February 2012

New Report Release: Social IMPACT Research Center Evaluates Chicago Neighborhood JobStart, a Transitional Jobs Response to the Great Recession
In 2010, the 2016 Fund for Chicago Neighborhoods and the Illinois Department of Human Services leveraged philanthropic funds and federal TANF Emergency Funds to create Chicago Neighborhood JobStart. JobStart placed low income youth and adults from historically high unemployment neighborhoods into temporary jobs with local employers, subsidized their wage and payroll costs, and provided and provided supportive services to help them maintain employment. The Social IMPACT Research Centers evaluation of Jobstart included review of program records, interviews, and participant, employer, and staff surveys. The full report highlights the following:

Have You Heard?

Heartland Alliance and the From Poverty to Opportunity Campaign (FP2O) released a statement highlighting how the proposed state budget will impact Illinoisans experiencing poverty. Poverty in Illinois is at its highest point in decades. At a time when need is growing, the proposed state budget for fiscal year 2013 poses many threats to people in poverty.

In the course of 4 months, JobStart recruited and trained 1,618 participants and placed 1,518 into transitional jobs. On average, adult participants worked 9.1 weeks and earned twice their average household income upon entering JobStart. JobStart participants earned $3.9 million in wages through the program. Assuming Read the press release they spent 70% of wages earned in the retail sector of Cook County, JobStart wages here. were associated with a $5.1 million increase in demand for goods and services across all sectors, a $1.2 million increase in household earnings, and an increase in employment of 44 jobs across Cook County. Among JobStart employers who responded to an evaluation survey, the majority reported that employing JobStart participants resulted in moderate positive effects on What About business performance in the areas of productivity, quality of work, number of customers or clients they were able to serve, customer or client satisfaction, and My workforce satisfaction with workload.

Community?

Visit our JobStart page to download the full evaluation report and summaries.

New Report Release: Porter County Plan to End Homelessness

Faced with an increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness and a system strained doing what it can to address the issue, service providers, shelter and housing providers, community members, faith-based organizations and local funders commissioned the Social IMPACT Research Center to create a Plan to End Homelessness for Porter County.

IMPACT has been hard at work crunching data! The 2006-2010 American Community Survey data book is now available.

This groundbreaking plan, No Place Like Home, lays a foundation to retool and refine the Porter County homeless service delivery system to most effectively prevent homelessness and rapidly re-house people who are experiencing homelessness. The plans vision is that all residents will have access to a safe, affordable home in Porter County including resources and support services necessary to prevent and end homelessness. No Place Like Home includes proven strategies to ending homelessness:

In Austin? Kenwood? Uptown? IMPACT has the data you need.

Increase Access to Stable and Affordable Housing: Incorporate a Housing First approach at every possible opportunity, increase inventory and access to permanent supportive housing and more broadly affordable housing. Focus on Homelessness Prevention: The most cost effective way to address homelessness is to prevent it from ever happening to an individual or family. Expand outreach and service delivery to households at risk of becoming homeless. Increase Economic Security: Increase earning potential for households at risk of or Do You currently experiencing homelessness, tearing down the barriers that block households Bookmark? from their greatest earning potential. Improve Health and Stability: Coordinate better access to physical and mental health care systems to improve quality of life and increase stability. IMPACT has been Increase Leadership, Collaboration and Civic Engagement: Full engagement across improving its website, the spectrum of community stakeholders ensures the effective implementation of this and some of our links Plan. have changed. Retool the Homeless Crisis Response System: Porter County is committed to developing one front door process through which all households can enter. It will also Take a moment to focus its programs on rapid re-housing, and it will promote greater participation in the visit us again and Homeless Management Information System to better assess the populations at risk update your and retool programs and processes to best meet the Countys needs. bookmarks! Media had this to say... Plan aims to end homelessness in Porter County. Northwest Indiana Times, January 30, 2012. Groups unite for plan to take on homelessness. Post-Tribune, January 31, 2012. Don't forget to visit our media center for new releases and ongoing coverage of our work.

Contact our experts for data by Chicago Community Area, and learn more about what is happening in your community.

Like Us!
Dont forget to visit us on facebook.