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Project Description

In 1996, San Mateo County implemented the Shared Undertaking to Change the Community and to Enable Self-Sufficiency (SUCCESS) model, a welfare to work program which was originally operated under a waiver with sanction and work-program policies that were more stringent than allowed under CalWORKs rules.

The key features of the SUCCESS model were:

1. A single point of entry for all programs and early assessment of client needs;
2. Integrated and comprehensive case management and supportive services;
3. Emphasis on immediate employment for the job-ready, coupled with higher participation requirements;
4. More rigorous sanctions for non-cooperation, including the potential for a full grant sanction.

The SUCCESS evaluation consists of three components:

1. An impact analysis that documents the employment, earnings, and welfare outcomes of clients under SUCCESS;
2. A cost-benefit analysis that examines the cost-effectiveness of SUCCESS in achieving the outcomes measured in the impact analysis. Specifically, the process analysis has four main purposes:
   1. To document and assess the actual operations of the program, including the experiences of SUCCESS clients.
   2. To provide feedback to HSA management and staff that can be used to refine and improve the SUCCESS model.
   3. To provide vital contextual information that will improve the interpretation and understanding of the findings from the impact and cost-effectiveness analyses.
   4. To provide useful information for other agencies implementing changes in their welfare delivery systems.
3. A child well-being analysis that assesses the extent to which SUCCESS affects the educational outcomes and well-being of children whose parents receive and leave cash aid in San Mateo County. The three main objectives of the child well-being analysis are:
   1. To determine whether SUCCESS policies, including increased work participation requirements for parents and more stringent sanction policies adversely affected families and children who participated in the program;
   2. To examine the extent to which child and family well-being differs for SUCCESS and other low-income families and children; and,
   3. To explore the factors associated with negative outcomes for children.

There are three distinct time periods across which to compare outcomes in San Mateo County: the pre-SUCCESS (AFDC/GAIN) period, the SUCCESS period in which the program operated under the CDSS waiver, and the CalWORKs period following the changes to the SUCCESS program to conform to CalWORKs rules.

Project duration: Sep 1996 - Oct 2001

Sites studied include San Mateo County, CA

Sample Characteristics and Sites Studied

Population of AFDC/SUCCESS recipients between 1995 and 2000.

For the child well-being analysis:
173 adult SUCCESS recipients, 83 adult Medi- Cal recipients and 49 and 22 of their respective adolescent children.

Recent Findings in Brief

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