TransitionsSF used three sequential stages to help participants support themselves and their children. These stages included work-readiness activities, a skill-matched subsidized transitional job, and incentives for program participation.
Stage One: Pre-transitional job. TransitionsSF enrolled monthly cohorts who then received an individual assessment identifying their barriers to work; case managers referred participants to services to address any identified barriers. In addition, participants received job-readiness training to build soft skills. Participants received an incentive, $100 a week, for attending job-readiness training.
Participants did not move to Stage Two transitional jobs until they passed a drug test. Participants waited a minimum of 45 days to retake a failed test. During the wait time, they met with case managers and were enrolled in GED classes or 4-month digital literacy classes, each for 6 to 10 hours a week. Stage One lasted three months on average, in part because of participants who failed drug tests.
Stage Two: Tiered transitional job. After assessing their job readiness, staff assigned participants to one of three tiers for the Stage Two transitional jobs. For example, the least job-ready participants were assigned to Tier 1 jobs, and the most job-ready participants were assigned to Tier 3 jobs. Participants worked in one of three tiers of transitional jobs described below for about three months. Participants in Tier 1 and Tier 2 transitional jobs were not expected to be hired for unsubsidized employment, whereas participants in Tier 3 could be hired for unsubsidized employment after their transitional job ended based on performance and job openings. The program arranged for participants in all tiers of employment to attend GED classes or digital literacy classes in Stage Two. Weekly job clubs prepared participants for Stage Three of the program.
- Tier 1 transitional jobs built participants’ soft and work skills through temporary employment in Goodwill stores and warehouses.
- Tier 2 transitional jobs exposed participants to public-sector employment to build soft and work skills in outdoor physical labor positions at the Department of Public Works and Recreation and Parks Department operated by HSA. HSA managed and evaluated participants in Tier 2 jobs.
- Tier 3 transitional jobs provided participants work experience closer to an unsubsidized job in entry-level positions at local businesses of various sizes. Some participants were hired into unsubsidized positions at the end of the transitional job period.
Goodwill paid participants in Tier 1 and 3 jobs $10.24 per hour (minimum wage in San Francisco was $10.55 an hour in 2013) for 30 hours of work per week. HSA paid participants in Tier 2 jobs slightly above minimum wage for 24 to 26 hours of work per week. Participants received an incentive of $75 each week while attending job clubs and making job search plans.
Stage Three: Follow-up. Participants received job search assistance if they did not find unsubsidized employment for one year. Participants in unsubsidized employment received retention and advancement services for one year.
Other services. Participants’ child support orders were reduced below the standard payment for minimum-wage workers during all program stages. Other child support incentives included releasing suspended driver’s licenses and lifting bank levies.
Case managers met with participants and job-site supervisors on the first day of Tier 1 and 3 transitional jobs and maintained contact with those job-site supervisors. Although HSA managed participants in Tier 2 positions independently of case managers, case managers met with participants in all tiers twice a month during participants’ transitional jobs period and once a month after the transitional job ended.
Participation was voluntary and recruitment was difficult both because potential participants were suspicious of the intervention when DCSS contacted them directly and because the pool of potential eligible participants was limited in San Francisco. TransitionsSF began to recruit participants with child support cases outside San Francisco County. The intervention’s Stage Two transitional jobs were initially planned to last five months, but participants worked about three months in these positions.