Learn, Innovate, Improve (LI²): Lessons from Arapahoe County’s Efforts to Increase Engagement with Colorado Works

Arapahoe County’s Department of Human Services developed a new approach to conducting eligibility interviews for the Colorado Works program (the local version of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program). This strategy was designed to address persistent challenges with clients following through on referrals from the eligibility specialist to the assigned employment services vendor. This simple approach was designed using insights from behavioral science and guided by Mathematica’s “Learn, Innovate, Improve” (or LI²) framework for creating evidence-driven innovations in public programs. Arapahoe County implemented and tested this new approach between February and May 2018 using a random assignment experiment.