YouthNPower Direct Cash Transfer is an innovative program to assist youth transitioning out of foster care. The Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) pilot was designed and implemented by YouthNPower: Transforming Care, a collective that includes young people with lived expertise in the child welfare system, researchers, policy advocates, and organizers from the Children’s Defense Fund-New York, the CUNY Graduate Center’s Public Science Project, the Center for the Study of Social Policy, and New Yorkers For Children. The DCT pilot provided 100 youth transitioning out of foster care in New York City with $1,000 per month for 12 months beginning in June 2023. This report presents the findings of CIDI’s study of the DCT pilot. It uses administrative data during the DCT year to compare the experiences of the treatment group youth who received the unconditional cash payments with the experiences of youth in a comparison group who received no such payments.

CIDI’s study evaluating the YouthNPower pilot found that during the 12 months of cash support, a greater proportion of those in the treatment group were engaged in the formal labor market by earning taxable income compared to those in the comparison group. There were no other significant differences between the two groups. This suggests that unconditional cash support may be a valuable intervention for these youth at this critical point in their lives, easing their transition to independence but not serving as a disincentive to employment.

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