Labor Topics

• Measuring Program Performance
• Finding Out What Works
• Using Vouchers to Deliver Services
• Helping Service Members
• Self-Employment as an Alternative Strategy
• Moving Young People into Productive Careers
• Encouraging Employment for Ex-Offenders
• Addressing Unique Problems of Experienced Workers
• Assisting DOL and Grantees
• Clients

Faith-Based Beneficiary Choice: Helping Ex-Offenders Develop Job Skills

Many individuals released from correctional facilities have little or no connection to the workforce, making it difficult for them to find and maintain employment. These ex-offenders may struggle to obtain the skills necessary to compete in the workforce as well as the training needed to build those skills—hampering their ability to lead self-sufficient lives in the community.

To ease the transition of ex-offenders from prison to the community and the workforce, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA) started the Faith-Based Beneficiary Choice Contracting Program in June 2007. ETA funded five grantees—in Phoenix, Denver, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Des Moines—to provide job-related support to young ex-offenders between the ages of 18 and 29 years. The three key components that distinguish the innovative Beneficiary Choice model are (1) an emphasis on customer choice, (2) the expansion of local service delivery networks, and (3) the use of performance-based contracts. The cornerstone of the program is that it allows participants to choose the local specialized service provider (SSP) that best meets their needs. Each SSP must offer three core services, namely work readiness training, career counseling, and six months of follow-up services. They are also expected to offer a unique combination of supplemental and supportive services.

In developing their provider networks, grantees were encouraged by DOL to engage a wide range of organizations, including faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) that offer both a range of secular and faith-infused services. DOL also required that each grantee partner with at least one local provider with which it had not previously worked. In this way, the demonstration could draw on the unique qualifications of FBCOs that may not typically partner with the government. Finally, grantees were required to engage in performance-based contracts with at least five SSPs that offer services to participants. Providers receive benchmark payments as they document their success in helping participants achieve key outcomes, such as completing services, obtaining a job, and retaining employment for six months.

Mathematica's evaluation draws on data gathered from a survey of grantees and their service providers, two rounds of in-depth site visits, cost data on grantee and SSP expenditures, and analysis of participant data from a project-specific management information system (MIS). We are also collecting state-level criminal justice administrative data on program participants to analyze patterns of recidivism. Our first findings report looks at program implementation through the first year of the demonstration using data from the survey, the first round of site visits, and early MIS data. As of August 2008, the five grantees had enrolled 763 participants—85 percent of them male—across their 30 specialized service providers. Although the demonstration was still in its infancy at the time of the first site visits, many interesting patterns had already emerged as grantees entered uncharted territory by combining the indirect funding mechanism of customer choice with use of performance-based contracting. A final report that examines the first two years of implementation and includes analysis from all evaluation data sources will be delivered to DOL in spring 2010.

Publications

"Examining a New Model for Prisoner Re-Entry Services: The Evaluation of Beneficiary Choice" (March 2011)
"Giving Ex-Offenders a Choice in Life: First Findings from the Beneficiary Choice Demonstration" (December 2008)