Guide to Effective Programs
for Children and Youth

Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP)

OVERVIEW

The Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP) is a program aimed at reducing the number of families who are reliant on welfare. The program offers low-income parents income supplements if they are able to work full time and leave the welfare program. Evaluations of the program have found that it increases parental employment and income. Likewise, the program has been found to increase school achievement and structured activity involvement in middle childhood. Small negative impacts were found for some adolescent behaviors.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: Low-income parents and children on welfare programs

The Self-Sufficiency Project is designed to get parents off of welfare thereby improving their self-sufficiency. The program does this by offering monetary incentives in the form of earnings supplements if parents work full time and leave the welfare program. The earnings supplement is calculated using “earnings benchmarks” from the surrounding community as well as the participant’s actual earnings.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Social Research and Development Corp. (2000). The self-sufficiency project at 36 months: Effects on children of a program that increased parental employment and income. Ottawa, Ontario: Morris, P. & Michalopoulos, C.

Evaluated population: 5,078 children ages 3-18 living in low income households from two Canadian cities, one in New Brunswick and one in British Columbia. The sample was divided up into three cohorts, ages 3-5, 6-11, and 12-18, to examine any differential effects the treatment had on these age groups.

Approach: Families were randomly assigned to either the SSP treatment group or a control group. The 2,880 families in the treatment group received an offer to receive an income supplement for 3 years, if they worked at least 30 hours per week. The 2,849 families in the control group received notification that they were ineligible for SSP benefits. Families in the control group maintained eligibility for Canadian “Income Assistance,” the Canadian welfare program.

Results: Treatment group children ages 3-5 did not improve relative to control group children on tests of cognitive performance or in parental reports of health and behavior. For children ages 6-11, the treatment group scored higher on math tests and improved on parental reports of academic achievement and health compared to the control group, but not on other outcomes. Children in the middle age group were also more likely to participate in after school activities. The only impact observed in the oldest cohort was that the treatment group self-reported substance abuse and minor delinquent activities increased compared with the control group.

The authors note that all effect sizes of the treatment, while significant, were very small. Also, the 12-18 year old cohort experienced higher attrition rates compared with 3-5 and 6-11 year olds. This could have possibly masked effects of the treatment or identified false effects of the treatment.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References

Morris, P. & Kalil, A. (2006). Out-of-school time use during middle childhood in a low-income sample. In A. C. Huston & M. N. Ripke (Eds.), Developmental contexts in middle childhood (pp. 237 – 259). New York, NY, US: Cambridge University Press.

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: 3-18 years / Program age ranges in the Guide: early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, youth

Program components: community campaign; parent or family component

Measured outcomes: education and cognitive development; social and emotional health and development; health, behavior problems

Program information last updated 4/26/07