Teaching Self-Sufficiency Through Home Visitation and Life Skills Education. Trends in Family Programs and Policy, Issue Brief #3

Publication Date: July 2009

Publisher: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Author(s): Alicia Meckstroth; Andrew Burwick; Quinn Moore; Michael Ponza

Research Area: Labor

Keywords: employment; reducing poverty; Nebraska Families; TANF

Type: Brief

Coverage: Nebraska

Abstract:

To address challenges faced by hard-to-employ TANF clients, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, in partnership with the Nebraska Health and Human Services System, operated the Building Nebraska Families (BNF) program from 2002 to 2005. The initiative combined intensive home visitation and life skills education to prepare high-risk TANF clients in rural Nebraska to succeed in the world of work and improve their families' well-being. This issue brief notes significant impacts for the very hard-to-employ. BNF was effective in increasing employment and earnings as well as reducing poverty for this group.