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Do training programs help AFDC recipients leave the welfare rolls? An evaluation of New York City's BEGIN (Begin
Abstract:
Guided by the Federal Family Support Act of 1988 and the Job Opportunity and Basic Skills Program (JOBS), welfare reform initiatives on state and local levels were designed to foster employability among the public assistance population. Reform has focused on enhancing the supply of labor rather than the demand for labor as a route to labor force participation for the public assistance population. Program reforms assume that, by providing job training, educational services, and training-related expenses, labor market entry of the participating clientele would be facilitated while caseloads and public expenditures would decline. To date, analysis of similar programs in many states indicates that the impact of such programs in reducing public assistance caseloads is marginal. In New York City, despite the large investment of public funds in such programs, prior to this study the outcome of program implementation remained largely unknown. This study evaluates New York City's BEGIN program outcome target defined as the ability of the program to move welfare clients off public assistance and into the labor market. While the results of the study indicate that New York City's BEGIN program does not improve client's odds of leaving welfare, when compared to the odds of a non-participation client, there are several significant findings. The impact of program participation can be distinguished among distinct age groups. While older clients responded positively to BEGIN participation, access to day care was the only factor that significantly improved the probability that clients younger than 36 years of age would leave the welfare rolls within a two-year period. In response to the findings, the researchers suggest that future welfare reform efforts should grant localities broader flexibility to determine their own target population so that resources can be allocated to those groups that are most likely to benefit from specific programs.