to respond to employer needs.

Using Labor Market Information to Design JobDriven Training Programs

For more information on the HPOG program click here.

National Dialogue on Career Pathways – webinar archives

Career Pathways Explained is brought to you by the Center for Law and Social Policy and the Alliance for Quality Career Pathways, a partner-driven initiative with 10 leading states that successfully developed a framework identifying criteria and indicators to define high-quality career pathway systems and metrics to measure and manage success. This visually engaging, web-based tool explains how the career pathways approach helps individuals with limited skills access education and training that leads to employment in occupations and industries that are in high demand. It also provides concrete examples of success in Alliance states. The tool is designed to explain career pathways to people in the field who appreciate this approach but are not steeped in it.

View the explanation here

What are Health Profession Opportunity Grants?

Link to report page at the Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation (OPRE of ACF)
Direct link to report: Health Profession Opportunity Grants: Year Three Annual Report (2012-2013)