Promoting Readiness of Minors in SSI (PROMISE) Evaluation - Interviews with Program Staff, and Focus Group Discussions

The Promoting Readiness of Minors in SSI (PROMISE) demonstration pursues positive outcomes for children with disabilities who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and their families by reducing dependency on SSI. Under PROMISE, targeted outcomes for youth include an enhanced sense of self-determination; achievement of secondary and post-secondary educational credentials; an attainment of early work experiences culminating with competitive employment in an integrated setting; and long-term reduction in reliance on SSI. Outcomes of interest for families include heightened expectations for and support of the long-term self-sufficiency of their youth; parent or guardian attainment of education and training credentials; and increases in earnings and total income. To achieve these outcomes, the PROMISE projects are expected to make better use of existing resources by improving service coordination among multiple state and local agencies and programs. SSA is requesting clearance for the collection of data needed to implement and evaluate PROMISE. The evaluation will provide empirical evidence on the impact of the intervention for youth and their families in several critical areas, including: (1) improved educational attainment; (2) increased employment skills, experience, and earnings; and (3) long-term reduction in use of public benefits. The PROMISE evaluation will be based on a rigorous design that will entail the random assignment of approximately 2,000 youth in each of the six projects to treatment or control groups (12,000 total). Youth in the treatment groups will be eligible for enhanced services from the demonstration programs, whereas youth in the control groups will be eligible only for those services already available in their communities independent of the interventions. The evaluation will assess the effect of PROMISE services on educational attainment, employment, earnings, and reduced receipt of disability payments. • SSA planned several data collection efforts for the evaluation. These include: (1) follow-up interviews with youth and their parent or guardian 18 months and five years after enrollment; (2) phone and in-person interviews with local program administrators, program supervisors, and service delivery staff at two points in time over the course of the demonstration; (3) two rounds of focus groups with participating youth in the treatment group; (4) two rounds of focus groups with parents or guardians of participating youth; and (5) collection of administrative data. At this time, SSA requests clearance for the 5-year (60-month) survey interviews. The respondents are the youth and their parents participating in the PROMISE demonstration.

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2014 Staff Interviews - Administrators or Directors

Federal Enterprise Architecture: Income Security - General Retirement and Disability