Publications

The Jobs Plus demonstration aimed to increase economic empowerment and mobility for public housing residents through on-site employment services, rent-based work incentives, and supportive work activities. Sites that fully implemented the model saw long-term positive employment and earnings effects, but negative effects were observed in sites that did not.

Unemployment among young people is well above the national average. Among Black young adults, it is even higher. Generation Work aims to address this inequity by improving how local workforce development systems serve this population. This report examines the first five years of the initiative in five cities.

Many underserved groups face barriers to college enrollment. This study evaluated a program that supplemented federal supports for these groups through text messages about securing financial aid, completing college enrollment, and navigating other barriers. The study found that adding the messaging program did not increase rates of college enrollment.

Many program managers are integrating self-care into their management strategies to address work-related stress. This post offers two group activities that managers can use to boost staff morale and promote well-being: wellness communities and monthly staff celebrations.

In a blog post originally published by New America, Meghan McCormick and Christina Weiland offer four lessons for states and localities interested in improving children’s access to high-quality public prekindergarten programs.

This document summarizes what was learned in SIRF (Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs), which engaged 10 programs in using learning cycles—repeated periods of implementing ideas and reflecting on the results—to build evidence on practices to improve the enrollment, engagement, and retention of fathers in fatherhood programs.

The federal Family Self-Sufficiency program is a voluntary case-management and asset-building intervention that provides incentives to work for Housing Choice Voucher recipients. This report examines program implementation, participants’ engagement in services, and impacts on labor force participation and receipt of government benefits five years following random assignment.

Generation Work was launched in five cities to connect more young adults—especially those of color from low-income families—with meaningful employment by changing how workforce development systems prepare them for and support them in jobs. This publication previews findings from the first five years of the initiative.

In this essay, MDRC President Virginia Knox describes how MDRC and its partners are working with state welfare agencies to help them harness the power of their administrative data to better understand participants’ needs and to improve service delivery.

Some high schools are offering career and technical education pathways for students to develop skills needed for the “climate-ready” workforce. MDRC is learning from such schools and programs across the country, including the Green Tech Academy in Olathe, Kansas. This blog post describes the program.

In this commentary originally published in Inside Higher Ed, Sophia Sutcliffe, Dan Knox, and Marjorie Dorimé-Williams describe a new effort to understand the significant role faculty and staff play when students transfer between community colleges and four-year institutions.

U.S. community colleges—which disproportionately serve students from low-income backgrounds—have very low graduation rates. In response, three Ohio community colleges implemented programs based on the City University of New York’s successful Accelerated Study in Associate Programs. After six years, the programs had a positive impact on graduation and earnings.

The Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) project integrated procedural justice (the idea of fairness in processes) into enforcement at six child support agencies. This report finds that the PJAC intervention did not meet its primary goals of improving payment compliance and regularity.

The Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt project integrated procedural justice (the idea of fairness in processes) into enforcement at six child support agencies. After the study ended, the agencies could determine how they wished to continue to use procedural justice principles. This brief describes how they did so.

MDRC is partnering with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to provide information about evidence-based programs backed by past research to the Student Success Program Inventory, an inventory of existing student success programs in Texas. This brief summarizes some of the information they will use in that effort.

In this commentary originally published in GovTech, Edith Yang explains how gathering and analyzing data are only two components of successful data projects. The right combination of people, perseverance, and project scoping are just as important.

The combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial unrest over the last few years has been referred to as the “dual pandemics.” These challenges have contributed to startling college enrollment declines for men of color. This brief shares four strategies that colleges and universities can employ to better support them.

Twenty-first-century skills (also known as noncognitive, employability, or soft skills) are increasingly viewed as essential for favorable outcomes in both education and employment. This infographic outlines practical considerations and recommendations for developing and implementing soft-skills programs, curricula, and instruction in a postsecondary setting.

Roca Baltimore works with young men who have been involved in the justice system and who are at high risk of violence. This report draws on interviews with participants to present a picture of the men Roca Baltimore serves and the ways it works with them.

The Tools for Postsecondary Schools interactive toolkit is designed to help staff members and administrators at two- and four-year colleges use evidence-based practices to support students. It draws on over 20 years of MDRC research and technical assistance and can help practitioners at any stage in the program-development process.