Interventions Details | Pathways to Work

Reach for Success’s goal was to help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients maintain their current employment, secure higher-paying jobs, or rapidly resecure employment after job loss through an individualized case management approach that counseled participants in overcoming challenges to work and connected them to supportive and employment services.

Skip to: Effectiveness Ratings | Studies of this Intervention

Reach for Success’s goal was to help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients maintain their current employment, secure higher-paying jobs, or rapidly resecure employment after job loss through an individualized case management approach that counseled participants in overcoming challenges to work and connected them to supportive and employment services.

Reach for Success revolved around case managers who recruited participants for the intervention, connected them with services, and helped them navigate through life crises and job loss. Case managers contacted participants at least once a month and provided individualized counseling to help them navigate new job responsibilities or interpersonal issues (at work or at home) that presented a challenge to their continued employment. Case managers were given a reduced caseload of 40 to 85 cases compared with the typical 100 to 120 cases per case manager. Case managers focused primarily on connecting participants with supportive services (mainly transportation and child care assistance) to help them maintain employment but also connected them with existing employment retention and advancement services as needed. These services included job development for participants who lost their jobs or sought better-paying jobs, as well as soft-skills training, work-based or general education, and career-specific training. Participants received services until they left TANF, or for up to one year if they remained on it. Reach for Success’s target population was volunteer TANF recipients (mostly single mothers) who worked at least 32 hours a week but did not earn enough to leave TANF. Reach for Success was implemented in Los Angeles County. It was evaluated as part of the Employment Retention and Advancement Evaluation.

Year evaluation began: 2002

Populations and employment barriers: Employed, Parents, Single parents, Cash assistance recipients

Intervention services: Case management, Employment retention services, Supportive services, Training, Soft skills training, Work readiness activities, Job search assistance, Job development/job placement

Setting(s): Urban only

Intervention services:

Case management, Employment retention services, Supportive services, Training (Soft skills training), Work readiness activities (Job development/job placement, Job search assistance)

? Review services terms

Effectiveness Rating and Effect By Outcome Domain

View Table Help Need more context or definitions for the Outcome Domain table below? View the "Table Help" to get more insight into terms, measures, and definitions.

Scroll to the right to view the rest of the table columns

Outcome domain	Term	Effect in 2018 dollars and percentages	Effect in standard deviations	Sample size
Increase earnings	Short-term	$1,130 per year	0.05	5700
	Long-term	$167 per year	0.01	5700
	Very long-term
Increase employment	Short-term	2% (in percentage points)	0.06	5700
	Long-term	0% (in percentage points)	-0.01	5700
	Very long-term
Decrease benefit receipt	Short-term	$74 per year	0.03	5700
	Long-term	$105 per year	0.04	5700
	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