Innovative Programs

Connections to Success

Mission/Goal of Program

Originally founded in 1998 as Dress for Success Midwest, Connections to Success is a nonprofit organization serving Kansas, Missouri and Illinois that empowers individuals in their transformation to economic stability. As an OFA Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education grantee, CTS provides workforce training, life coaching, relationship education, and intergenerational support to low-resourced individuals and families.

Their mission is to break the cycle of generational poverty by helping people living in challenging situations re-establish hope, get connected with needed resources and implement a plan to reach economic independence.

Programs/Services Offered

Connections to Success (CTS) uses a holistic, evidence-based model to help individuals and families gain social capital and achieve economic independence. The organization’s approach is intergenerational, focused on improving outcomes for both parents and their children through programming and collaborations with other service providers. CTS’s model integrates training opportunities, life transformation coaching, support services and job development to equip participants for long-term success. CTS offers ongoing support to foster continued growth and career advancement. Through its holistic Pathways to Success model, CTS targets families impacted by generational poverty, incarceration, and unemployment. The model includes a Personal and Professional Development workforce training and focuses on healthy relationships, parenting, employment services, life coaching, education and skills training, volunteer engagement, and mentoring.

Interagency collaboration has been key to the program’s success. By having multiple partners involved, the team has been able to help remove barriers many individuals coming out of prison face. For example, the team helped enroll the men in SNAP, secure housing, and meet with Child Support and Probation and Parole. Additionally, employers participated in mock interviews and representatives from an apprenticeship program shared opportunities. CTS also provided new suits to each of the men, and many received job offers.

CTS focuses on intergenerational impact to ensure outcomes extend beyond the immediate future and empower the next generation. Of CTS program graduates, 74% become employed and 70% retain employment at nine months following initial employment. Additionally, 82% of those employed received earnings increase within six months of employment. CTS participants involved in the organization’s reentry programs have experienced a 14% recidivism in 12 months after release from incarceration, and for those who also participated in their mentoring program, the recidivism rate is only 8% (compared to the national average of 44%). 

Start Date
Thursday, January 1, 1998
Type of Agency/Organization
Community-Based Organization
City
St. Charles
State
Illinois
Kansas
Missouri
Geographic Reach
Multistate
Clientele/Population Served
Low-income individuals and families transitioning from generational poverty, incarceration, domestic violence and other challenging and disadvantaged situations
Topics/Subtopics
Employment
Assessment
Job Readiness
Mentoring
Supportive Services
Post-employment Supports
Special Populations
Homeless Families
Incarcerated and Individuals with a Criminal Record
URL
https://connectionstosuccess.org/

HHS Blog: Strong Social Networks Help to Eliminate Barriers to Economic Opportunity

Record Description
This blog from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, authored by OFA Director Clarence H. Carter, is part of the Self-Sufficiency Series: Solutions from the Field, which profiles local programs from across the country finding solutions to accomplish the goals of encouraging self-sufficiency and personal responsibility, eliminating barriers to economic opportunity, and supporting strong families and healthy marriage. In particular, Circles USA and Open Table are highlighted for their efforts to boost the social capital individuals need to help them work towards self-sufficiency.
Record Type
Posting Date
Combined Date
2018-09-12T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.hhs.gov/blog/2018/09/13/strong-social-networks-eliminate-barriers-t…
Publication Date
2018-09-13
Section/Feed Type
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State and Local Policy Levers for Increasing Treatment and Recovery Capacity to Address the Opioid Epidemic: Final Report

Record Description
The continuing opioid crisis is a major public health issue, and it extends across the domains of public assistance programs and workforce development as well. This report by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reviews the medication-assisted treatment initiatives that five case study states have undertaken to identify effective practices in offering and expanding treatment. In addition, the authors discuss financing and workforce policies from which policymakers can draw. Potentially effective “policy levers” across states include expanding Medicaid services for medical treatment, using targeted grant funds, creating hubs of care, and instituting stigma-reducing programs.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-08-06T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://aspe.hhs.gov/basic-report/state-and-local-policy-levers-increasing-trea…
Publication Date
2018-08-07
Section/Feed Type
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Saving Penalties Push Families Deeper Into Poverty

Record Description
This report from Prosperity Now provides information about why creating savings penalties towards welfare programs such as SNAP and SSI actually harm families instead of aiding them. Studies have shown that low-income families with savings are able to more easily handle financial shocks. Most states are in the process of eliminating savings penalties due to the fact that eliminating them reduces administrative costs and caseloads.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-05-31T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://prosperitynow.org/files/PDFs/Savings-Penalties-Push-Families-Deeper-int…
Publication Date
2018-06-01
Section/Feed Type
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The Drive to Work: The Relationship Between Transportation Access, Housing Assistance, and Employment Among Participants in the Welfare to Work Voucher Program

