The Cleveland-based Fund for Our Economic Future (Fund NEO), in partnership with Towards Employment, has announced key findings from a five-year evaluation of a sectoral training and advancement program aimed at boosting the earnings of low-income individuals.

Designed by national social policy research firm MDRC and the New York City Center for Economic Opportunity, and supported by the White House Social Innovation Fund and local partners, the WorkAdvance program tested how a seamless set of services, with a focus on specific sectors and post-employment assistance, can improve the matching of disadvantaged job seekers with in-demand jobs and put them on a path toward career advancement, while helping employers find the talent they need.

According to MDRC, the results of randomized control trials from four sites in New York City, Tulsa, and Northeast Ohio demonstrate that sector-specific programs can increase earnings for low-income individuals, although the benefits to participants can take at least a year to emerge for experienced providers and longer for those who are new to the strategy. The evaluation also found that the program boosted training completion rates, credential acquisition, and sectoral employment in each of the four sites; boosted earnings in three of the four sites; and increased earnings among the long-term unemployed.

Fund NEO, in partnership with Towards Employment, the Deaconess Foundation and the Raymond John Wean Foundation in Warren, Ohio, plans to release Northeast Ohio-specific data and learnings in late August.

"The WorkAdvance demonstration was about breaking down silos and improving outcomes for job seekers and employers at no additional cost to taxpayers," said Bethia Burke, director of grantmaking, evaluation, and emerging initiatives at Fund NEO. "What we learned was that a continuum of sector-focused services works."