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The brief provides reflections from four evaluation technical assistance (TA) liaisons based on their experiences in working with grantees awarded as part of a Federal interagency initiative, Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3). The brief, (1) describes the P3 program’s TA supports, (2) reviews the roles and responsibilities of different types of P3 partners, and (3) describes the hurdles faced when working with partners and strategies to mitigate those hurdles.

The report—one component of the Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3) National Evaluation—synthesizes findings from the local evaluations of the Cohort 1 pilots. This report assesses the extent to which the local evaluations established a causal impact between the studied intervention and participant outcomes and, for interventions that had such evidence, whether the evidence indicated the intervention had improved outcomes for youth.

The report systematically documents and analyzes the use of technology-based learning (TBL) across the entire network of Job Corps centers, reporting on the TBL implementation process, the challenges TBL faced during implementation, and the best practices for TBL that instructors, managers, and directors identified.

The report is one in a series of implementation study papers of the Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3) National Evaluation, which was contracted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) on behalf of the Federal partners supporting P3. It assesses P3 four years after its initial authorization, and is based on data collected from interviews with Federal agency staff and two rounds of site visits to the nine original (Cohort 1) pilots, conducted between 2016 and 2018.

The report from the Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3) evaluation’s implementation study reflects on the early experiences of the nine Cohort 1 pilots. The data primarily come from interviews with pilot stakeholders conducted in spring and summer 2017. Across the nine pilots, the evaluation team interviewed 169 stakeholders, including P3 administrators, staff, and partners. The report begins by describing P3 as envisioned by the Federal government, describes the nine pilots to provide context for the emerging findings, and then presents the early findings.

In 2017, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and funded contractor Insight Policy Research to conduct the Estimating Job Corps Cost per Enrollee and Cost per Graduate study. This study examined six methodologies for estimating the cost per enrollee and cost per graduate for program year 2017 to help inform ETA’s performance reporting on the Job Corps program, as required by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

Administered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the Job Corps program trains approximately 60,000 participants on workforce skills in a residential environment each year. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act requires DOL to present the cost per enrollee and cost per graduate of each Job Corps center every year. The report presents the methodology used to estimate cost per enrollee and cost per graduate for program year 2017. The average Job Corps center cost is $34,301 per enrollee and $57,312 per graduate.

In 2020, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund Abt Associates to conduct the Support to Communities Grant Program Evaluation. This implementation study aims to provide new and critical information on promising practices and implementation challenges in providing services that address both employment and treatment needs for those with opioid use disorders (OUDs) and substance use disorders (SUDs).

In 2020, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and funded contractor Mathematica Policy Research to conduct the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Research Portfolio Project.

The report, the second of the Youth CareerConnect (YCC) project’s implementation study, examines the evolution of YCC program implementation, and focuses on the third and fourth years of the grant, when grant funding was scheduled to end. It also examines grantee approaches to sustainability of YCC activities and services as they approached the end of grant funding.

In July 2012, Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kansas, received a grant totaling $1.5 million to develop and implement the water technologies training program for residents of the Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex (KJCC) in Topeka. The goal of the training program was to increase incarcerated youth’s employment and earnings potential and reduce their recidivism rates after release from the correctional facility. Obtaining good job placements in high-demand occupations could help youth develop economic stability and, ultimately, self sufficiency.

Youth from low-income neighborhoods are at risk of poor outcomes throughout their lives. Many will drop out of school, which can lead to economic hardship and a greater chance of getting involved in the criminal justice system—making their lives even more difficult.

In 2014, law enforcement agencies made about 1 million juvenile arrests, each of which generated a record. Having a juvenile record reduces a youth’s prospects in life by limiting employment, educational, and housing opportunities long after the incident’s resolution. Yet a juvenile record does not have to permanently restrict a youth’s opportunities. Youth with juvenile records can reduce or completely bar public access to their records by expunging or sealing them.

