Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-Income Families (BEES): Central City Concern (OR)

Last registered on December 02, 2020
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-Income Families (BEES): Central City Concern (OR)
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006841
Initial registration date
December 01, 2020

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
December 02, 2020, 11:24 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Primary Investigator

Name
Charles Michalopoulos
Affiliation
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Karin Martinson
PI Affiliation
Abt Associates

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2021-01-18
End date
2024-12-30
Keywords
Governance, Health, Labor
Additional Keywords
Job placement, employment services, substance use treatment
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
MDRC, in partnership with MEF Associates and Abt Associates, is conducting an evaluation of Central City Concern (CCC), as part of broader study called Building Evidence on Employment Strategies (BEES). BEES is funded by Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CCC is an organization in Portland, Oregon that primarily serves adults with substance abuse disorders and provides treatment, health care, housing services, and employment services. The evaluation will be focused on two specific housing programs that CCC operates for those exiting a CCC-operated detox center. Each program offers a suite of recovery, housing, and employment services. The evaluation is using a randomized controlled trial to understand how access to these two housing programs affects outcomes related to employment, earnings, recovery, and housing. Individuals eligible for and interested in enrolling in the housing programs are assigned at random to a treatment group, who is offered a housing program slot, or to a control group, who are referred to other services in the community. The goal is to enroll at least 900 individuals in the study. Outcomes will be measured over a 12-month follow-up period. The main outcomes to be measured are number of quarters employed during the follow-up period, employed in the last quarter of follow-up, relapse, and stability of housing at the end of the follow-up period.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Martinson, Karin and Charles Michalopoulos. 2020. "Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-Income Families (BEES): Central City Concern (OR)." AEA RCT Registry. December 02. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6841-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
There is only one treatment group in this study. Individuals eligible for and interested in CCC’s supportive housing programs are assigned at random to a treatment group, who is offered a spot in supportive housing, or to a control group, who is referred to other services in the community.
Intervention Start Date
2021-01-18
Intervention End Date
2022-07-12

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The confirmatory outcomes are number of quarters employed during the 12-month follow-up period, ever employed in the last quarter of the follow-up period, an indicator of relapse (recurrence of substance use) during the follow-up period, and stability of housing at the end of the follow-up period. Exploratory outcome variables include quarterly employment rates, quarterly earnings, total earnings, employment at the end of the follow-up period, and other outcomes related to employment, housing, criminal justice involvement, public benefit receipt, and use of health care services.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Employment outcomes will be constructed using administrative records from the National Directory of New Hires and data collected through a follow-up survey administered to study participants. Outcomes related to substance use recovery and housing will be based on data from the follow-up survey. Outcomes related to criminal justice involvement, receipt of disability benefits, and use of health care services will be constructed using data from administrative records.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study includes one treatment group and one control group. The treatment group is offered housing, employment services, and recovery services through the supportive housing program. The control group will not be offered a spot in a supportive housing program but will be referred to other services in the community.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done by a web-based MDRC system, and will be accessed electronically by CCC program staff.
Randomization Unit
Individual.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
900 individuals.
Sample size: planned number of observations
900 individuals.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
The goal is to enroll 300 to 325 individuals in the program group. The number of people assigned to the control group is expected to vary over time, depending on the number of open slots and number of individuals eligible for the study at a given time. Our assumption is that there will be, on average, at least 3 people for each available slot. Therefore, the number of control group members will probably be greater than the number of program group members, likely approximately 600 (for a total study sample size greater than of 900).

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Expressed as an effect size, the study would be positioned to detect an impact of 0.19 standard deviations at the 5% significance level using administrative records data. Using the 12-month survey, the study would be positioned to detect an impact of 0.21 standard deviations at the 5% level.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
MDRC
IRB Approval Date
2020-11-19
IRB Approval Number
n/a
Analysis Plan