State IMPACT Collaborative

• In Event: State Research Partnerships: Using Administrative Data to Build Evidence

Abstract

The State IMPACT (Innovative Models for Policy Acceleration & Collaborative Testing) Collaborative seeks to accelerate sustainable evidence-based policy learning and decision-making for state agencies through funding and research capacity support.

Inspired by the success of an earlier initiative, the TANF Data Collaborative, the State IMPACT Collaborative is a project of MDRC and the Coleridge Initiative with support from Arnold Ventures. Over two years, the State IMPACT Collaborative offers training and technical assistance to state agencies committed to using research and evaluation to advance economic mobility among individuals and families with low incomes. The collaborative builds on MDRC’s proven learning-by-doing approach to increasing state agencies' data analytic capacity and MDRC’s 50 years of experience carrying out high-quality rigorous evaluations. States are using Coleridge Initiative’s renowned Administrative Data Research Facility (ADRF), which enables secure cross-agency and cross-state collaboration, and participate in a new Applied Data Analytics training program in partnership with the state of Arkansas that will include a new co-developed curriculum in evaluation methods.  

This panelist will describe the collaborative, in its first year, and the projects with the three selected state agencies: 1) the Mississippi Department of Employment Security aims to test the effectiveness of workforce training in correctional facilities on reducing barriers to reemployment following incarceration; 2) the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, in partnership with The Ohio State University, aims to test the effectiveness of expanding Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) services to individuals receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Unemployment Insurance who are currently not being served by RESEA services; 3) the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry and the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Board aims to test the effectiveness of different strategies for implementing cross-program referrals from workforce development services to public benefits.

Author

• Richard Hendra, MDRC
  Presenting Author