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Alabama ASSETS Demonstration

General Information

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Evaluator(s) Abt Associates, Inc.
Investigator(s) Alan Werner (Abt Associates, Inc.)
Sponsor(s) Alabama Department of Human Resources
Funder(s) Food and Nutrition Service, USDA
US Department of Agriculture
US Department of Health and Human Services
Subcontractor(s) University of Alabama at Birmingham
 
Domain Income Security/TANF
Status Completed (final report released)
Duration Jul 1990 - Jan 1997
Type Research and/or Program Evaluation
Goal To evaluate the components of Alabama Avenues to Self-Sufficiency through Employment and Training Services (ASSETS).
Program/Policy Description The ASSETS program 1) broadens requirements for clients to participate in employment and training (E&T) services; 2) broadens requirements for clients to cooperate with child support enforcement (CSE); and 3) simplifies and rationalizes welfare administration by consolidating programs (such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children [AFDC] and the Food Stamps Program called Nutrition Assistance [NA] in the ASSETS program) and case worker functions.
Notes No notes reported.
 
Last Updated 01/15/04
Type of Summary Reviewed
External Reviewer(s) Alan Werner (Abt Associates, Inc.)
Contact(s) Alan Werner (alan_werner@abtassoc.com)
Abt Associates, Inc.
55 Wheeler Street
(T) (617)-492-7100
(F) (617)-492-5219
Publications Department Abt Publications (not reported)
Abt Associates, Inc.
4808 Montgomery Lane
(T) not reported
(F) not reported

Populations Studied

Target Population Recipients/participants/clients
Subgroups Analyzed Single parent families
Two-parent families
Sample Size and Unit 126,937 welfare recipients (AFDC, AFDC/NA, and NA-only).

(73,207 in research counties: Limestone, Clarke, and Madison;

53,730 in comparison counties: Chilton, Butler, and Tuscaloosa.)

Sites Studied

Limestone County, Alabama
Clarke County, Alabama
Madison County, Alabama
Tuscaloosa County, Alabama
Chilton County, Alabama
Butler County, Alabama

Program Components, Policies, and Activities Evaluated

Employment activities

  • Job skills training
  • Job readiness activities
  • Job search
  • Job placement
  • Job development

Educational activities

  • Adult Basic Education (ABE) courses
  • English as a Second Language (ESL)
  • GED courses
  • High school completion

Financial incentives

  • Earnings disregards
  • Elimination of 100 hour rule
  • Excluding the value of one vehicle
  • Coverage for work-related expenses
  • Increased asset limit
  • Utility allowance
  • Shelter allowance
  • Financial Incentives - misc.

Financial disincentives/Sanctions

  • Reduced benefits for non-compliance
  • Strengthened JOBS sanctions

Program requirements

  • Child support order
  • Broadened JOBS participation requirement

Child support

  • Support paid directly to parent
  • Increased efficiency in collection

Food stamps

  • Cash out
  • Work requirements

Social/Support services

  • Child care
  • Transitional health benefits
  • Case management

Administration/Implementation

  • Changes in welfare office environment/culture
  • Simplification of program rules and procedures
  • Administration/Implementation - misc.
Variation in program components across sites? No
Notes on program components Changes in child support: Recipients with children having non-legal fathers or parents living elsewhere must cooperate with efforts to establish paternity, locate absent parents, and obtain court-ordered support payments. Expanded payment requirement to appropriate food stamp only households. Employment activities: All able-bodied adults must participate in employment and training programs. Exemptions include recipients who are: under age 16 or over age 59; pregnant women in last two trimesters; single parents with child(ren) under age 3. Participation is mandatory for all parents under age 20 without a high school degree or GED. Educational activities: Adult basic education, GED training or high school offered. Also English as a Second Language training intended to raise participants general education level.

