Families with low incomes often need support to attain economic security. However, ensuring economic security for families requires programs and policymakers to address both immediate challenges (e.g., food, housing) and longer-term goals (e.g., finding employment and gaining education). Comprehensive services, such as Virginia’s Comprehensive Health Investment Project (CHIP; see box below for more information), aim to both address families’ most immediate needs and support their more long-term outcomes.
Virginia’s CHIP is a comprehensive case management program designed to serve families with low incomes. CHIP addresses family economic security through tailored supports that both address immediate basic needs and promote employment and educational attainment goals. This study aims to assess whether CHIP improved employment and educational attainment outcomes for participating families.
The study had three research questions:
- Do economic self-sufficiency outcomes (i.e., education, employment) change from pre-enrollment to one year later among mothers enrolled in Virginia’s CHIP?
- How do changes in economic self-sufficiency outcomes differ between mothers who enrolled in CHIP and a comparison group of similar mothers?
- How do changes in economic self-sufficiency outcomes differ by mothers’ demographic characteristics across the CHIP and comparison groups?
Our study found that CHIP program participants were significantly more likely to gain employment after one year of enrollment in the program compared to a similar group of women not enrolled in CHIP. The study also found no impact on educational attainment after one year.
Virginia’s Comprehensive Health Investment Project (CHIP)
Virginia’s CHIP takes a two-generation and whole-family approach to promoting child and family well-being among families with incomes below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Line who have children under age 6. The program provides support to eligible families across a host of domains, including family economic security, child and adult physical and mental health, children’s healthy development, and parenting confidence and competencies.
The program pairs each family with both a registered nurse and a parent educator, who visit families in their homes to provide services. Nurses provide comprehensive adult and child health assessments, prenatal and postpartum care coordination, health and developmental education, and care coordination. Parent educators provide parenting support, developmental screenings, and connections to community resources, and help families set goals for family well-being and economic security.
Over 35 years, CHIP has partnered with urban and rural communities to serve families. CHIP has reached nearly 40,000 children and families with low incomes.
Suggested citation: Padilla, C. M., Richards, K., & Crowne, S. S. (2026). Women in Virginia’s Comprehensive Health Investment Project saw increased employment after one year. Child Trends. DOI: 10.56417/9700o8931u