Recent Trainings
The HOPE Model from Intake to Career Advancement
Attendees:
- HOPEworks, Memphis
- Jacob’s Ladder, Charlotte
- The Doe Fund, NYC
Executive Director, Barbara Edwards Delsman, also testified at legislative hearings and shared our research with:
- US Department of Health and Human Services
- New York State’s Office of Temporary Disability Assistance
- The New York City Council
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At HOPE, we believe that the most effective way to ameliorate poverty is through the study of its root causes and by identifying interventions that lead to full and sustaining economic independence. HOPE’s research indicates there are many complex factors that push people into poverty, but when provided with services that are based on comprehensive assessments, individuals can transcend these complex issues and move on to lives of prosperity and independence.
We use the findings of our research to: reconfigure our training program; train other social services practitioners; speak at forums and conferences; brief elected officials; and educate and inform policy makers with the goal of effecting systems change.
Research Papers and Monographs
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Turning HOPE into Opportunity, Volume II, December 2009 - "An Analysis of Employment Barriers and Outcomes for Clients Enrolled in The HOPE Program in 2006 and 2007".
 Read Executive Summary
Read Full Report
 Turning HOPE into Opportunity: The Monograph highlights the findings of our research report in a reader-friendly format, with photos of HOPE students, anecdotes about their histories and career paths, and lessons for the future.
 The Diagnosis Project is a preliminary analysis of mental health barriers present in clients enrolled in HOPE between July 2006 and June 2007. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and implications for program design.
- Every two years we publish an in-depth program analysis and research
report. Turning HOPE into Opportunity: The Research Report, published in April 2007, profiles the demographic characteristics, employment barriers, and program outcomes of HOPE clients and presents a statistical analysis of the client characteristics that are predictive of individual success.
- In the Impact of Educational Achievement and Reading Levels on Employment Outcomes, a chart-driven report, we compared outcomes by educational level to clients’ reading levels, as measured by the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE). In almost all cases, educational level was a better predictor of outcomes than was reading level.
- The Positive Impact of Psychotherapy on Program Outcomes reports on the impact of psychotherapy on program completion, job placement, and job retention. In spite of high employment barriers, those who participated in psychotherapy had better outcomes in all three categories than those who did not.
- The HOPE Program: A Study of Clients With Conviction Histories 2002 – 2005 looked at the demographic characteristics of those with conviction histories, compared their program completion and job placement rates to those without criminal histories, and assessed their job retention rates and wages.
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Key Findings
- Education was found to be the single most important predictor of employment outcomes. Individuals without high school diplomas should be re-engaged in their studies, encouraged to receive their high school equivalency diplomas, and to continue their studies at the college level.
- Individuals starting out in entry-level jobs need access to transitional work supports to help them with housing, child care, food, transportation, and health care in order to support themselves and their families.
- Nonprofits working with the formerly incarcerated need comprehensive re-entry services. While society encourages ex-offenders to find jobs, the opportunities available to them often are limited by law or policy.
- Service plans for job seekers with employment barriers are most effective when based on the findings of comprehensive needs’ assessments.
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Research 
