CPN - About CPN

This report is about Project QUEST, an innovative jobs program in San Antonio, Texas. There are many employment and training programs in the United States but Project QUEST stands out as a potentially important model for several reasons:

Project QUEST makes a long term and substantial investment in its clients. The average adult JTPA program in the United States enrolls a client for four months and provides little in the way of support services and resources. By contrast, Project QUEST enrolls trainees for nearly two years and provides substantial support. Project QUEST therefore is a test of the idea that real investments in people will pay off.
Project QUEST is deeply integrated in the San Antonio community in two important ways. It was founded by two community organizations and retains close ties with these. In an important sense Project QUEST is about community building, not just job training. At the same time Project QUEST has worked closely with the business community to identify job openings and design training to meet employer needs. In contrast to much job training, therefore, Project QUEST is driven by the demand side of the market.
Project QUEST has aimed to achieve institutional change in San Antonio, not simply to place people in jobs. These changes are expected to occur in the employer community and in the community college system (which provides much of the training for Project QUEST students). Hence the impact of Project QUEST is intended to be broader than its size alone would suggest.

In this report we provide an independent assessment of Project QUEST. We present substantial descriptive information about the Project and also analyze its accomplishments and remaining challenges along several dimensions. We began our work in January, 1995 and concluded in December, 1995. In the course of our investigations:

We interviewed more than 60 people, including employers, Project QUEST staff, Project QUEST clients, faculty and staff in community colleges, members of COPS and Metro Alliance (the two community groups which started Project QUEST), and other knowledgeable individuals. A complete list of the people we interviewed is provided in Appendix 1 at the conclusion of this report.
We conducted three focus groups of Project QUEST clients: one of current enrollees, one of graduates, and one of dropouts
We selected 35 participants at random and carefully studied their casefiles and counseling notes in order to understand the barriers participants face.
We executed a telephone survey of approximately 30 minutes duration which aimed to contact all clients who had ever been in the program from its inception through December, 1995. Of the 825 such clients, we interviewed 541.
We supplemented our survey with analysis of data from the Project QUEST management information system.

The research outlined above enables us to provide a rich analysis of Project QUEST. The analysis is not purely descriptive; we have made a strenuous effort to assess the impact of the program. At the same time, the reader should be aware of two limitations of our impact analysis.

We studied Project QUEST over the period which can be fairly described as its start up. The program's first large group of graduates emerged in the Spring and Summer of 1995. Start up programs of any kind often have kinks which need to be worked out and it is reasonable to expect that in subsequent years performance will improve.
We have not undertaken a formal evaluation in the classical sense. There is no control group and hence we cannot know how Project QUEST enrollees would have performed if they were not in the program. In a classic evaluation this question can be answered because the control group is statistically identical to the people in the program. This point is not relevant for some of the potentially important impacts of the program (such as institution building) because a control group methodology is not appropriate in any case. For other impacts, e.g. wage growth, the limitation is important although we have tried to provide a variety of convincing evidence to strengthen confidence in our results.

In undertaking this research we sought to answer the following questions about Project QUEST.

Did Project QUEST lead to important institutional changes? There are several possible such institutional changes which are important: the relationship of employers to each other and to the communities served by Project QUEST; the nature of the educational system in San Antonio; and changes within the communities serviced by COPS and Metro Alliance.
What was the impact of Project QUEST upon the earnings and other employment outcomes of participants and how do these impacts relate to the costs of the program?
What are some of the future issues which should be addressed by Project QUEST in the light of its experience to date and in light of changing conditions in the San Antonio labor market?

In addressing these questions we also have considered some related issues. These include an assessment of the characteristics of the persons who are in Project QUEST and the barriers which confronted them, an assessment of the quality of the training in Project QUEST, and an analysis of retention rates and dropouts.

Our findings can be summarized as follows:

