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Preface
The National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices and MDRC have spent 18 months exploring the availability and accessibility of supports and services likely to promote job stability, wage progression, and career mobility for low-wage workers. For thousands of low-wage workers, including families making the transition from welfare to work, even full-time employment does not generate adequate income to escape poverty. However, these families have many potential sources of assistance, including employment retention and career advancement services and work supports that have gradually been expanded over the past decade (for example, the Earned Income Tax Credit, food stamps, subsidized health care and child care, and welfare earnings disregards). As is recognized by policymakers at all levels of government and by other stakeholders, the combination of these services and work supports can promote economic stability. The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, and Labor have demonstrated a particular interest in this issue by supporting technical assistance and research efforts.
For some families, these services and supports can provide a bridge to self-sufficiency; for others who are unable to compete for higher-paying jobs, the combination can yield economic stability. Yet because most public systems are not designed for working families, many eligible families are not accessing these supports or services. The purposes of this report are to briefly summarize the status of current service delivery to working families in public and private arenas, to highlight promising state and local practices and policies, and to gauge the potential for greater coordination of service delivery. In the context of reforms affecting welfare and workforce development, it is timely to address a number of key questions:
- What supports and services do low-income working families need in
order to maintain employment, earn higher income, and reach economic
stability?
- How available are these services and supports, and are they accessible
to an employed working population that is juggling the multiple demands
of work and family?
- What state policies or program strategies might be adapted to close the gaps in supports and services for this population?
To answer these questions, MDRC and the NGA Center conducted site visits and interviews with program administrators and policymakers as well as a literature review. These explorations focused on several types of relevant service providers (for example, One-Stop Career Centers funded by the Workforce Investment Act, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families agencies, community-based organizations, community colleges, and workforce intermediaries) and private employers. While this search was not exhaustive, the authors were able to identify encouraging strategies and a set of principles that organizations or policymakers can adopt to better serve their low-wage working constituents. Further, this report provides concrete examples of these principles in practice and in state policy. The challenge is to make the principles, practices, and policies described in this report a widespread reality. To that end, with federal agencies’ and foundations’ support, MDRC is developing and will rigorously evaluate one promising service delivery model through partnerships with One-Stop Career Centers, called the National Work Advancement and Support Center demonstration. The NGA Center will continue to work with interested states in assessing their existing state policies and designing strategies to help low-income working families achieve stability and self-sufficiency.
John Wallace
MDRC NGA
Stephen Crawford
Center for Best Practices
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