CEO Library

The Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD), funded by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), tested seven transitional jobs programs that targeted people recently released from prison or low-income parents who had fallen behind in child support payments. The ETJD programs were “enhanced” in various ways relative to programs studied in the past. MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, led the project along with two partners: Abt Associates and MEF Associates.

The compendium presents a summary of findings from the planning and implementation phases of the Linking to Employment Activities Pre-Release (LEAP) pilots, and includes 10 issue briefs organized around key themes that emerged during the evaluation of LEAP.

To help individuals successfully reenter society after time in jail, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) awarded $10 million in grants to 20 local workforce development boards (LWDBs) in June 2015 for the Linking to Employment Activities Pre-Release (LEAP) initiative. Central to the LEAP initiative was creating jail-based American Job Centers (AJCs) with direct linkages to community-based AJCs. A complex array of factors including jail and local community characteristics influenced the development and operations of jail-based AJCs as well as the experiences and outcomes of participants.

Executive summary of the Developing American Job Centers in Jails: Implementation of the Linking to Employment Activities Pre-Release (LEAP) Grants Final Report.

The brief describes Linking to Employment Activities Pre-Release (LEAP) participants’ experiences, their impressions of the staff they encountered, and their suggestions for improvement, based on data from 18 pre-release and 9 post-release focus groups. Of the 3,110 LEAP participants enrolled as of June 2017, 104 attended the focus groups.

Reentering the community is a challenging transition for justice-involved individuals who often face numerous barriers in restarting their lives outside of jail. It is similarly challenging for service providers who aid them during this transition—recently released individuals become difficult to contact once outside, are spread over a larger geographic area, and face competing demands on their time.

The Linking to Employment Activities Pre-release (LEAP) grants sought to create a stronger linkage between pre- and post-release employment services for justice-involved individuals. Case management—coordinating services for and working directly with clients—is an important aspect of that linkage. In the LEAP sites, interactions with case managers played a role in shaping participants’ experiences with employment services in the jail, and their engagement.

The brief discusses how jail-based American Job Center (AJC) staff assessed inmates’ needs and goals, prepared employment and service plans, and delivered services to address participants’ barriers before their transition to the community and the workforce.

The brief uses data from site visits to 8 of the 20 Linking to Employment Activities Pre-release (LEAP) sites to explore the role of Internet access in pre-release employment services as well as the resources, staffing, and infrastructure needed to establish Internet access for a jail-based American Job Center (AJC).

The brief discusses how Linking to Employment Activities Pre-Release (LEAP) workforce development staff worked with jail administrators to gain access to jail space and their strategies for scheduling services inside a jail-based American Job Center (AJC). It relies on data gathered through site visits to eight LEAP sites during the planning period for LEAP, as well as tours of all 20 jail-based AJCs being implemented by grantees.

Drawing on data from site visits to seven Linking to Employment Activities Pre-Release (LEAP) sites, the brief explores their approach to staffing jail-based American Job Centers (AJCs), including the varying staffing configurations, key staff qualifications, hiring and onboarding processes, and strategies to expedite hiring based on lessons

The brief uses data from site visits to 8 of the 20 Linking to Employment Activities Pre-release (LEAP) sites to explore the factors that enabled them to complete these activities more quickly than the time allotted. While an expedited launch does not necessarily imply that a grantee will have stronger overall performance, an analysis of grantees that began enrollment quickly provides insight into the conditions present and the strategies used to achieve faster, and perhaps more efficient, implementation.

The brief draws on data from visits to all 20 Linking to Employment Activities Pre-Release (LEAP) sites and focuses on the strategies the grantees used during the early planning and implementation period to build common ground between jail and workforce staff in promoting successful reentry for participants.

In July 2007, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA) created the Beneficiary Choice Program, a demonstration to help ex-offenders successfully enter and remain in the workforce and stay free of crime. DOL awarded five grantees a total of $10 million through two rounds of grants to serve approximately 450 participants each. To be eligible to receive services, ex-offenders had to be between the ages of 18 and 29, within 60 days after release of incarceration, and convicted of a federal or state crime.