Financial disincentives/sanctions: Loss of portion of benefit for non-compliant household member not complying with E&T. After first incident, individuals who eventually comply may still have penalty applied for specified period. Financial incentives: Countable income includes 40% standard business expenses deduction if self-employed. 20% of gross monthly earnings is disregarded, as are dependent care costs of standard $120 per month up to AFDC maximum. Standard deduction adjusted annually by AFDC, includes utility allowance for heating and cooling and monthly shelter costs in excess of 50% of countable income. Increased asset limits to $2000 or $3000 if household contains elderly member. Home and household goods and value of one vehicle per licensed driver are excluded. Food stamps: Food stamps benefits and AFDC benefits are consolidated into one check. Program operations: Planning, development, and operation of the ASSETS program will be documented. Program requirements: Broadened JOBS participation requirement. Social/Support services: Un-reimbursed medical expenses are given $15 standard deduction plus expenses in excess of $50 per month. Case managers administer benefits, determine Medicaid eligibility, and provide access to Education and Training Services.

Outcomes Assessed

Employment

  • Job attainment

Income security

  • Child support payments
  • Earnings
  • Food stamps receipt
  • Medicaid receipt
  • Welfare receipt

Service utilization

  • Service utilization - misc.

Program implementation

  • Program Implementation - misc.

Financial costs and benefits/cost-effectiveness

  • Financial costs and benefits/cost-effectiveness - misc.

Entry effects

  • Entry effects - misc.

Types of Studies

Type Impact Study (Quasi-experiment with non-equivalent control groups)
Aim To measure the impact of ASSETS on household expenditure patterns and food retailer options: Food Stamps cash-out Study. To provide estimates of the impact of ASSETS on households’ use of employment and training services, employment and earnings, participation in public assistance programs, and composition and stability: Welfare Dependency and Household Income Study.
 
Type Implementation/Process Study
Aim To document the planning, development, and operation of the ASSETS program.
 
Type Cost-Benefit Study
Aim To estimate the total cost and benefits of ASSETS to the state and federal governments and to participating households.
 

Data Sources

Source Administrative data
Title Work and Training Services (WATS) computer subsystem
Sample Characteristics/Data Collection Records on E&T participation and activity for all program group members.
Collected for 36 months after program entry.
Sites All sites.
Response Rate/Attrition Notes N/A
Additional Execution Notes No notes reported.
 
Source Administrative data
Title Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Quarterly Wage Reporting System
Sample Characteristics/Data Collection Records for all non-elderly adults in research sample (number in sample not reported).
Collected quarterly for 36 months after program entry.
Sites All sites.
Response Rate/Attrition Notes N/A
Additional Execution Notes No notes reported.
 
Source Administrative data
Title Child Support Enforcement (CSE) data
Sample Characteristics/Data Collection 58,376 records for all children from households that were NA [Nutrition Assistance]-only.
Data collected 36 months after program entry.
Sites All sites.
Response Rate/Attrition Notes N/A
Additional Execution Notes No notes reported.
 
Source Administrative data
Title AFDC, AFDC-related Medicaid and Food Stamp Data
Sample Characteristics/Data Collection Records for 126,937 welfare recipients.
Sample of all program and comparison group members.
Data collected 36 months after program entry.
Sites All sites.
Response Rate/Attrition Notes N/A
Additional Execution Notes No notes reported.
 
Source Administrative data
Title Alabama DHR [Department of Human Resources] federal cost reports
Sample Characteristics/Data Collection Reports measuring administrative costs of ASSETS program.
Sites All sites.
Response Rate/Attrition Notes N/A
Additional Execution Notes No notes reported.
 

Findings Available

Final Implementation Findings

Findings

01/01/97: Alabama ASSETS Demonstration: Final Report: Evaluation of the Alabama Avenues to Self-Sufficiency through Employment and Training Services (ASSETS) Demonstration
Final Implementation Findings: "Overall, an adult receiving AFDC and /or NA benefits was far more likely to be referred to an E&T activity in the ASSETS counties than in the comparison counties"(vi). "ASSETS did not lead to statistically significant increases in adults’ employment, over three years after entering the demonstration"(vii). "There were no statistically significant increases in annual earnings found for adults in any ASSETS county"(vii). "ASSETS increased the involvement in the CSE system of NA-only families with children"(viii). "ASSETS increased support payments to children in NA-only households over all three years after sample entry in Limestone County, and in the first year in Madison County, but had no impact on support payments in Clarke County"(viii). "ASSETS increased welfare payments in Clarke and Madison Counties, and reduced payments in Limestone County"(ix). "ASSETS generally reduced welfare activity [overall] in Limestone and Madison counties and had no effect on welfare activity in Clarke County"(ix). "ASSETS generally increased activity in AFDC in all three ASSETS counties. ASSETS impacts on NA activity, however, were mixed"(ix). "The proportion of active welfare clients working was lower under ASSETS than in the comparison counties, and the degree to which families combined AFDC and NA benefits was higher under ASSETS"(x). "ASSETS generally did increase Medicaid eligibility, but not in exactly the same pattern as AFDC activity"(x). "For each demonstration county ASSETS consistently reduced the combined administrative costs for the AFDC, food stamp, Medicaid, and E&T program...Assets reduced overall case management administrative costs"(xi). "ASSETS increased the mean monthly costs of active CSE cases, as well as overall administrative CSE costs, in all three demonstration counties"(xi). "Clients’ monthly household incomes were lower, and government costs were higher under ASSETS"(xii).
 
