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Summary

Adult Connections Team (ACT) was an enhanced services program for youth in foster care ages 17 to 20 to promote employment, education, and mental health that included outreach by a youth specialist, coordinated mentoring, job readiness training, and externship services.

After outreach from a youth specialist, youth could choose to participate in the mentoring component, the employment component, or both. After youth specialists coordinated a match, trained mentors met with youth for at least one year, with ongoing support from agency staff. Participants also had access to peer mentoring and support activities, such as dinners and social activities attended by program alumni and staff. The employment component was a job readiness program that provided both an individualized 20-hour training program focused on soft skill development and placement in an externship to develop job skills. 

The program was implemented in Cook County, IL.

101040-Study of Adult Conne
Populations and employment barriers: Young adults (age 16-24), Unemployed

Effectiveness rating and effect by outcome domain

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Outcome domain Term Effectiveness rating Effect in 2024 dollars and percentages Effect in standard deviations Sample size
Increase earnings Short-term Little evidence to assess support favorable $10,644 per year 0.292 152
Long-term Cannot assess support
Very long-term Cannot assess support
Increase employment Short-term Cannot assess support
Long-term Cannot assess support
Very long-term Cannot assess support
Decrease benefit receipt Short-term Cannot assess support
Long-term Cannot assess support
Very long-term Cannot assess support
Increase education and training All measurement periods Cannot assess support

Effectiveness ratings

  • Well- supported
  • Supported
  • Mixed support
  • Not supported
  • Insufficient evidence
  • Cannot assess support

Studies of this program

Study quality rating Study counts per rating
High High 1
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Implementation details

Organizations implementing program

Two private child welfare agencies

The information contained here reflects how the program was implemented at the time of the evaluation.

Local context

The providers and study site were located in Cook County, IL.

Characteristics of research participants
Black or African American
80%
White
4%
Another race
8%
More than one race
8%
Hispanic or Latino of any race
11%

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

State(s) where implemented

AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY Canada

Pathways to Work refers to programs by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some program names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.