NextGen Project Description
Evidence | Publications

NextGen Project Description

Published: Sep 30, 2024
Human Services Employment Training and Re-employment Family Support TANF and Employment Issues Justice
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Associated Project

Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies Project (NextGen)

Time frame: 2018-

Prepared for:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families

Authors

Mathematica

Key Findings

The NextGen Project includes implementation, cost, and impact studies for five innovative employment programs, as well as briefs on special topics.

  • NextGen uses a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to estimate each program’s impact. Eligible program participants are randomly assigned to a program group that can receive program services, or a comparison group that cannot receive program services but can receive other employment services available in the community. This evaluation design gives us confidence that any differences in outcomes between program group and comparison group members were caused by the program.
  • The project team is administering surveys to study participants and collecting administrative data on participants’ employment and other outcomes related to economic self-sufficiency and well-being. Using these survey responses and data, Mathematica will compare the shortterm and intermediate outcomes of program and comparison group members to estimate each program’s effectiveness.
  • The NextGen project will share lessons learned from the evaluation broadly.
The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the federal Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has spent decades studying strategies to help people with low incomes find and keep jobs. To further build this evidence, OPRE contracted with Mathematica to conduct the Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies (NextGen) Project. The goal of the NextGen Project is to study innovative programs for people facing complex barriers to employment. NextGen is part of OPRE’s Innovative Strategies for Addressing Employment Barriers Portfolio, which seeks to rigorously evaluate the “next generation” of employment strategies for people with low incomes, and is partnering with the Social Security Administration (SSA) on select evaluations.

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