Evaluation of the Personal Roads to Individual Development and Employment (PRIDE) Program

The program’s employment services were similar to those in New York’s regular welfare-to-work program — emphasizing unpaid work experience, education, and job placement assistance — but, in PRIDE, staff tried to ensure that participants were assigned to activities that took account of their medical conditions. PRIDE operated from 1999 to 2004, serving more than 30,000 people.

Findings

• The PRIDE group was substantially more likely than the control group to participate in work experience and job search activities.
  
  
• PRIDE generated increases in employment – 34 percent of the PRIDE group worked in a job covered by unemployment insurance within two years after entering the study, compared with 27 percent of the control group
  
  
• PRIDE significantly reduced welfare payments – the PRIDE group received $818 less (about 7 percent less) in cash assistance than the control group over the two years. The reduction was driven partly by the employment gains and partly by the high rate of sanctioning.

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• Resource Publication Date: 2018
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Evaluation and Research Hub