Chapin Hall

Chapin Hall researchers will conduct a local evaluation of Foundations for Future, the San Francisco Human Services Agency’s guaranteed income pilot program for young people who aged out of foster care. Foundations for  Future, which launched in November, is providing up to 150 youth adults who recently aged out of foster care with monthly cash payments of $1,200 plus optional supportive services, including benefits counseling, case management, and financial literacy coaching, for 18 months. The unconditional financial support is intended to help young people successfully transition out of foster care and prevent some of the adverse outcomes, such as homelessness, commonly experienced by this population.

The Chapin Hall-led local evaluation includes an implementation, outcome and impact study. The implementation study will explore the experiences of both the young adult participants and the optional supportive services providers. It will also examine the characteristics of the young people who receive optional supportive services and the services they receive. The outcome study will measure changes in participants’ social, emotional, and financial wellbeing over time and assess whether any improvements wellbeing are sustained after the program ends. The impact study will use state administrative data and a quasi-experimental design with a matched comparison group of young people from other California counties who are not participating in a guaranteed income program to estimate the effects of Foundations for Future on a range of young adult outcomes.

Chapin Hall is a leader in evaluating programs meant to assist youth who are in or have aged out of foster care. Programs Chapin Hall experts have assessed range from extended foster care initiatives to projects meant to support those who have aged out of foster care in their pursuit of higher education.

For more information on the Chapin Hall evaluation of Foundations for Future, contact Amy Dworsky.