04/01/93: Alabama ASSETS Demonstration: The Effect of Food Stamp Cash Out on Participants and Food Retailers in the Alabama ASSETS Demonstration
Interim Descriptive Findings
  • Total food expenditures, adjusted for household size and composition, were about 18 percent lower for the ASSETS households than for comparison households.
  • ASSETS households spent about 4 percent more of their food budgets on food away from home, yet both groups ate about the same number of meals (less than 3) away from home each week and spent about the same amount for them.
  • Total expenditures per household were similar for ASSETS and comparison households. ASSETS households, on average, spent more on shelter and transportation than do comparison households.
  • Although food expenditures are lower for ASSETS households, about 80 percent of households in both groups report having enough to eat, if not always the types of foods they would prefer.
  • There is no evidence of large or widespread increases in food prices or rents related to cashout. ASSETS participants do pay significantly more in rent than comparison households, but it appears that much of the rent differential existed before cash-out was implemented.
  • Nearly 60 percent of ASSETS participants prefer checks to food stamp coupons, and only about 15 percent prefer coupons.
  • Most food retailers in the ASSETS counties do not view cash-out favorably. Managers of supermarkets in particular overwhelmingly prefer food stamp coupons to checks.
  • Food retailers report that total store sales, food sales, and profits have decreased as a result of cash-out.
  • The effect of cash-out on household food expenditures was larger in the ASSETS demonstration than in two other major studies.
 
11/01/92: Alabama ASSETS Demonstration: Interim Implementation and Process Report
Interim Implementation Findings
  • Food stamps and AFDC are consolidated into one program providing a single cash grant; eligibility rules, program definitions, and administrative procedures are simplified and streamlined.
  • ASSETS broadens the requirement among recipients to participate in an employment and training program.
  • ASSETS extends the requirement to cooperate with efforts to establish courtordered child support obligations.
  • ASSETS case managers are responsible for administering all income assistance programs, determining Medicaid eligibility, and providing recipient access to employment and training services.
 

Recommendations

Alabama ASSETS Demonstration: Final Report: Evaluation of the Alabama Avenues to Self-Sufficiency through Employment and Training Services (ASSETS) Demonstration (01/01/97)
"The study recommends maintaining most of the aspects of consolidated intake and program rules as well as unified case management and the CSE requirement for NA-only families..."(xiii). "The study does not recommend reintroducing food stamp cash-out, as this feature seems to have made welfare relatively more attractive and may have potentially undermined ASSETS self-sufficiency goals"(xiii). "A major disappointment was that although ASSETS increased participation in E&T activities, it did not increase employment and earnings. The most likely reason was that ASSETS increased the value of welfare relative to work. Recently some states have been experimenting with policy changes that may remedy this problem. The policy changes fall into three related categories: increasing financial work incentives; pushing an "employment first" E&T program; and imposing stricter behavioral requirements, including time limits on assistance"(xiii). Insofar as the stricter requirements can be effectively implemented, they may tip the scales in favor of work over welfare for an important portion of Alabama’s caseload"(xiii).
 

Existing Publications

01/01/97 Alabama ASSETS Demonstration: Final Report: Evaluation of the Alabama Avenues to Self-Sufficiency through Employment and Training Services (ASSETS) Demonstration Abt
11/01/92 Alabama ASSETS Demonstration: Interim Implementation and Process Report Abt
04/01/93 Alabama ASSETS Demonstration: The Effect of Food Stamp Cash Out on Participants and Food Retailers in the Alabama ASSETS Demonstration Abt

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