Snapshots of Programs Participating in the Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies Project

In summer 2021, the Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies (NextGen) Project launched rigorous studies of innovative employment programs for people who face complex challenges to employment. The NextGen Project team worked with many partners to find and recruit innovative employment programs for the study. These snapshots highlight how each program goes beyond traditional employment services and implements evidence-informed services. Innovative services include providing group and one-on-one coaching, integrating employment and mental health services, partnering closely with employers, and other approaches. Each snapshot summarizes the characteristics of a program that the NextGen Project is studying. They include the following:

• Utah’s Work Success program (PDF) aims to help job seekers quickly find employment. It features time-intensive and short-term programming, group and one-on-one coaching, and job search skill-building activities.
• Bridges from School to Work (Bridges) (PDF) is a nationwide, employer-driven program that provides job-readiness instruction, placement, and post-placement support for young adults with disabilities. Bridges partners with schools and school districts to recruit participants, and Bridges actively partners with employers to find jobs for program participants.
• Families Achieving Success Today (PDF) serves a subset of participants in Minnesota’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program in Ramsey County; participants either have a disability or care for someone with a disability. Participants receive employment services, coordinated care with mental health providers for themselves or their dependents, and can also receive IPS services if they choose. FAST withdrew from the NextGen Project in summer of 2022.                          
• Five mental health centers in four states are offering Individual Placement and Support (IPS) for Adults who have been involved in the criminal justice system (PDF). IPS supports people with serious mental health issues; it offers rapid job placement, long-term support, and integrated employment services and mental health treatment. The NextGen Project is testing IPS for people who are reentering the community after incarceration or have been recently sentenced by a mental health or drug court.
• Philadelphia Workforce Inclusion Network (PhillyWINs) (PDF) is a program that strives to match job seekers who have chronic or long-lasting physical, mental, or emotional conditions to high-quality jobs. Philly WINs is offered by Community Integrated Services (CIS), a nonprofit that has been providing services in Greater Philadelphia since 1991.
• Western Mass MOMS Partnership^SM (Western Mass MOMS) (PDF) strives to reduce depressive symptoms, improve social connections, and improve the economic well-being of caregivers with low incomes. Western Mass MOMS offers a course that teaches stress management skills and provides opportunities for social connection with peers, and also offers employment services. The program serves caregivers with low incomes in Holyoke and Springfield, Massachusetts, who identify as women or nonbinary, are pregnant or have at one least child under age 18, and are experiencing symptoms of depression.