Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This presentation reports on findings from the randomized control trial of the Los Angeles Reconnections Career Academy (LARCA) program. This program was started by the Los Angeles Economic and Workforce Development Department (EWDD) in response the extensive education and employment needs of the sizable dropout population in the greater Los Angeles area. Funded through a Workforce Innovation Fund grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, the LARCA program provided out-of-school youth, ages 16 to 24, with education, training and employment services, alongside case management and other supportive services, using a career pathways model. The program was intended to provide a more intensive, lengthier and career-focused version of EWDD’s out-of-school youth workforce system services (as funded under the Workforce Investment Act), at the time of the program. The goal of the program was to re-engage disconnected youth, helping them: complete their secondary education, obtain training or enroll in higher education, and find employment and increase their earnings.

The LARCA program operated from 2012 to 2015, serving over 1,000 youth. During the intake period, which ran approximately 22 months, the six agencies that coordinated and delivered key program services randomly assigned eligible and interested individuals such that 50 percent of applicants were assigned to the program group and enrolled in LARCA program services and 50 percent were assigned to a control group and allowed to seek out other services in the community. The study presents findings from the impact study which followed youth for up to two years past the point of random assignment and which relied on administrative data from numerous public agencies at the state and local levels.

The presentation will review the key findings from the impact study, including several positive impacts on youth educational outcomes. Program participants in LARCA experienced increased enrollment in secondary and postsecondary education and earned diplomas and college credit at a higher rate than did control group members. The presentation will also detail the areas in which the program did not show impacts, such as employment and criminal justice system involvement, and discuss the reasons why the evaluation may have seen such findings. These findings are of particular interest and have increased relevancy since the start of the evaluation given the enactment of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act (WIOA) part way through the program, which placed new emphasis on serving out-of-school youth. Throughout, the presentation will also discuss the numerous administrative data sources that researchers utilized in the analysis.