The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) reauthorized the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant and made modifications expected to strengthen work requirements for families receiving cash assistance through state TANF programs. Both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and states were required to take steps to…

Since 1998, federally funded One-Stop Service Centers around the country have focused primarily on assisting the unemployed into work. WASC tests a strategy that expands that mission by targeting people who are already working, but at low wages. Through career coaching, skills training, and better connections with employers - and led by a newly…

This report recommends a new poverty indicator to use when distributing Disadvantaged Pupil Impact Aid (DPIA) to Ohio school districts. It also describes the implications of substituting the new indicator in the current formulas used to calculate DPIA funding. Ohio school districts receive DPIA, based on earlier aid programs, to provide all-day…

This report presents the fourth-year findings on the effectiveness of Ohio's Learning, Earning, and Parenting (LEAP) Program, a statewide welfare initiative that uses financial incentives and penalties to promote school attendance by pregnant and parenting teenagers on welfare. The report looks at LEAP's effects on school completion, employment,…

Financial incentives for teen parents are components of state welfare programs intended to encourage enrollment, attendance, and completion of high school as a means of increasing employment and earnings and reducing welfare dependence. The incentives take the form of bonuses and sanctions to the welfare grant related to school enrollment,…

A study assessed Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) implementation and effects in Cuyahoga County between 1992-2000. It used field research, surveys and interviews of current and former welfare recipients, state and county welfare and employment records, and indicators of social and economic trends. Findings indicated Cuyahoga County…

A net impact evaluation was conducted of the Ohio JOBS (Job Opportunities and Basic Skills) Student Retention Program (JSRP) pursued by some JOBS program clients to fulfill their responsibilities and receive federal aid. JSRP was a support program designed to assist entry to and success in programs of study at two-year community or technical…

The National Center for Family Literacy (FCFL) began the Family Independence Initiative (FII) to address the needs of welfare recipients and their families for literacy services. During the FII's development phase in 1997-1998, NCFL funded five family literacy program grantees to develop models of work-focused family literacy services. To satisfy…

An analysis of Ohio's Learning, Earning, and Parenting (LEAP) program focused on the first 18 months of program operations. The 12 randomly selected research counties contained about two-thirds of the statewide teen population targeted by LEAP. The analysis relied on field research, supplemented by data collected from county human service agencies…

The effects of adult education in welfare-to-work programs were examined in a national evaluation of welfare-to-work strategies. The evaluation used a random research design to estimate the overall effects of welfare-to-work programs in the following states: Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, and California. The study focused on the…

The 5-year impacts of mandatory welfare-to-work programs on welfare recipients and their children were examined by using a rigorous research design called a social experiment to examine 11 welfare-to-work programs in 6 states (California, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Oregon). Four employment-focused and seven education-focused programs…