Turning Welfare into a Work Support: Six-Year Impacts on Parents and 
Children from the Minnesota Family Investment Program

Past MDRC research has shown that MFIP's most consistent and positive 
results were for single-parent long-term recipients; the program increased 
employment, income, and children's school performance by using welfare 
payments to supplement the low earnings of welfare recipients who took 
jobs. While the effects on most parents' earnings and income faded after 
six years, young children of single-parent long-term recipients were still 
performing better in school than their counterparts in a control group. For 
the most disadvantaged parents, MFIP seems to have created a lasting "leg 
up" in the labor market, increasing their earnings and income through the 
sixth year and having large positive effects on their 
children.  <http://www.mdrc.org/publications/411/overview.html>


New Fast Fact
Jobs-Plus Programs Increased Earnings for Public Housing Residents
To promote self-sufficiency among public housing residents, the Jobs-Plus 
Community Revitalization Initiative for Public Housing Families (Jobs-Plus, 
for short) delivered three types of assistance in difficult public housing 
developments in six cities: employment-related services, rent breaks as an 
incentive to work and earn more, and the promotion of social ties among 
residents to create community support for work. 
<http://www.mdrc.org/area_fact_20.html>