Intervention(s)
Jobs First represented several changes from the traditional AFDC program in place at the time
of the study. First, Jobs First included a 21-month limit on benefit receipt, after which the
family’s cash grant was discontinued unless an extension or exemption was granted. Under the
existing AFDC program, families did not face any time limits on benefit receipt. Second, Jobs
First included unusually generous financial work incentives, allowing working recipients to
retain their full grant (e.g., disregarding all earned income) until their earnings reach the federal
poverty level. In contrast, AFDC recipients were subject to the standard earned income
disregard (of $120 per month, through month 12 and $90 thereafter). Finally, Jobs First
required recipients to participate in employment-related services targeted towards quick job
placement. Families receiving AFDC, in contrast, were subject to Connecticut’s preexisting
welfare-to-work program, which had broader exemption criteria (for work activities) and a
somewhat stronger focus on education and training.
The NEWWS program in Portland provided employment and support services to a broad cross
section of individuals receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the prior name
for what is now called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF. As in the other
NEWWS sites, recipients were required to participate in program activities or face reductions in
their welfare grants. The Portland program had a clear employment focus. Unlike the other NEWWS sites, it used a mixed strategy for matching enrollees to initial activities: For more job-ready individuals, they use the same approach as other employment-focused programs by trying to move people into jobs relatively quickly. Case managers, however, had more discretion to assign some people to short-term skill-building activities first. Also, job search participants in Portland, unlike in the other programs, were counseled to wait for a good job (that is, one that paid at least about 25 percent higher than the minimum wage and offered a good chance for stable employment) as opposed to taking the first job they were offered.