Evaluation of Travis County Investments in Workforce Development: 2024 Update Report Appendices
Authors: Cynthia Juniper, Patty Rodriguez, David McCoy, and Heath Prince (Principal Investigator)
Date: December 2024
Publication Type: Report Appendices, 31pp.
Evaluation of Travis County Investments in Workforce Development: 2024 Update
Evaluation of Travis County Investments in Workforce Development: 2024 Update
Evaluation of Travis County Investments in Workforce Development: 2024 Update Report Appendices
Authors: Cynthia Juniper, Patty Rodriguez, David McCoy, Heath Prince (Principal Investigator), and Thomas Boswell
Date: December 2024
Publication Type: Report, 174 pp.
Introduction
From FY 2016–FY 2023, Travis County invested over $18 million to support a continuum of adult education, training, and employment services to help individuals improve workplace skills, obtain employment, succeed in the workplace, and help employers secure a skilled workforce. Services include High School Equivalency (HSE), adult basic education, and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes; job readiness and occupation-specific training (including, but not limited to, vocational certification and formal higher education opportunities); and job search and job placement assistance leading to employment and earnings gains.
Four of the Travis County workforce development grantees receive county-funded assistance as a consortium, the Workforce Education and Readiness Continuum–Travis County (WERC-TC). WERC-TC providers are Workforce Solutions Capital Area Career Centers, Goodwill of Central Texas, Austin Area Urban League, and American YouthWorks. Four additional community-based organizations maintaining workforce development contracts with Travis County are included in this report: Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, Capital IDEA, LifeWorks, and Skillpoint Alliance. In addition, WERC-TC grantee American YouthWorks also delivers services to participants through Travis County funding that is not WERC-TC.
To understand program participant outcomes and the impact of these services, the county has contracted with the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources (RMC), an organized research unit in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas, to conduct a longitudinal evaluation of its investments. This report presents findings and analyses of programs funded during a seven-year, on-going evaluation (FY 2016–FY 2023).
Evaluation of Travis County Investments in Workforce Development 2023 Update
Evaluation of Travis County Investments in Workforce Development 2023 Update
Authors: Cynthia Juniper, Patty Rodriguez, David McCoy, Heath Prince (Principal Investigator), and Thomas Boswell
Date: November 2023
Publication Type: Report, 173pp.
INTRODUCTION
In FY 2016–FY 2022, Travis County invested over $16 million to support a continuum of adult education, training, and employment services. The adult education programing supported by the County includes English as a second language, basic adult education, high school equivalency and GED classes. Sectoral occupational training includes healthcare professions, information technology, skilled trades, manufacturing, and other occupations in area growth industries with good prospects for career advancement, improved economic stability, and access to employee benefits.
Four of the Travis County workforce development grantees receive county-funded assistance as a consortium, the Workforce Education and Readiness Continuum–Travis County (WERC-TC). WERC-TC providers are Workforce Solutions Capital Area Career Centers, Goodwill of Central Texas, Austin Area Urban League, and American YouthWorks. Four additional community-based organizations maintaining workforce development contracts with Travis County are included in this report: Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, Capital IDEA, LifeWorks, and Skillpoint Alliance. In addition, WERC-TC grantee American YouthWorks also delivers services to participants through Travis County funding that is not WERC-TC.
To understand program participant outcomes and the impact of these services, the county has contracted with the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources (RMC), an organized research unit in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas, to conduct a longitudinal evaluation of its investments. This evaluation report presents findings and analyses of programs funded during a seven-year on-going evaluation (FY 2016–FY 2022).
PREP: Baseline results from a household panel survey of the socioeconomic conditions experienced by agricultural workers in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua
Prevention, Resilience, Efficiency, and Protection for workers in industrial agriculture in a changing climate (PREP): Baseline results from a household panel survey of the socioeconomic conditions experienced by agricultural workers in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua
Authors: Heath J. Prince, PhD, Thomas Boswell, MGPS, Jason Glaser, MSc, Catharina Wesseling, MD, PhD, Ashweeta Patnaik, MPH, William José Martinez-Cuadra, BS
Date: July 2023
Publication Type: Working Paper, 18pp.
