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Project Description

The New Hope Project is a test of a new policy alternative that seeks to alter the employment of low-income people and address welfare issues such as too few jobs, too low wages, and a welfare system that stacks the deck against work. It offers an alternative vision of public assistance that links income support to full-time work. The program has four eligibility requirements: applicants must live in two targeted neighborhoods, are 18 or over, are willing and able to work full time (at least 30 hours a week), and have a household income at or below 150 percent of the federally-defined poverty level. Individuals on public assistance, as well as other low income persons, could volunteer if they met the eligibility requirements.

Project duration: Jul 1994 - Jan 2007

Sites studied include Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Sample Characteristics and Sites Studied

1357 low-income individuals.

Random sample of 678 program group (receiving New Hope services) and 679 control group (not eligible for New Hope services but able to use other community services) members. Children 1-10 at baseline studied.

Recent Findings in Brief

06/01/03: New Hope Project: New Hope for Families and Children: Five-Year Results of a Program to Reduce Poverty and Reform Welfare

Interim Impact Findings

• Parents in the New Hope group worked more and earned more than did parents in the control group.
• Although the effects diminished after Year 3, when the program ended, they did persist for some parents.
• Although New Hope had few effects on levels of material and financial hardship, it did increase parents’ instrumental and coping skills.
• Although New Hope had few effects on parenting, it did increase children’s time in formal center-based child care and after-school programs.
• At the end of both Year 2 and Year 5, children in the New Hope group performed better than control group children on several measures of academic achievement, and their parents reported that the children got higher grades in reading and literacy skills.

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