Overview

State and local government agencies collect extensive data in the normal course of administering their programs, often without the time or capabilities to use it to its full potential. The State and Local IMPACT (Innovative Models for Policy Acceleration & Collaborative Testing) Collaborative helps agencies tap into their data to answer high-priority policy questions, assess program effectiveness, and identify improvements that can expand economic opportunity and mobility for their residents.

Inspired by the success of an earlier initiative, the TANF Data Collaborative, the State and Local IMPACT Collaborative brings together state and local agency staff members, MDRC researchers, and Coleridge Initiative data scientists to collaborate on high-quality tests of the effectiveness of programs in education, criminal justice, income support, and employment.

Rather than simply providing training or technical assistance, MDRC and Coleridge use a “learning-by-doing” approach. MDRC researchers contribute deep expertise in evaluation design and analysis, while Coleridge delivers its Applied Data Analytics course and facilitates secure, collaborative work through its Administrative Data Research Facility.

Ultimately, this initiative has the potential to bridge gaps in the fragmented data infrastructure, to foster a culture of experimentation in government agencies, and to build their analytic capabilities, culminating in answers to policy-relevant questions that matter to them.

Sites

State and Local IMPACT Collaborative projects include the following:

• In Mississippi, the Collaborative is supporting a combined research effort among four government offices with the Mississippi Department of Employment Security and Accelerate MS—the state’s office for workforce-development strategy and coordination—leading the project. This cross-agency effort is evaluating the effectiveness of current workforce-development programs for people who have been incarcerated.
   
• In Ohio, the Collaborative is working with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, in partnership with the Ohio State University, to see whether offering Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) services to people receiving both food assistance and unemployment insurance benefits can help them return to work more quickly and reduce their reliance on these benefits.
   
• In Pennsylvania, the Collaborative is working with several state agencies, with staff members from the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Board, the Governor’s Office of Policy and Planning, the Office of Administration and the Department of Human Services leading the effort, to explore whether offering training and employment services in the same location where people receive food and other assistance makes it more likely that they will enroll in both types of services, ensuring their basic needs are met while they receive support to improve their employment and wages.

To learn more about the goals of the State and Local IMPACT Collaborative and the benefits of participating, see The IMPACT Collaborative: Answering High-Priority Policy Questions and Showing the Power of Data. Once available, details on how to apply for future rounds of Collaborative participation will be posted to the MDRC website.