In 2014, law enforcement agencies in the United States made nearly 1 million juvenile arrests. Roughly half of the cases formally processed resulted in youth being adjudicated delinquent. Youth with convictions face lasting collateral consequences such as decreased access to education, employment opportunities, and certain social welfare benefits, like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), aside from more direct consequences like fines, fees, or imprisonment. Recognizing this, the U.S.

Using data collected throughout the implementation of the Youth CareerConnect (YCC) grant, the final report describes how grantees recruited employer partners and maintained employer and workforce agency partnerships; the services and activities partners provided; and plans for sustaining partnerships after the grant ended. The report draws on a mix of quantitative and qualitative data from three sources that bring together information at different time points. Appendix B provides details on each of these data collection efforts relevant to this report.

In 2020, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and funded contractor Urban Institute and its partner the Capital Research Corporation to conduct the Implementation Evaluation of the Youth Apprenticeship Readiness Grants (YARG) under the Apprenticeship Evidence-Building Portfolio of studies.

In 2020, Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Office of Apprenticeship (OA) and the Office of Policy Development and Research (OPDR) within the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and funded contractors Urban Institute and Mathematica to conduct the State Apprenticeship Capacity Assessment under the Apprenticeship Evidence-Building Portfolio of studies.

The report summarizes the evidence on program models for serving justice-involved adults and young adults through connection to employment, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and case management services. The primary evidence of the effectiveness of these models comes from a review of experimental and quasi-experimental impact evaluations. Information about factors that may contribute to the successful implementation of the models comes from a review of outcome evaluations and implementation studies.

In 2015, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) and funded contractor IMPAQ International to conduct the Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT) Livelihoods Services Evaluation. The mixed methods evaluation aims to assess whether evidence supports the OCFT theory of change and gather evidence on the outcomes of four different types of livelihoods services projects, particularly with respect to reducing child and/or forced labor, to inform future project design.

The report focuses on the results of the evaluation phase of the Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT) Livelihoods Services Evaluation study and is organized to highlight the key findings across projects. Section 2 provides background on OCFT’s efforts to combat child and forced labor and an overview of the research questions addressed in this study. Section 3 provides details on the mixed-methods research methodology used for this evaluation.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (DOL/ETA), the Young Parents Demonstration (YPD) was a federal grant initiative to enhance the Department’s existing programs to better serve at-risk and disadvantaged young parents and expectant parents, ages 16 to 24. Through two grant competitions, DOL/ETA issued three rounds of awards to 17 organizations, including both local public workforce agencies and non-profit community-based organizations.

The Young Parents Demonstration (YPD) is a federal grant initiative, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (DOL/ETA) and Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) to test the effectiveness of enhanced services in improving educational and employment outcomes for at-risk parenting and expectant youth. The focus of this report is on the 13 YPD Rounds I and II grants awarded in June 2009.

The Young Parents Demonstration (YPD) was a federal grant initiative, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (DOL/ETA) and Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) to test the effectiveness of enhanced services in improving educational and employment outcomes for at-risk parenting and expectant youth. The focus of this final report is on the four Round III community-based organizations awarded three-year grants in June 2011 totaling $5.5 million.

Researchers investigated how less-educated and less-experienced workers in Ohio benefit from registered apprenticeships. The researchers focused on 18-24 year old males. Regression results show that compared to individuals who have similar pre-program educational backgrounds but have little or no job training, apprentices have significantly higher earnings six years after program entry. The wage premiums for apprentices persist for at least nine years after program entry.

Using contemporary, nationally representative longitudinal survey data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, with sequence analysis and regression methods, this paper examines how various forms of criminal justice contact, including arrest and incarceration in jail and prison, are associated with labor market participation and a variety of employment outcomes, including weeks worked, wage, job satisfaction, and shift scheduling. Specifically, the paper examines the stability of labor market participation and employment over time using sequence analysis methods.