Financial Opportunity Centers Program Pathways

Abstract

Financial Opportunity Centers (FOC) offer integrated employment, financial, and income support services to low-income individuals. Multiple studies have documented the effectiveness of this program approach in terms of ultimate outcomes for participants, but less attention has been paid to patterns of service delivery and outcome attainment over the course of program participation. This report walks through the elements of an FOC participant's program pathway, considering pathways in terms of four program elements: timing, composition, intensity, and sequence of services received. The elements of the pathway are defined, and individual examples as well as aggregate summaries of program pathways and outcome timing & sequence are presented. Finally, the report presents a cluster analysis which incorporates all four pathway elements, groups participants into types, and examines outcome attainment based on type membership. The cluster analysis finds that individuals with ongoing longer term service receipt concentrated in employment counseling had higher placement rates, but those with ongoing longer term attachment concentrated in financial counseling had higher retention and larger FICO increases.

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Thank you to the JPMorgan Chase Foundation for supporting the preparation of this report.