Between 1993 and the end of 1995 Project QUEST enrolled 825 participants. Of these, 196 are current participants, 447 were positive terminations, and 182 were negative terminations. [1]
For the people who have left Project QUEST (the positive and the negative terminations) participation has led to considerable economic gains. We present estimates of these gains making a number of different assumptions and using alternative sources of data. The range of estimates is that at the conclusion of the Project QUEST the average participant's hourly earnings rose by between $1.36 and $2.42 an hour. Average hours worked per week increased by between 3.2 and 6.9 hours. The probability of holding a job increased from .49 to .74. Annual earnings increased by between $4,923 and $7,457 per year. To put these gains in perspective, the wages for all employees in Bexar County rose 8 percent over the time during which Project QUEST has been operating. This is clearly well below the increase experienced by QUEST participants.
There is considerable variation of economic gains depending on the occupational field for which the person is trained. Gains are highest for health related occupations and the program is less successful (though still has a positive impact) outside of this area.
The program does well regardless of the characteristics of the participants when they enroll. Gains are slightly lower for welfare recipients and for people with an arrest record and slightly higher for people with some college education but these differences are not great and even people with no prior work history achieve sign)significant economic gains.
The average cost per participant in Project QUEST was $10,077. Again, we present various alternative ways of relating costs to benefits but under all of these the rate of return to Project QUEST is far above any threshold required to justify the program as a social investment and is much more favorable than that of the typical employment and training program.
Participation in Project QUEST is associated with additional favorable outcomes. These include reduced rate of welfare receipiency and a higher probability that children of participants will pursue additional education. In addition, program leavers express satisfaction with the jobs they obtained as a result of the program
Our review of case histories as well as the results of our survey demonstrate that Project QUEST participants faced very substantial barriers to labor market success. While it is impossible, in the absence of a control group, to know how they would have fared without Project QUEST our research nonetheless suggests that "creaming" was not a problem and that the program provided considerable value added.
We studied institutional change from three perspectives: the impact on employers, on community colleges, and on the community. Project QUEST has had the greatest success in terms of community colleges and we document a variety of ways in which these educational institutions have changed as a result of QUEST. For example, QUEST led to the development of new training programs, and to improvements in training curriculum and equipment. Some employers have also altered their practices but in other cases the impact is hard to observe. While employers have supported QUEST by providing input on training program development and forecasts of their future staffing needs, few employers have made dramatic changes in their hiring practices in response to Project QUEST. Finally, COPS and Metro Alliance are clearly stronger institutions as a result of Project QUEST but the program has had only a modest impact upon participants' involvement in community affairs.
The participants who dropped out did so after having spent an average of 14.6 months in the program (compared to 17.7 months for positive terminators). This is unfortunate since it implies a loss of resources and opportunity. The strongest correlates of negative terminations are personal and financial problems, with dissatisfaction with occupational field assigned as another factor. Our analysis of survey responses suggests that the role of counselors is crucial in reducing the dropout rate and that program length may also be a consideration.
Project QUEST faces difficult challenges for the future. Chief among these are unstable funding, restructuring in health care combined with the lesser results for the program outside of the health field, and the changing employment and training system. We raise several alternative responses to these challenges.

Chapter 2: History & Structure of Project QUEST

"They were going to help me follow my dream."
(Focus Group Participant)

The Origins of QUEST

Project QUEST grew out of the economic dislocation of a community and its subsequent activism. For years the San Antonio economy had experienced growth of both high-paid, high-skill work and of low-skill jobs that were compensated at decent wages in various public and private operations: at Kelly Air Force Base, the Roeglein meat packing plant, Miller Curtain, San Antonio Shoe, construction companies and a Levi's plant (Campbell 1994). Options existed for the less educated and skilled of San Antonio's South, East and West sides to attain a living wage and security for their families. This started to change in the 1980s:

San Antonio lost more than 14,000 jobs in manufacturing, textiles, transportation, construction, and other industrial occupations during the 1980s. At the same time the city gained almost 19,000 relatively well paying jobs in fields that demanded relatively high skills: from health care and education to auto repair and legal research. Other gains occurred in low wage, low skill jobs, such as those in the tourist industry. Those jobs, however, didn't pay enough to support a family (Campbell 1994, p.3).

Of particular significance in this transition was the closing of a number of manufacturing plants that had traditionally offered low skill work at moderate wages. Most accounts date the momentum for the development of Project QUEST from the January 1990 announcement of the closing of a Levi's plant that had employed more than 1000 people.

Father Al Jost, a Roman Catholic priest, and Father Will Wauters, an Episcopal priest, started to notice the impacts this plant closing had on the community. They noted an increase in family disruption as a result of the economic pressures, including drug use, divorce, and domestic violence. Also evident was a decline in the expectations and aspirations that the children of poorer San Antonio communities expressed.

"They felt there wasn't any tomorrow, nothing to work towards," said Father Wauters. "The manufacturing jobs where their parents worked Levi's, Roeglein, Kelly Field were being taken away from them. They saw their future flipping hamburgers at McDonalds (Quoted in Campbell 1994, p. 4)."

In response to this distress, Father Jost contacted a local community based organization to search for possible solutions. He called "Communities Organized for Public Service", or COPS, which is one of two San Antonio groups that are part of the Texas Industrial Area Foundation (IAF) network.

IAF groups are community activist organizations, with members that are themselves organizations, typically religious groups. As of 1996, the IAF had approximately 40 organizing projects in the United States. Their activities reflect a history of community action dating back to Saul Minsky's mobilization of "people's organizations" in poor neighborhoods of Chicago in 1940.

COPS was founded in San Antonio as part of the Industrial Area Foundation in 1974 and won its first victories in gaining public funds for a walkway over a busy road to a daycare, for crossing guards, and for a footbridge to an elementary school over a dangerous canal (Ceasar 1990). It has since been active in housing, education, and infrastructure issues.

Another IAF group called Metro Alliance worked with COPS in responding to the economic crisis precipitated by the Levi's plant closing. Metro Alliance was formed in the 1989 merger of two older IAF member organizations: the East Side Alliance, which had a traditional constituency of African American and Hispanic low income families; and the Metropolitan Congregational Alliance, which drew its leadership primarily from Anglo and Hispanic Protestants of middle income families (Ceasar 1990). Metro Alliance continues to represent a "broad based, multi ethnic and mixed income community...composed of Protestant and Catholic churches throughout the San Antonio area (Ceasar 1990, p. 28)," attacking many of the same issues that COPS targets. Metro Alliance, for example, initiated the San Antonio Education Partnership, has fought to direct federal Community Development Block Grants to their neighborhoods, mobilized against local crime, and has worked with COPS on housing and other issues.