Record Description
This article analyzes whether access to automobiles and public transport affect employment outcomes for low-income individuals. The authors use longitudinal survey data from participants in the Welfare to Work Voucher Program, which was conducted in five metropolitan areas between 1999 and 2005. Multiple logistic regression shows that access to automobiles has a strong positive correlation to employment. However, neither access to public transport nor registered housing assistance has an impact on job attainment. Research finds that enhancing automobile access for low-income populations could significantly improve employment outcomes among very low-income adults, but that other forms of assistance – including for housing – may not be as effective.
Record Type
Combined Date
2016-03-15T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0739456X16633501
Publication Date
2016-03-16
Section/Feed Type
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Economic Opportunity and the Opioid Crisis: Geographic and Economic Trends

Record Description
The HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) has recently released a report which examines relationships between indicators of economic opportunity and the prevalence of prescription opioids and substance use in the United States. Some of the primary findings reflect that the prevalence of drug overdose deaths and opioid prescriptions has risen unevenly across the county, with rural areas more heavily impacted, and that poverty, unemployment rates and the employment-population ratio are highly correlated with the prevalence of prescription opioids and substance use measures.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-06-28T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://aspe.hhs.gov/pdf-report/economic-opportunity-and-opioid-crisis-geograph…
Publication Date
2018-06-29
Section/Feed Type
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An Evaluation of the Kansas Child Support Savings Initiative

Record Description
This report from MDRC provides an evaluation of the state of Kansas' Child Support Savings Initiative (CSSI) which was created to help parents pay off child support debt while contributing to their children's future higher education costs. It encourages parents to make direct deposits into 529 accounts, and in return, they receive matching reductions in their child support debt from the state. The search showed a common finding: that it is difficult to engage low- and middle-income families in saving money, as they already face other financial burdens. This is explored in depth in the report.
Record Type
Combined Date
2017-11-30T19:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/KansasCityCSI_2017_Report_REVISED.pdf
Publication Date
2017-12-01
Section/Feed Type
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Executive Function Mapping Project Measures Compendium: A Resource for Selecting Measures Related to Executive Function and Other Regulation-related Skills in Early Childhood

Record Description
This compendium from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation was put together to provide information about available measures to assess executive functioning to be used by researchers, child development specialists, field staff, and other relevant professionals. A total of 44 commonly used measures are assessed and categorized to enhance the field's knowledge.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-04-30T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/resource/executive-function-mapping-measures-compe…
Publication Date
2018-05-01
Section/Feed Type
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Using Psychology-Informed Strategies to Promote Self-Sufficiency: A Review of Innovative Programs

Record Description
This Mathematica research brief examines several interventions utilizing self-regulation for workforce assistance. Traditional workforce programs focus on helping low-income individuals build skills, reduce employment barriers, and develop work experience. Recently, a new approach centers around building participants’ self-regulation. Self-regulation helps individuals to better manage their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions both in and outside of work. Implemented strategies include providing behavioral therapy, mindfulness techniques, and motivational interviewing. Poverty forces people to juggle multiple demanding factors and stressors on a limited budget, while often adhering to assistance program requirements. Self-regulation techniques aim to strengthen an individual’s emotional well-being, motivation, and self-confidence to increase resiliency.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-04-01T20:00:00
Source
OFA Initiatives
SFS Category
Region
City/County
URL
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/resource/using-psychology-informed-strategies-to-p…
Publication Date
2018-04-02
Section/Feed Type
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Substance Use, the Opioid Epidemic, and Child Welfare Caseloads: Methodological Details from a Mixed Methods Study

Record Description
This brief, circulated by ASPE, details the methodology used in the report Substance Use, the Opioid Epidemic, and Child Welfare Caseloads: A Mixed Methods Study. Methods utilized included statistical modeling, geospatial analysis, and qualitative interviewing and analysis. Research centered on six questions, including exploring the relationship between substance use prevalence and child welfare caseloads, how parental substance misuse affects caseloads and outcomes, and whether opioid misuse impacts welfare differently than other types of substance use.
Record Type
Combined Date
2018-06-07T20:00:00
Source
Region
City/County
URL
https://aspe.hhs.gov/pdf-report/substance-use-opioid-epidemic-and-child-welfare…
Publication Date
2018-06-08
Section/Feed Type
Latest Information from Network (Home)