Demonstrations

The DO-ABLE demonstration will conduct a three-phased randomized controlled trial among targeted Illinois and Michigan SSI recipients to evaluate the impact of promoting the take-up and use of Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) accounts on employment outcomes. The evaluation will also include a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether the benefits of helping people enroll and save in ABLE accounts exceed the costs of doing so.

The ICAN demonstration is a randomized controlled trial that will evaluate the impact of assisting potentially eligible individuals in their efforts to acquire Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and/or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) while they are actively engaged in employment or actively seeking employment. The ICAN intervention aims to dispel the myth that one must choose between work and SSDI/SSI to a model that promotes applying for SSDI/SSI and working/seeking employment at the same time.

ICAP allows SSA to enter into cooperative agreements to collaborate with States, private foundations, and other non-federal groups and organizations who have the interest and ability to identify, operate, and partially fund interventional research related to the SSDI and SSI programs.

This is a 5-year joint project between SSA and the Department of Health and Human Service’s Administration for Children and Families. Seeking to evaluate early intervention programs and employment support models designed to produce favorable economic outcomes among low-income individuals who have little work experience and ties to public assistance programs. Primary interests include evaluations of programs that support individuals with disabilities who may apply for SSI as well as people facing opioid and other substance abuse issues.

RETAIN, a joint project with the Department of Labor (DOL), tests early interventions to help workers stay at work or return to work quickly after experiencing the onset of a work-threatening injury, illness, or disability. The policy goals involve reducing long-term disability, including reliance on SSDI or SSI benefits, while increasing employment retention and labor force participation among those individuals. DOL awarded cooperative agreements to states to implement RETAIN projects, and SSA will evaluate the project.

The purpose of this project is to conduct a feasibility study of the implementation of the SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR) model in county jails with inmates with serious and persistent mental illness across the state of Georgia. The SGCJP project will recruit inmates from four county jails and help them apply for SSI/SSDI benefits if they are eligible. The evaluation will include a process study and a study of participant outcomes.

The SHIPS study is a randomized controlled trial designed to determine whether participation in Individual Placement and Support (IPS) improves the employment, income, health, and self-sufficiency of people with a range of disabilities and mental health conditions who are recently homeless and living in supportive housing in the Los Angeles area. We hypothesize that combining two evidence-based practices that separately address homelessness and supported employment will yield a single intervention that effectively addresses both.

The purpose of this demonstration is to provide an employment intervention for adults who have experienced a brain injury or spinal cord injury. VRFD focuses on providing early vocational support to neurotrauma patients to help them enter, return, or stay in the labor force. The goal of the randomized controlled trial is to provide the best possible evidence on the replicability, sustainability, and effectiveness of VRF services.

We are conducting YTED in partnership with Mathematica, the Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR), and the Center for Transition and Career Innovation at the University of Maryland (CTCI). YTED will test whether intensive employment training services—like Job Corps and Year Up—improve employment and other outcomes for youth with disabilities who are transitioning to adulthood and strengthen cooperation and coordination among organizations that serve youth with disabilities.

In this demonstration, we tested whether providing medical benefits sooner to SSDI beneficiaries would improve health outcomes and result in less long-term dependency on cash benefits.

The goal of this project was to facilitate services for people with disabilities; improve access to programs and services; facilitate links with the employer community; develop strategies to meet employers’ recruitment and retention needs; increase employment and self-sufficiency for people with disabilities; and develop ongoing partnerships to take full advantage of all resources.

PROMISE was a joint project with the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services to promote positive outcomes for children who receive SSI and their families. The goal of PROMISE was to improve the provision and coordination of services to promote education and employment outcomes resulting in long-term reductions in the child’s reliance on SSI.

TEPs provided a forum for stakeholders and other experts to provide interactive feedback on a proposed demonstration.

YTD assisted youths, aged 14 to 25, with disabilities to successfully transition from school to economic self-sufficiency. The beneficiaries who participated in this demonstration were youths who were receiving SSI or SSDI payments based on their own disability, or who were at risk of receiving SSI or SSDI benefits.