Nearly half of all children who stay in emergency shelters are under age 6 — a period when experiences, good and bad, have an outsized and lasting impact on development. Yet families experiencing homelessness are among the least likely to be enrolled in early childhood programs, perhaps because shelter and early childhood systems typically operate independently, with few structured connections between them.
The CoLab team welcomed Dr. Melanie Ali as its first Research Portfolio Officer in late January. She is responsible for stewarding our post-award research-investment portfolio.
The Creating Moves to Opportunity (CMTO) demonstration in Seattle and King County, Wash., enrolled over 700 families offered housing vouchers into a research study that rigorously evaluated whether housing mobility services would support them in moving to neighborhoods with better schools, safer streets, and stronger job markets. After three years, results were promising.
After a successful planning period, CoLab at the Constellation Fund awarded its first longitudinal impact evaluation grant to MDRC to conduct a rigorous seven-year evaluation of poverty-fighting impacts of providing comprehensive support to low-income students to persist in and complete post-secondary education and start meaningful careers.