“Elevating Families: Randomized Evidence on Goal-oriented Case Management for Low-income Parents and their Children

Children born into poverty lag behind higher-income peers in school and earn substantially less as adults. Comprehensive case management programs have emerged as a promising support for low-income parents and their children (Evans et al., 2023; Engle et al., 2022; Espinosa et al., 2024). Informed by behavioral economics research, EMPath’s Mobility Mentoring model combines coaching, goal-setting, and financial incentives to help low-income families achieve economic self-sufficiency. Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada (CCNN) has adopted this model in their Elevating Families program, where mentors work with parents to achieve goals across multiple domains that include family life and housing stability, health, education and training, financial management, and career development. In partnership with CCNN, we will evaluate the program through a randomized controlled trial. All eligible households must be low-income Washoe county residents and have at least one child at or below the age of 13. For adults, the primary outcomes are annual earnings, employment, and a labor market index gleaned from administrative UI records. For children, the primary outcomes are a standardized schooling index that combines standardized test scores, grades, attendance, disciplinary records, and a standardized index of involvement with child protective services. With 300 treatment and 300 control households, containing roughly 1,300 children collectively, we are powered to detect an 18% change in employment, a 22% effect on parental earnings, a 0.15 SD effect on a child academic index, and 6.8 percentage point effect on child involvement in child protective services.