Building Better Programs

MDRC: Becoming Adults

This study evaluated a program that offers individualized services to young people who are making the transition from foster care or juvenile justice custody to independent adulthood. The program provides intensive, individualized, and clinically focused case management, support, and counseling. After one year, the Transitional Living program improved outcomes in three of the six domains that it was designed to affect. The program boosted earnings, increased housing stability and economic well-being, and improved some outcomes related to health and safety. However, it did not improve outcomes in the areas of education, social support, or criminal involvement.

Becoming Adults: One-Year Impact Findings from the Youth Villages Transitional Living Evaluation