Impacts of the Project NetWork Demonstration: Final Report
Robert J. Kornfeld
1999
The Social Security Administration (SSA) initiated Project NetWork in 1991 to test case management and referral approaches to providing rehabilitation and employment services to promote employment among beneficiaries of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and applicants for and recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for blind and disabled individuals. To allow rigorous evaluation, eligible persons who volunteered for the demonstration were randomly assigned to either a treatment group eligible to receive the case/referral management services provided by the demonstration, or a control group who did not receive these services. To increase the incentive to work, volunteers in both the treatment and control groups were also offered waivers of specific SSDI and SSI program rules considered to act as work disincentives. This report presents the results of the impact and benefit-cost analyses of the demonstration. The impact study analyzes the effect of Project NetWork services on earnings, receipt of SSI and SSDI benefits, and measures of health- and well-being. The benefit-cost study compares benefits and costs of these services from the standpoint of volunteers, federal and state governments, and society as a whole. This report is one of four reports on Project NetWork produced by Abt Associates.
