Further Progress, Persistent Constraints:
Findings From a Second Survey of the Welfare-to-Work Grants Program

By:
Irma Perez-Johnson
Alan Hershey
Jeanne Bellotti

June 2000

Submitted to: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Room 404E 200 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20201	Submitted by: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. P.O. Box 2393 Princeton, NJ 08543-2393 (609) 799-3535
Project Officer:  Alana Landey	Project Director:  Alan Hershey

This report is available on the Internet at:
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/wtw-2nd-survey00/index.htm

Contents of Report

Executive Summary

Chapters:

1. Introduction
   1. Context of the Welfare-to-Work Grants Program
   2. Changes in the Welfare-to-Work Grants Program
   3. Changes in the Evaluation Design
   4. The Grantee Survey
2. Update on Program Structure and Implementation
   1. Implementation Status and Program Services
      1. Most Grantees, Except Recently Funded Ones, Are Now Delivering WtW Services
      2. Grantees Are Less Likely Now to Be Using Other Funds Along with Their WtW Grants
   2. Program Structure and Service Priorities
      1. Grantees Are Focusing on the Hardest to Employ, Sometimes with Specialized Programs
      2. Grantees Continue to Emphasize Services That Go Beyond the Work-first Model
3. The People Served and How They Are Recruited
   1. Expected Participation in WtW Programs
      1. Enrollment Projections Have Increased Marginally as Additional Funds Are Distributed
      2. WtW Programs Still Strive to Serve a Diverse Population
   2. Grantees' Progress Toward WtW Participation Goals
      1. Overall Enrollment to Date Lags Behind Expectations
      2. Recruitment of Noncustodial Parents Has Been Especially Challenging
   3. Adjustments in WtW Recruitment Strategies
      1. More Emphasis Is Now Placed on WtW Publicity and Direct Outreach
      2. Strategy for Recruiting Noncustodial Parents Has Shifted
4. Work Activities of Welfare-to-Work Participants
   1. Expectations for Placement in Work Activities
   2. Actual Work Activity Placement s to Date
      1. Progress in Work Activity Placements Reflects Delays in Enrollment
      2. Actual Placements Emphasize Regular Jobs and Paid Work Experience
   3. Placement Jobs:  Modest Wages in Service Occupations
5. Grantee Views on WtW Implementation
   1. Grantee Views on WtW Implementation
   2. Future Evaluation Issues and Products

References

Appendix A:  Tables

• A.1   Second Welfare-to-Work Grantee Survey:  Response Rates by State and Types of Grant Received
• A.2   Selected Characteristics of WtW Grantee Survey Respondents

List of Tables

I.1  Grantee Characteristics:  Overall Sample for Second Grantee Survey and Survey Respondents
II.1  Timing of WtW Grants Awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor
II.2  Timing of Local WtW Grants Reported by Survey Respondents, Second Welfare-to-Work Grantee Survey
II.3  Program Startup
II.4  Organizations Involved in Local WtW Program Efforts
II.5  Changes in Scale of WtW Programs:  Grant Size and Projected Participation
II.6  Structure of Local WtW Programs:  Program Initiatives Funded With Federal WtW Funds
II.7  Extent of Targeting by WtW Grantees
II.8  Projected Uses of Federal WtW Grant Funds
III.1  Changes in Scale of WtW Programs:  Grantees' Total Funding and Projected Participation
III.2  Characteristics of WtW Participants Across All Responding Grantees
III.3  WtW Program Enrollment to Date
III.4  Enrollment Pace of WtW Programs
III.5  WtW Program Changes Among Repeat Survey Respondents
III.6  Changes in WtW Recruiment Strategies:  First and Second Grantee Surveys
IV.1  Placement of WtW Participants in Work Activities
IV.2  Placement of WtW Participants in Work Activities Among Repeat Respondents
IV.3  Placement of WtW Participants Across Major Occupational Categories
IV.4  Wages and Employment Outlook for the Top 10 Occupations in Which WtW Grantees Have Placed Participants
V.1  Grantee Views on WtW Implementation Issues

List of Figures

II.1  Funding Sources Used to Complement Federal WtW Funds Over Grantees' Overall Grant Period

Acknowledgments

This report is part of a congressionally mandated evaluation of the Welfare-to-Work grants program.  Completing it would not have been possible without the diligent work of a large cast of individuals at Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR).  The authors wish to acknowledge their contributions.

At MPR, we are thankful to Kathy Sonnenfeld and Shawn Marsh for their key role in developing and testing the survey instrument.  Kathy also conducted the survey with oversight from Rita Stapulonis, the survey director for the overall evaluation.  Her challenging assignment entailed coordinating the printing and mailing of survey instruments, tracking the sample (especially nonrespondents) to achieve the desired response rate, answering respondent questions, overseeing quality assurance procedures, and creating a research data set — all over a period of about four months.  A team of dedicated quality control staff reviewed responses and diligently contacted grantees when necessary to clarify ambiguities or contradictions.  Jennifer McNulty was instrumental in the creation of the research data set.  Dina Kirschenbaum carefully and efficiently completed the programming that supported the analysis, and helped prepare many of the tables.  Roy Grisham provided careful editing.  Marjorie Mitchell, Jill Miller, Cathy Harper, and others among MPR's secretarial staff did a superb word processing and production job, as usual.  We are especially grateful to Walter Corson, at MPR, and Demetra Smith Nightingale, at the Urban Institute, for their insightful comments as reviewers of the draft document.

We received valuable support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).  Alanda Landey, the project officer in the DHHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, has given consistently useful advice and guidance.  Staff from the DOL Welfare-to-Work Office in the Employment and Training Administration, in particular Cheryl Turner, provided important information about the policy framework in which the programs operate and supported the survey's administration by posting important announcements on the ETA website.

We are most indebted to the hundreds of busy managers and administrators who gave generously of their time and provided information on their WtW programs.  We appreciate their contributions, as well as those of others we may have omitted unintentionally.

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Last updated March 11, 2002