Work Experience Programs – Building Better Programs https://www.buildingbetterprograms.org Resources for Improving TANF and Related Work Programs Fri, 13 Jan 2017 21:03:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 Providing Unpaid Work Experience Opportunities for TANF Recipients https://www.buildingbetterprograms.org/2014/04/21/providing-unpaid-work-experience-opportunities-for-tanf-recipients/ Mon, 21 Apr 2014 15:37:08 +0000 http://www.buildingbetterprograms.org/?p=410 Read more]]> This practice brief profiles three work experience programs that engage nearly all work-ready TANF recipients in unpaid work activities, either alone or in conjunction with education and training. Unpaid work experience is designed to mirror regular employment in the paid labor market. TANF recipients are assigned to entry-level jobs at government offices, nonprofit agencies, educational institutions, or for-profit businesses, creating an immediate attachment to the labor market. Rather than earning an hourly wage, recipients receive their TANF grant and food stamp benefits in exchange for the hours they work. In addition to helping recipients meet their TANF work requirement, these programs are designed to help recipients gain job skills and become acclimated to a regular work schedule. Erie County, New York, contracts with neighborhood organizations to provide work experience opportunities near the places where recipients live. Montana uses work experience placements as training sites to build recipients’ job skills. In Hamilton County, Ohio, a consortium of agencies administers and provides work experience to TANF recipients.

Mathematica Policy Research – Providing Unpaid Work Experience Opportunities for TANF Recipients: Examples from Erie County, New York; Montana; and Hamilton County, Ohio

]]> Evidence Scan of Work Experience Programs https://www.buildingbetterprograms.org/2014/04/21/evidence-scan-of-work-experience-programs/ Mon, 21 Apr 2014 15:16:50 +0000 http://www.buildingbetterprograms.org/?p=406 Read more]]> This study presents the evidence on the effectiveness of interventions that include work experience as a strategy to improve employment outcomes for populations with barriers to employment. The study reviewed 26 years of rigorous research for studies of effectiveness, gathering information from 27 evaluations. Some of the key findings are:

  • For adults, the strongest evidence was for both paid and unpaid work models with programs lasting up to 6 months or a year. There is moderate evidence for impacts on outcomes other than employment, such as criminal recidivism, as well as for access to on-the-job training.
  • The evidence on work experience programs for youth is mixed; while some studies showed strong impacts, others did not.
  • For youth, linking occupational learning with paid or unpaid work experience placements can have a positive impact on employment, earnings and academic outcomes.
  • All youth programs that demonstrated strong impacts incorporated some level of academic and vocational training, job search and placement assistance, and other supports into the program model.

Mathematica Policy Research – Evidence Scan of Work Experience Programs

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