Key terms: chronic kidney disease; heat stress; survey data analysis; rest-shade-water; occupational health; earnings; marital status
Abstract
Objective
Our purpose with this study is to examine the socioeconomic outcomes associated with chronic kidney disease not related to well-known risk factors (CKDnt) in four communities in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua that are home to a substantial number of sugarcane workers.
Methods
We employed a cluster-based systematic sampling design to identify differences in outcomes between those households affected directly by CKDnt and those that are not.
Results
Overall, we find that approximately a third of households surveyed had a household member diagnosed with CKDnt. Eighty percent of CKDnt households reported that the head of the household had been without work for the last 6 months or more, compared to 61 percent of non-CKDnt households. Non-CKDnt households took in more than double the earnings income than CKDnt households (C$ 51,845 and C$ 24,295, respectively). Nonetheless, on average, CKDnt households’ total income exceeded that of non-CKDnt households due to Nicaragua’s national INSS Social Security payments to CKDnt households, suggestive of a substantial economic burden on the state resulting from the disease. Households headed by widows or widowers who are widowed as a result of CKDnt demonstrate distinct deficits in total income when compared to either non-widowed households or to households widowed by causes other than CKDnt.
Conclusions
Despite strong similarities in terms of demographic characteristics, and despite residing in the same communities with similar access to the available resources, households experiencing CKDnt exhibit distinct and statistically significant differences in important socioeconomic outcomes when compared to non-CKDnt households.
Evaluation of Travis County Investments in Workforce Development: 2022 Update
Evaluation of Travis County Investments in Workforce Development: 2022 Update
Authors: Cynthia Juniper, Patty Rodriguez, Heath Prince (Principal Investigator), David McCoy, and Thomas Boswell
Date: March 2023
Publication Type: Report, 181pp.
Introduction:
In FY 2016–FY 2021, Travis County invested over $14 million through contracts with workforce development programs for low-income residents who face challenges in finding steady employment with sufficient earnings to support themselves and their families. These programs provide services ranging from Adult Basic Education (ABE), English as a Second Language (ESL) and high school equivalency certification (HSEC) programs, to short- and long-term skills training leading to certifications and/or associate degrees across a wide range of occupations. These occupations include nursing and other healthcare professions, information technology, skilled trades, manufacturing, and other occupations in area growth industries with good prospects for career advancement.
Four of the Travis County workforce development grantees receive county-funded assistance as a consortium, the Workforce Education and Readiness Continuum–Travis County (WERC-TC). WERC-TC providers are Workforce Solutions Capital Area Career Centers, Goodwill of Central Texas, Austin Area Urban League, and American YouthWorks. Four additional community-based organizations maintaining workforce development contracts with Travis County are included in this report: Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, Capital IDEA, LifeWorks, and Skillpoint Alliance. In addition, WERC-TC grantee American YouthWorks also delivers services to participants through Travis County funding that is not WERC-TC.
To understand program participant outcomes and the impact of these services, the county has contracted with the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources (RMC), an organized research unit in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas, to conduct a longitudinal evaluation of its investments. This evaluation report presents findings and analyses of programs funded during a six-year on-going evaluation (FY 2016–FY 2021).
CareerAdvance® Implementation Study Final Report: Findings from 2006 through FY 2021
CareerAdvance® Implementation Study Final Report: Findings from 2006 through FY 2021
Authors: Cynthia Juniper and Chris King
Date: April 2022
Publication Type: Report, 74pp.
Prepared for the Health Profession Opportunity Grant Program, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
This report examines the implementation of CareerAdvance® particularly focusing on how and why the program changed and adjusted to meet the requirements of HPOG, while responding to the needs of the participants being served, the local job market, the partners working together to implement the program, and the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on service delivery. This report draws from previous CareerAdvance® reports, administrative information on the HPOG II program participants and their families, and interviews with the leadership and staff of CAP Tulsa, Tulsa Tech, Family and Children Services, Workforce Tulsa, and Tulsa Community WorkAdvance.
