New Hope: Fulfilling America

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New Hope Fulfilling Americas Make Work Pay
Promise

• Greg J. Duncan,
• Aletha C. Huston,
• Thomas S. Weisner

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IT IS HARD TO BE EMPLOYED AND SUSTAIN A DAILY
ROUTINE IF YOU ARE WORKING POOR
GWEN was working for a temporary work service
called ____, which sent people out to factories
around southeastern Wisconsin. This is the work
which in the first interviews Gwen referred to as
putting boxes and displays together. She said
she had to leave her house at 330 AM every day
to catch the bus from her neighborhood to
National Avenue, and then she and other Site
Personnel workers would transfer from the
Milwaukee city bus to a bus owned by the company,
which then took them to the factory. She said
they didnt arrive at the factory until about
630 AM . The factory work was OK. Gwen said she
often used a glue gun to put together boxes, or
would do whatever kinds of assignments the
supervisor would give them for the day. She got
regular breaks and a lunch hour during the day,
but for most of the day, Gwen had to stand next
to a table which served as her work space. Gwen
definitely disliked having to commute so far and
so early for work. She said she would try and
sleep on the bus, and wouldnt get home until
after about 6 PM at night. When she would arrive
home, the first thing she would do was soak her
feet for about 15 minutes because they hurt from
standing all day. Then, she would get dinner
together for the family (her 3 boys), and then
would usually watch a little TV.
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THREE PARTICIPANTS AND FAMILIES THROUGHOUT HIGHER
GROUNDIN PROGRAMGROUPVARIABLE TAKE
UPDIVERSE BACKGROUNDS WORK TRAJECTORIES
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Despite EITC, welfare changes and SCHIP

• Full-time work leaves
• 3.2 million households poor
• 3 million children without health insurance
• Millions of children in substandard childcare and
  underachieving in school
• Millions of able-bodied women and men are not
  working
• New Hope offers a vital package of work supports
  for low-wage workers and their families

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What New Hope Offers

• If work 30 hours a week,
• a wage supplement that brings family income above
  the poverty line
• child care subsidy
• health insurance subsidy
• For everyone,
• job access (a community service job if needed)
• Knowledgeable, respectful and supportive case
  workers

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New Hopes values trifecta

• It makes work pay.
• Full-time work focus resonates with the business
  community, the broader public and participants
  themselves.
• Its social-contract nature is at once respectful
  and demanding of participants.

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Implementation

• Virtually all participants used some of benefits,
  but fewer than 1/2 did so in any given month
• Ever used
• Wage supplement 81
• Child care subsidy 48
• Health care subsidy 56
• Average per month when received
• Wage supplement 125
• Child care subsidy 700
• Health care subsidy 278

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• WHY WAS TAKE UP OF NEW HOPE SELECTIVE?
• WHO TOOK UP THE PROGRAM SUPPORTS?
• Participants have a prior frame for the
  welfare. NH was just another one of such
  programs.
• Diverse participants sometimes New Hope supports
  fit their situations and sometimes not
• Some took up most of the benefits all of the time
• Some couldnt be bothered with the hassle
• Some did not understand the program
• Some wanted supports New Hope did not provide
• Some had too many problems to meet the 30-hour
  work requirement
• Some were just in it for one benefit
• Some needed more caseworker support
• One conclusion Cafeteria approach worked well
• Another conclusion Perhaps more could have been
  reached

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New Hope Evaluation

• 3-year program in two of Milwaukees poorest
  neighborhoods in 1995-98
• 51 African-American 27 Hispanic
• Random assignment, conducted by MDRC
• New Hope vs. Tommy Thompsons ambitious welfare
  reforms

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Annual earnings impacts
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Poverty impacts
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• SOME REASONS FOR NH IMPACTS ON FAMILIES AND WORK
  PATTERNS
• WHAT WERE FULL TIME WORKERS AT BASELINE DOING
  ALREADY? MANY CUT BACK SOME WORKING TWO JOBS
  ALREADY HAD SOME BENEFITS WORKING NON-STANDARD
  HOURS TRANSACTION COSTS TOO HIGH TO BOTHER WITH
  NH FOR SOME
• WHAT OF THOSE WHO DID NOT WORK OR WORKED ONLY
  INTERMITTENTLY BUT DID NOT TAKE UP NH? NEEDED
  SUPPORTS NH DID NOT PROVIDE. HAD SEVERAL
  BARRIERS TO WORK. HAD GOALS OTHER THAN WORK.
  HAD NEEDS NH DID NOT ADDRESS.

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Effects on Children
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Effects on Child Care

• New Hope parents used more center-based child
  care and less home-based care.
• Older children in New Hope families participated
  in more structured out-of-school activities
  (sports, lessons, religious activities, clubs,
  community centers)

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Center-Based Child Care and Out-of-School
Activities




1
plt.10, plt.05, plt.01
1 Two-Year data for 9-12 year olds Five-
Eight-Year data for all children
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Effects on Achievement

• Positive impacts faded over time
• Teacher-reported achievement and
• Test performance
• Parent-reported grades in reading and writing
• By 8 years, lasting impact reducing school
  failure. New Hope helped to stem the downward
  trend in achievement as children got older.

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Child impacts (teacher report)
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Effects on Social Behavior and Youth Well Being

• Increased positive social behavior as perceived
  by parents, lasting after 8 years.
• Boys only positive impacts on teacher-rated
  positive behavior, reduced over time.

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• FAMILY EXPERIENCES AND BELIEFS REGARDING CHILD
  CARE BOYS DEVELOPMENT
• CHILD CARE VOUCHERS NOT FUNGIBLE WITH KIN CARE
  SOME PARENTS FEARFUL OF OR RESISTANT TO NON-KIN
  CARE SOME PARENTS FELT YOUNG CHILDREN SHOULD NOT
  BE IN STRANGERS CARE IN EARLY YEARS
• BUT ONCE IN, MOTHERS OFTEN SAW BENEFITS AND KEPT
  KIDS IN PROGRAMS -- BOTH FAMILY VS. CENTER CARE
• PARENTS WORRIED MORE ABOUT THREATS TO BOYS
  GREATER USE OF AFTER-SCHOOL AND OTHER PROGRAMS
  FOR BOYS MORE MONITORING (BUT NOT MORE PARENTAL
  TIME AT HOME) GIRLS ALREADY DOING BETTER THEN
  BOYS NOT DUE TO GIRLS OR BOYS DOING MORE CHILD
  CARE

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Costs and benefits

• 3,300/year taxpayer cost
• National cost 14-22 billion/year
• Benefits
• 500/year in greater worker productivity
  (earnings)
• Child achievement (1,300/year)
• Saving only 1 in 16 boys from high risk more than
  covers taxpayer costs

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A National New Hope?

• 6,600 annual cost
• 38 for child care subsidies
• 31 program costs
• Rest is combination of health insurance, earnings
  supplements, CSJ wages
• Given what states have in place, incremental
  costs would be less
• Employment benefits are not large enough to cover
  costs child and family benefits ??

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www.newhopebook.com
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Topics in Higher Ground

• Introduction to New Hope and U.S. context
• Creating New Hope
• Participants in the program
• Research and evaluation
• Random assignment experiment
• Child assessments
• Ethnographic study
• Work and poverty impacts
• Children
• Families
• Lessons of New Hope
• New Hope national policy
• Appendix New Hope program impacts