View Research by Author - Carolyn T. O'Brien

Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/CarolynTOBrien

In 2006, New York became the first state in the country to enact legislation that consists of two innovative policies that are designed to help low-income noncustodial parents (mostly fathers) find work and pay the full amount of their current child support called the Strengthening Families Through Stronger Fathers Initiative. This report describes this initiative and gives detailed information about the five pilot sites that are providing employment services to low-income noncustodial parents in the following New York communities: Buffalo, Jamestown, New York City and Syracuse. It is the first of several reports that will describe this initiative and its results over the next two years.

The High Growth Job Training Initiative (HGJTI) is a national grants program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. Between 2001 and 2006, more than 150 grants were awarded to establish demand-driven job training and related projects designed to meet employer-defined workforce challenges. This report is the second in a series from the evaluation of the HGJTI being conducted by the Urban Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and Capital Research Corporation. This report documents the national initiative and describes the structure and implementation of projects developed by selected grantees. The information presented is based on reviews of grantee applications and quarterly reports, and on site visits to six grantees.

The President's High Growth Job Training Initiative (HGTJI) is a major national effort to encourage the development of market-driven strategies to address critical workforce challenges as defined by business and industry. As part of the Urban Institute's evaluation of this program, this first report documents the lessons, experiences and sustainability of 20 of the earliest HGJTI grantees as told by the project administrators. The purpose of the report is to summarize the major implementation lessons emerging from the early grantees and document the extent to which projects continue after the end of the grant.

Executive Report:Food stamps are a significant source of food assistance for families with incomes below 130 percent of the poverty level. The average participating household received roughly $200 a month in benefits during fiscal year 2004. Despite the value of the benefit, many eligible persons do not enroll in the Food Stamp Program (FSP). This report summarizes the findings from 18 local outreach projects the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded in 2002 to test outreach strategies. The projects, which were implemented at different locations across 15 states, included a technological component and/or partnerships with other organizations to expand the scope of outreach. All projects aimed to increase awareness of the FSP and increase the number of food stamp participants.

Food stamps are a significant source of food assistance for families with incomes below 130 percent of the poverty level. The average participating household received roughly $200 a month in benefits during fiscal year 2004. Despite the value of the benefit, many eligible persons do not enroll in the Food Stamp Program (FSP). This report summarizes the findings from 18 local outreach projects the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded in 2002 to test outreach strategies. The projects, which were implemented at different locations across 15 states, included a technological component and/or partnerships with other organizations to expand the scope of outreach. All projects aimed to increase awareness of the FSP and increase the number of food stamp participants.

In 2002, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) funded local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) to participate in the Sectoral Employment Demonstration (SED). In the context of this demonstration, sectoral initiatives primarily seek to identify workforce needs and opportunities within a local or regional industry or cross-industry occupational group, while also focusing on economic performance and competitiveness. These efforts target a specific population--such as low-income workers, dislocated workers, or new entrants to the job market--to meet both industry needs for a competitive workforce and the needs of those targeted for improved job opportunities. This report documents the projects that were undertaken and outcomes that were achieved by the 38 WIBs that participated in the demonstration.

This is one of several reports based on the national evaluation of the Welfare-to-Work grants program. Congress established the Welfare-to-Work (WtW) grants program as part of the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997. The three billion dollar initiative was intended to support programs, especially in high-poverty communities, to assist the least employable, most disadvantaged welfare recipients make the transition from welfare to work. These funds were also available to help low-income noncustodial parents increase their earnings and better support their children. The purpose of this report is to document how grantees have adapted as they approach or reach the ends of their WtW grant periods and how other conditions in 2002 and 2003--particularly the slow economy and any state policies related to TANF or the Workforce Investment Act (WIA)--have affected their programs. The report discusses the legacy and lessons of WtW from the perspective of grantee agency administrators in the study sites.

Implementation of Family Assistance (FA), the New York TANF program, has resulted in significant reductions in FA caseloads and increased county discretion in implementing local FA-related policy. New York is one of only seven states that offer payments to families beyond the 60-month federal lifetime limit, using state and local funds. The state also offers a generous earnings disregard that provides a substantial incentive to working. Though the state consolidated child care subsidy resources into a single funding stream at the state level, and substantially increased the level of funding, some counties still had waiting lists for child care subsidies. Local spending for child welfare services increased four times more than state spending increases between 1996 and 2000, owing largely to the creation of a state block grant for child welfare services that capped state spending.

The Screening and Assessment in TANF/Welfare-to-Work study involved a review of the issues and challenges faced by TANF agencies and their partners in developing strategies and selecting instruments to identify substance abuse and mental health problems, learning disabilities, and domestic violence situations among TANF clients. The issues and challenges identified through that review are presented in Ten Important Questions TANF Agencies and Their Partners Should Consider. The second phase of the study involved case studies of a limited number of localities to further explore how TANF agencies and their partners responded to the issues and challenges identified during phase one. The findings from the case studies are presented in this report.

Washington's history of experimentation with welfare continues with WorkFirst. The state provides a generous safety net, while implementing time-limited cash assistance and a work-first philosophy. WorkFirst shifts the focus of services associated with cash assistance receipt from skill-building to rapid attachment to the labor market. The state has also taken steps to assure that important supports for poor working families are in place, including child care and health insurance for children. Washington was one of the only states studied that did not have a waiting list for child care subsidies. Respondents in Washington reported, however, that many eligible families either did not know about subsidies or knew about them but did not apply. Increased funding for child welfare was used to provide more and different services, including additional resources for foster parents and less intensive family preservation services, as well as continued funding for the state's intensive family preservation services.

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