June 2006
Colorado Department of Human Services
This report describes employment services in local Colorado Works programs, particularly strategies that involve interaction with employers and industries, highlighting promising practices for other programs. It finds that the most common employment-specific activities in Colorado counties are (1) job readiness workshops that generally include some guided job search activity, and (2) work experience activities. It also finds that counties generally tailor their employment services to local labor market trends, working with both public and nonprofit agencies as well as private sector business when possible. Finally, several county programs are found to have developed large and formal networks of employers for such employment activities which may serve as a model for other counties.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Employment, Training, and Workforce Development, Income Security
June 2006
Colorado Department of Human Services
This report examines the variety of cross-agency collaboration and coordination strategies used by county Colorado Works/TANF programs across the state. Based primarily upon information collected during site visits to 18 Colorado Works county programs, this report focuses on collaborative arrangements in two major areas: (1) partnerships with local Workforce Centers and other community organizations to obtain employment, education, and training services; and (2) collaboration with other public agencies and private organizations to obtain a wide array of support services. The report finds that program coordination is extensive and that there is wide variation in the network of collaboration across Colorado counties.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Employment, Training, and Workforce Development, Income Security
December 2004
Research Forum
Written for the Research Forum, an initiative of the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University, this article provides a short introduction to the literature on employment retention and advancement strategies and describes a group of interventions being tested in a national evaluation.
Expertise Area: Employment, Training, and Workforce Development
June 2003
Washington State Employment Security Department
Washington State implemented its WorkFirst Post-Employment Labor Exchange (WPLEX) in 1998 to provide post-employment services through a centralized call center. Staff contact individuals to provide them with guidance on career advancement, tips on specific job opportunities in the customer's labor market, vouchers for certain support services, and referral to social services and education providers. Washington's Employment Security Department hired The Lewin Group and its subcontractor, Cornell University, to conduct an evaluation of WPLEX. This report presents an overview of the program, an in-depth examination of the program's implementation and costs, and analysis of the effectiveness of WPLEX in moving individuals from welfare to work.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Employment, Training, and Workforce Development
March 2003
Social Security Administration
This report presents findings from the preliminary process evaluation of the Ticket to Work program (TTW), a program established by the 1999 Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act (Ticket Act), designed to increase access to, and the quality of, rehabilitation and employment services available to Social Security disability beneficiaries. TTW incorporates the cost-reimbursement payment system that SSA has used in the past to pay state vocational rehabilitation agencies (SVRAs) for rehabilitation services provided to beneficiaries, provided that the beneficiary obtains earnings of at least the substantial gainful activity (SGA) level for nine months. Added to this performance-based system are two new payment systems with substantially stronger performance incentives, that can be used by either SVRAs or other qualified organizations, called Employment Networks (ENs): the outcome and milestone-outcome payment systems. Under both new systems, beneficiaries must exit cash benefit status on the disability rolls by reason of increased earnings for 60 months for SVRAs and ENs to receive full payment. The outcome payment system potentially pays more, but requires cash benefits to be zero before any payments are made, while the milestone-outcome system provides early payments based on achievement of earnings targets, even if cash benefits are never reduced to zero. SVRAs and ENs must each choose one of the two new payment systems, but SVRAs can also elect to use cost reimbursement on a case-by-case basis.
The report is based on in-person and phone interviews conducted with staff from: SSA; MAXIMUS, the contractor hired to be TTW's Program Manager (PM); and 27 ENs and the 13 SVRAs serving beneficiaries in the 13 states that participated in Phase 1 of the TTW rollout: Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, and Wisconsin. We also reviewed numerous documents and conducted limited analyses of administrative data. The data for this report was collected and synthesized during the July through November 2002 period, and thus, with a few exceptions, represent the status of TTW as of that time.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Employment, Training, and Workforce Development
January 2003
Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
This report explores the relationship between non-monetary eligibility policies and practices and program outcomes, such as recipiency and benefit duration. Information is collected on state non-monetary eligibility legislation, policies, and practices for unemployment insurance (UI) programs in a sample of states to document across-state variation that may affect UI recipiency. Research indicates that much of the state-level variation is due to policies, practices, and processes that are not easility captured by administrative data. Thus many of the questions explored during site visits to eight states focus on how UI operates at the ground level and how variation in UI operations helps explain some of the variation in program outcomes across states.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Employment, Training, and Workforce Development
August 2002
Social Security Administration
The Ticket to Work program (TTW) was established by the 1999 Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act (Ticket Act). The program will provide eligible Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income disability beneficiaries with a Ticket, which can be used to obtain vocational rehabilitation or employment services through an Employment Network. The program is intended to increase access to, and the quality of, rehabilitation and employment services available to disability beneficiaries. TTW is designed to provide beneficiaries with greater freedom and choice of service providers, create competition among providers to provide high quality services that are responsive to beneficiary needs, and give providers incentives to deliver services in the most efficient and appropriate manner to achieve desired outcomes.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) contracted with The Lewin Group to design a comprehensive evaluation of TTW. The Lewin Group teamed with Cornell University, Westat, and a number of independent consultants to conduct the project. The evaluation design developed under this project specifies the methods to be used to compare the net outcomes of TTW to outcomes under the current system, including level of benefits received by beneficiaries, work participation, earnings, duration of benefit receipt, and departures from the disability rolls. The evaluation was also designed to assess the total and net costs of the program, characteristics of ENs and beneficiaries who do and do not participate, factors that affect return to work, employment outcomes for participants, and beneficiary satisfaction with the program.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Employment, Training, and Workforce Development
December 2001
DHHS, Office of the Assistance Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
This paper provides a summary of the health insurance issues affecting employment of people with disabilities, including a discussion of the current programs and policies that are available. It presents findings from focus groups conducted with individuals with disabilities who have achieved a reasonable measure of employment success. The focus groups provided information about the extent to which access to health care influenced employment decisions of participants, and about various strategies participants employed for securing access both to employment and needed health care.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Employment, Training, and Workforce Development
September 2001
DHHS, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
This report summarizes the findings from information collected during three sets of focus groups conducted for a study on employment supports for people with disabilities. The study was intended to increase the understanding of the role of various supports in helping people with disabilities find and maintain employment.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Employment, Training, and Workforce Development
April 2001
DHHS, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
This report examines the impact of welfare reform on 12 rural and small metropolitan areas around the county. It identifies changes in wages and employment for the low-skill labor force over two periods - 1993 to 1996, and 1996 to 1998 - to determine the effect of the movement of welfare recipients to work.
Client Area: Federal Government
Expertise Area: Employment, Training, and Workforce Development
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