Individuals with lower incomes may face a range of economic challenges and barriers to upward mobility. Two types of services that may both contribute to the goal of improving individuals’ financial situations are employment and training (E&T) services, which have the goal of improving employment outcomes, and financial capability interventions, which are focused on building financial knowledge and expanding access to resources.

This report summarizes insights on the approaches organizations use to integrate these services, their motivations for doing so, details on the types of financial capability services involved, and participant perspectives on integrated services. It also discusses considerations for future research on the effectiveness of integrated models. This report is part of a broader research project led by MEF Associates and the Urban Institute and supported by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) within the Office of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Why this matters

People with low incomes may face various challenges to improving their financial situations. E&T and financial capability services can help improve people's financial circumstances by providing them with useful skills, knowledge, and access to resources and opportunities. Moreover, E&T programs have the unique potential to offer financial capability services in a way that complements the E&T services to increase the likelihood of financial stability for participants. Given that there is limited research about the integration of these two types of services, the purpose of this report is to expand the knowledge base on this topic.

What we found

• Organizations included in this study offered both E&T services and financial capability services because they saw the two types of services as sharing a common goal of empowering participants and improving their economic well-being.
• Organizations varied widely in how they integrated E&T and financial capability services, but could be generally organized into four models of integration based on:
  1. whether the organizations believe E&T and financial capability services mutually promote economic well-being as part of the same theory of change or separately; and
  2. whether their program arrangements assume participants will take up both types of services or allow participants to decide whether to engage in both.
• The majority of interviewed participants entered the programs because they needed employment services or support services. They took part in a wide range of services and often set financial goals after enrolling in the financial capability services. Study participants expressed appreciation for the guidance and support of E&T and financial capability staff and the positive connections with peers. Despite these positive experiences, they reported challenges in engaging in financial capability services while working full-time or trying to meet immediate needs.

How we did it

This study used a variety of methods to gather data to build a better understanding of existing programs that integrate financial capability interventions into E&T programs serving adults with low incomes. Data collection efforts included a survey of organizations operating E&T programs that integrated some type of financial capability intervention; interviews with administrators, staff, partners, and participants from an overlapping set of organizations; interviews with employers offering financial capability services to their staff; and focus groups with administrators from a subset of the organizations that completed the survey.