Evaluation of Travis County Investments in Workforce Development: 2021 Update
Evaluation of Travis County Investments in Workforce Development: 2021 Update
Authors: Cynthia Juniper, Patty Rodriguez, and Heath Prince
Date: February 2022
Publication Type: Report, 170pp.
This evaluation examines outcomes and impacts for participants exiting the Travis County-funded community-based workforce programs between FY 2016 and FY 2020. To understand the impact of these services, the county has contracted with the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources (RMC), an organized research unit in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas, to conduct a longitudinal evaluation of its investments. This evaluation report presents findings and analyses of programs funded during a five-year on-going evaluation (FY 2016–FY 2020).
RMC’s Dr. Heath Prince co-authors article on interventions to prevent occupational heat stress in laborers
RMC’s Director and Research Scientist Dr. Heath Prince co-authored an article outlining interventions to prevent occupational heat stress in laborers during physically demanding work in high environmental temperatures. The article titled “Workplace Intervention for Heat Stress: Essential Elements of Design, Implementation, and Assessment” was published on March 22, 2022, in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJEPH) by MDPI Open Access Journals and can be found here.
Abstract:
Heat stress is associated with numerous health effects that potentially harm workers, especially in a warming world. This investigation occurred in a setting where laborers are confronted with occupational heat stress from physically demanding work in high environmental temperatures. Collaboration with a major Nicaraguan sugarcane producer offered the opportunity to study interventions to prevent occupational heat-stress-related kidney disease. Two aims for this study of a rest-shade-water intervention program were: (1) describe the evolving intervention, summarize findings that motivated proposed improvements, assess impact of those improvements, and identify challenges to successful implementation and (2) extract primary lessons learned about intervention research that have both general relevance to investigations of work-related disease prevention and specific relevance to this setting. The learning curve for the various stakeholders as well as the barriers to success demonstrate that effectiveness of an intervention cannot be adequately assessed without considerations of implementation. Designing, effectively implementing, and assessing both health impacts and implementation quality is a resource-intensive endeavor requiring a transdisciplinary approach. Both general and specific lessons learned are presented for decisions on study design and study elements, implementation assessment, and management engagement in understanding how productivity and health can be successfully balanced and for building effective communication between investigators and all levels of management.
Evaluation of Travis County Investments in Workforce Development: 2017 Update
Evaluation of Travis County Investments in Workforce Development: 2017 Update
Authors: Cynthia Juniper, Patty Rodriguez, Heath Prince, and Greg Cumpton
Date: December 2017
Publication Type: Report, 72 pp.
This evaluation examines outcomes and impacts for participants in the Travis County-funded community-based workforce programs exiting services in FY 2016. To understand the impact of these services, the County has contracted with the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources (RMC) at the University of Texas at Austin to conduct a longitudinal evaluation of its investments. This Workforce Development (WFD) evaluation process will prepare the first year analysis of outcomes and estimated net impacts of these investments in the programs funded in FY 2016, the first of a five year on-going evaluation (FY 2016- FY 2020).
The first section presents an overview of the evaluation questions and research methods, followed by separate sections for each of the providers examined. Each provider section includes a brief profile of the provider and its workforce development program(s), and details outcomes and impacts for participants who exited the program during FY 2016. Findings examine UI wage data for the quarter the client exited services, four quarters prior to entering the program, and four quarters post exit. Findings examine results in the post-service period through June 30, 2017, the latest quarter for which UI wage data is available. Additionally, each section reports annual funding levels. The final section summarizes evaluation findings from FY 2016.
CareerAdvance® Implementation Study Findings through FY 2020: The impact of COVID-19 on service delivery
CareerAdvance® Implementation Study Findings through FY 2020: The impact of COVID-19 on service delivery
Authors: Cynthia Juniper and Christopher T. King
Date: February 2021
Publication Type: Report, 52pp.
Prepared for the Health Profession Opportunity Grant Program Administration for Children and Families U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
This report focuses specifically on and presents how CareerAdvance® partner organizations responded to the needs of participants and their families during the shifting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon service delivery; the efforts and issues salient to the sustainability of CareerAdvance®; and the impact participation in CareerAdvance® has had on the partner organizations’ overall philosophy, strategic planning, and service delivery.
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