Sponsoring Agency: U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration
Project Officer: Erika Liliedahl
Performance Period: September 2012 – March 2014
Project Summary:
Over the past several decades, job search support groups, commonly referred to as “job clubs,” have evolved into one of several important activities used by the public workforce system and faith- and community-based organizations to enhance worker readiness and employability, as well as to provide ongoing support to unemployed and underemployed individuals as they search for jobs. U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) contracted in September 2012 with Capital Research Corporation, Inc. and George Washington University to conduct an assessment of job clubs sponsored by faith-based and community-based organizations (FBO/CBO). The overall purpose of this evaluation effort is to systematically describe the key characteristics of the new types of job clubs being offered by a range of faith- and community-based organizations, document how they differ from and are similar to the job clubs operated by publicly-funded workforce agencies (such as at American Job Centers), and identify promising practices in FBO/CBO-sponsored job clubs that might warrant more rigorous formal evaluation of impacts and effectiveness. The research tasks conducted under this study include the following: (1) a literature review aimed at exploring the role and effectiveness of faith-based and community-based organizations in providing job clubs for unemployed/underemployed workers; (2) an environmental scan, including interviews with key stakeholders knowledgeable about job clubs and site visits to a variety of organizations (FBOs, CBOs, and public sector organizations) sponsoring job clubs in six local workforce areas; (3) development of alternative research designs for potential future evaluation of FBO/CBO-sponsored job clubs (including outcomes, net impacts, and cost-benefit/cost effectiveness analysis); and (4) preparation of a final evaluation report summarizing key study findings.