This report presents the final results for the evaluation of the New Americans Centers (NACs) demonstration project in Arkansas and Iowa. It focuses on program operations and plans for program sustainability, while highlighting services provided through the demonstration projects in Arkansas and Iowa. It also documents outcomes for New Iowan…

To address the issue of student learning at the state level, an invitational forum of public policy, business, and education leaders was convened by James B. Hunt Jr., governor of North Carolina. The forum recommended that the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education initiate a "demonstration project" to determine whether or not it…

The Self-Employment Investment Demonstration (SEID) is a test, designed to run from 1988 to 1992, of the feasibility of operating a program to encourage self-employment among welfare recipients. Challenges facing SEID included selecting sites, developing curricula, recruiting clients, getting clients through business training, completing business…

The question of whether economic development programs can be evaluated seems simple, but the answer is not simple because of the nature of evaluation. Determining a program's effectiveness requires the evaluator to distinguish changes due to the program from changes due to nonprogram factors. The evaluator must focus on outcomes caused by the…

The Targeted Jobs Demonstration Program (TJDP) was a two-year, six-agency demonstration project under which 14 communities received federal funds to encourage local coordination of federal programs to link federally assisted economic development programs with employment and training programs for individuals from minority groups and for…

Of the 19 projects conducted as part of the Defense Conversion Adjustment (DCA) Demonstration administered by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Work-Based Learning, 8 tested the worker mobility approach. The projects, which shared the common goal of helping dislocated defense workers find high-quality jobs, tested one or more of the…

Of the 19 projects conducted as part of the Defense Conversion Adjustment (DCA) Demonstration administered by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Work-Based Learning, 5 tested the community planning approach. The projects attempted to alleviate the negative impacts of defense cutbacks on communities, firms, and workers. The project sites…

In their 2004 State of the State speeches, the nation's governors cited many issues competing for their attention and their states' resources, including health care, education, crime, and security (Nodine 2004). Among the most compelling challenges were those related to economic development and the ability of a state's workforce to meet the needs…

Of the 19 projects conducted as part of the Defense Conversion Adjustment (DCA) Demonstration administered by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Work-Based Learning, 9 tested the dislocation aversion approach. The projects attempted to alleviate the negative impacts of defense cutbacks on communities, firms, and workers. Six projects…

The Defense Conversion Adjustment (DCA) Demonstration, administered by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Work-Based Learning, consisted of 19 demonstration projects that used three approaches to alleviate the negative impacts of defense cutbacks on communities, firms, and workers: community planning, dislocation aversion, and worker…

A pilot project was conducted in Bangor, Maine, to develop an entrepreneurship course and test it with secondary and postsecondary students. Following development of a plan and formation of an advisory committee composed of local entrepreneurs, bankers, representatives of economic development agencies, and legislators, a director was hired to…