This project will evaluate up to three coaching interventions that are oriented toward both job entry and retention and target TANF populations and other low-income individuals. Coaching-based interventions have been put forth as one way to give people the tools to overcome various barriers in order to build employment-related skills and to secure work. The hypothesis underlying these approaches is that participants’ challenges may be addressed through coaching by specially trained staff who help them identify goals for change and steps needed to attain them. While coaching-focused employment programs for individuals with disabilities have been evaluated extensively, it is not yet known to what extent similar models will translate into impacts for low-income and other vulnerable groups.
Approaches to helping TANF clients and other low-income populations find and maintain employment are increasingly incorporating the notion that all people have finite cognitive capacity and that coping with the stress of poverty and economic insecurity consumes cognitive resources—potentially posing significant barriers to working. Living under conditions of poverty can make it very difficult to apply the skills needed to succeed in school, training, and work, and to meet the complex demands required to realize economic mobility. The impacts of toxic stress and of adverse experiences in early childhood and adolescence can act as further obstacles.
This project will select up to three sites using evidence-based or research-informed coaching interventions that are either currently implemented or at the point of being ready to be demonstrated and evaluated. The project will conduct impact evaluations and complementary implementation assessments of the sites selected to participate in the evaluation. The coaching interventions are expected to be part of broader employment programs that may include training and job development among other services.
Mathematica Policy Research is conducting the study in partnership with Abt Associates.
The points of contact are Sarita Barton, Lauren Deutsch, and Elizabeth Karberg.