Formative Evaluation of Job Clubs Operated by Faith and Community-Based Organizations...

“Over the past several decades, job search support groups, commonly referred to as ‘job clubs,’ have evolved into one of several important activities used by the public workforce system and faith- and community-based organizations to enhance worker readiness and employability, as well as to provide ongoing support to unemployed and underemployed individuals as they search for jobs…The overall purpose of this evaluation effort was to systematically describe the key characteristics of job clubs being offered by a range of faith- and community-based organizations, document how they differ from and are similar to the job clubs operated by publicly-funded workforce agencies (such as at American Job Centers [AJCs]), and identify potential approaches that might be used for more rigorous formal evaluation of impacts and effectiveness” (p.iii). (Abstractor: Author)

Full publication title:  Formative Evaluation of Job Clubs Operated by Faith and Community-Based Organizations: Findings from Site Visits and Options for Future Evaluation

“Findings from the stakeholder interviews” include (p.vi): • “According to several stakeholders, the steep downturn of the U.S. economy in 2007-08 and surging numbers of unemployed and underemployed workers created a strong demand for job search assistance, providing an impetus for FBOs/CBOs to form job clubs to meet urgent needs within their communities” (p.vi). • “Stakeholders maintained that there is substantial diversity across FBOs and CBOs in the format, content, and operation of job clubs” (p.vi). • “None of the stakeholders interviewed were able to identify past or ongoing evaluations of FBO/CBO job clubs” (p.vii). Some of the major findings from the site visits include: • “Most of the 16 organizations visited as part of this study had no eligibility criteria for attendance at their job club sessions, with an overall aim of serving any and all unemployed job seekers within their service area or community” (p.vii). • “The job clubs operated by FBOs and CBOs were held at community locations made available free-of-charge by either the sponsoring organization or other neighborhood institutions, thereby eliminating any operating costs for meeting rooms but also making the sessions convenient for participants to attend” (p.vii). • “Most typically, FBOs/CBOs visited as part of this study had between 10 and 30 attendees at job club sessions, though all the job clubs visited indicated that there was variability in the numbers of attendees from session to session” (p.viii). (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2014
• Author(s): Trutko, John; O’Brien, Carolyn; Wandner, Stephen; Barnow, Burt
• Organizational Author(s): Capital Research Corporation; George Washington University
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies