Study Details | Pathways to Work

101005-Study of Empowering

Study quality: Low

Low

Reason for the rating: This study received a low study quality rating because it is a quasi-experimental design that does not demonstrate that the program and comparison groups were sufficiently similar before the program.

Program: Empowering Lives through Education, Vocational Assessment, Training, and Employment (ELEVATE)

Characteristics of study participants:

Justice involvement, Noncustodial parents

Services provided:

Basic skills/bridge programs, Case management, Child support assistance, Employment coaching, Financial education, Housing supports and subsidies, Job development, Job placement, Job readiness, Job search assistance, Legal assistance, Mental health services, Occupational or sectoral training, Peer mentoring, Soft skills training, Transportation assistance, Treatment or recovery services for substance use disorder, Work supports

Setting: Tested in multiple settings

Methods and Standards Protocol version used for review: Version 2.0

Learn about our protocol

Study design

Design:

Quasi-experimental design

Study group formation:

Wisconsin's Empowering Lives through Education, Vocational Assessment, Training, and Employment (ELEVATE) program focused on noncustodial parents who were unemployed or underemployed and struggling to meet their child support obligations. Potentially eligible participants were identified through referrals, and interested participants completed a consent and baseline survey process to enroll in the evaluation. The quasi-experimental study enrolled 992 ELEVATE participants and used propensity score matching to construct a statistically similar comparison group of 992 individuals from administrative data.

Time period of study:

The study ran from January 2020 to December 2023. Study enrollment occurred from January 2020 through December 2022, with a temporary pause in the spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Study data collection occurred through December 2023, with outcomes measured over a 12-month follow-up period from study enrollment.

Pathways to Work only reports results from studies with a study quality rating of high or moderate.

Sample characteristics

Age

Mean age

35 years

Race and ethnicity

Black or African American	23%
White, not Hispanic	56%
Hispanic or Latino of any race	14%
Another race	8%

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.

Family status

Noncustodial parents

100%

Employment and public benefit status

Public benefits recipients

65%

Program implementation

Implementing organization:

Child support agencies

Program services:

The Empowering Lives through Education, Vocational Assessment, Training, and Employment (ELEVATE) program aimed to help noncustodial parents (NCPs) who were unemployed or underemployed and behind on, or at risk of falling behind on, their child support obligations. The program’s main goals were to improve NCPs’ workforce participation and subsequently increase their child support compliance. ELEVATE provided a range of individualized services across four primary service domains – case management, employment services, enhanced child support services, and parenting services.

Mandatory services:

None

Comparison services:

The comparison group was participants from non-ELEVATE counties who received usual services in those counties, operating under an enforcement-oriented approach to child support without supportive services.

Study publications

Costanzo, Molly, Yonah Drazen, Hanna Han, Liesl Hostetter, Hilary Shager, and Lisa Klein Vogel (2024). Experiences, characteristics, and service needs of noncustodial parents with challenges meeting child support obligations: Evidence from ELEVATE parents. Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Available at: https://www.irp.wisc.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CSRA-2022-2024-T14-Baseline-Report.pdf

Shager, Hilary, Molly Costanzo, Lisa Klein Vogel, Alexis Dennis, Yonah Drazen, Hanna Han, Samina Hossain, and Liesl Hostetter (2025). Wisconsin's ELEVATE program: Final evaluation report. Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Available at: https://www.irp.wisc.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/WI-ELEVATE-final-evaluation-report.pdf

Vogel, Lisa Klein, Vee Yeo, and Hilary Shagar (2021). Wisconsin's ELEVATE program: Initial implementation report. Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Available at: https://www.irp.wisc.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/WI-ELEVATE-initial-implementation-report.pdf

View the glossary for more information about these and other terms used on this page.

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.

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Study of Empowering Lives through Education, Vocational Assessment, Training, and Employment (ELEVATE)