Interventions Details | Pathways to Work

Future Steps provided employment-focused case management to public assistance recipients and other low-income individuals to help them find and keep good jobs and progress toward economic independence.

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Future Steps provided employment-focused case management to public assistance recipients and other low-income individuals to help them find and keep good jobs and progress toward economic independence.

Future Steps implemented an employment-focused case management model. Working with an employment specialist, participants underwent an initial career and skills assessment and then began individualized job-search, job-placement, and skills-enhancement programs. These employment services also included informal counseling and referrals to specialized job training and other services such as child care and mental health services.

In addition, payments of up to $500 were available to defray costs associated with program participation (such as transportation, child care, and so on) and to assist with other barriers to employment. Future Steps staff had the flexibility to approve a wide variety of uses for these funds. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients could receive up to an additional $1,200 in payments, but these funds were subject to more restrictions than the initial $500. Participants who were receiving TANF or assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were required to work 30 hours a week, or faced reductions in their benefit payments.

Participants received Future Steps services until they found work, but they could receive follow-up services for up to three months after they gained employment and could return to Future Steps if they lost their job. Employment specialists made contact every two weeks on average, diminishing the frequency of contacts after participants gained employment.

Future Steps served TANF and SNAP recipients facing work requirements, as well as volunteers from low-income households who could commit to working at least 30 hours a week. Future Steps was implemented in five rural counties in southern Illinois.

Year evaluation began: 2001

Populations and employment barriers:

Intervention services: Case management, Supportive services, Work readiness activities, Job search assistance, Job development/job placement

Setting(s): Rural only

Effectiveness Rating and Effect By Outcome Domain

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Outcome domain	Term	Effect in 2018 dollars and percentages	Effect in standard deviations	Sample size
Increase earnings	Short-term	$146 per year	0.01	630
	Long-term	$1,339 per year	0.06	630
	Very long-term
Increase employment	Short-term	-1% (in percentage points)	-0.01	630
	Long-term	2% (in percentage points)	0.04	630
	Very long-term
Decrease benefit receipt	Short-term	$110 per year	0.04	630
	Long-term	$-22 per year	-0.01	630
	Very long-term
Increase education and training	All measurement periods

* This intervention was assessed as supported for this domain, meaning it achieved one or more statistically significant, favorable effects. However, the intervention has an average effect size that is unfavorable because the average includes all effects in this domain - both statistically significant and favorable effects and statistically insignificant but unfavorable effects.

Effectiveness rating key:

Well-supported
Supported
Not supported
Mixed support
Insufficient evidence
No evidence

Effectiveness rating terms?

Studies of this Intervention

Study Quality Rating	Study Counts per Rating
High	1