COPS and Metro Alliance started to investigate the economic situation of members of their orginizations. The IAF organizations initially sought to develop a grassroots understanding of the on going economic dislocation. They started with house meetings in which one or more IAF leaders would visit the members of affiliated organizations in their homes. Other community members were typically also invited, with between four and fifteen people attending each house meeting.

In the meetings people told stories of past unsatisfactory experiences with training programs, particularly those in which no recognized certificate or diploma resulted, or in which there were no available jobs after the training period. Through discussion of such stories, three principles were developed that would guide the eventual training program, Project QUEST, that was developed: first, training must be long term because this matches the nature of available jobs; second, training must be job driven because, as one IAF leader stated, "our people had enough disappointments in their lives"; and third, there must be financial support through the training that is tied to the individual.

Throughout the time of the house meetings and afterwards, IAF leaders also engaged in intensive investigation of existing training institutions and of the local economy. In the spring of 1991 a job training core committee was formed of 40 COPS and Metro Alliance leaders. This committee met bimonthly for almost two years. They also consulted with state and city officials, economists and job training experts.

An important part of the efforts of IAF leaders involved generating support for their emergent job training initiative from the San Antonio business community. They started by gaining the involvement of a few influential employers and then leveraged their commitment in larger meetings of business leaders. Ultimately a large number of employers expressed commitment to the training initiative that would eventually be Project QUEST, promising to provide information on their evolving staffing requirements, to cooperate in curriculum development and to offer financial or other support. (In later chapters we will discuss the nature of these commitments in greater detail.)

With this background COPS and Metro Alliance established a committee to oversee program design and commissioned Bob McPherson, an employment and training expert at the University of Texas, to design Project QUEST. McPherson worked with Brian Deaton, now an employee of the Department of Labor in Washington, in designing a training project that would aim to achieve several goals: to provide access to high quality and better paying jobs; to enhance the economic vitality and growth of San Antonio; to foster self sufficiency and social stability for participants; and to match employers' and program participants' needs (McPherson and Deaton, 1992). To support this program and achieve these goals, the IAF organizers gained funding support from then Texas Governor Ann Richards, as well as from the city of San Antonio and the local Private Industry Council.

The QUEST Model

The first group of 126 participants enrolled in Project QUEST in January, 1993. In March and April a total of 97 students were enrolled and in May, 1993 the program enrolled an additional 110 participants. Over the remainder of 1993 the total first year enrollment grew to 523 participants. In 1994 and 1995 additional enrollment brought the total number of people who have (as of December of 1995) participated in QUEST to 825.

In this section we will describe the central features of the Project QUEST model. In the next section we will highlight some events and challenges which have emerged over the program's history and which have altered the "core model".

Recruitment and Intake

Those eligible for training through QUEST are chosen through a two stage procedure. In the first stage, called "community outreach", applicants are interviewed by IAF leaders in a local church or other community center. Though McPherson and Deaton had originally designed this step to be one in which the local leaders would reject unsuitable applicants and guide those not interested in long term training into other training programs, in practice the outreach centers have served mainly as a source of information exchange. The outreach workers collect preliminary information about applicants, and fill out intake forms; they also provide information about the occupations that are available for training in and about the degree of commitment required from QUEST students. Because of the latter, a significant proportion of those expressing initial interest in the program decline to advance to the next stage of the entrance procedure. One estimate from QUEST staff places the self elimination at this stage at 40 percent of initial applicants.

Following the community outreach is an intake procedure at the QUEST of office. Staff members at this point exclude from participation in QUEST any applicants who have not attained a high school diploma or GED equivalent. Those denied participation in QUEST are typically referred to other basic education programs in San Antonio. Applicants must also be economically disadvantaged and have at least one additional barriers to employment (for example, be a single parent or have an arrest record). The exact income cutoff depends on the funding source supporting the specific student.

QUEST staff also collect further information and test applicants for having the minimum required math and reading competence. There is no single threshold, however, for these skill levels; the required math and reading ability vary by which occupation the applicant is matched with for training. For example, an applicant would not be accepted for training as an RN without at least 10th or 11th grade scores in both reading and math. With lower scores, a person could be put in training for another occupation. Typically, if applicants test at 9th grade level in both competence areas, they can take remediation and they will be accepted to the program.

In addition to being tested for necessary remediation in reading and math skills, the intake procedure includes testing for occupational aptitudes. Following the results of testing, QUEST students discuss with their counselors their test scores, training preferences and available training slots. The process by which QUEST staff select trainees and place them in occupational areas is organized around an employability development plan (EDP) team composed of the director of client services, the educational director, a counselor and the director of occupational analysis. This team discusses the counselor's recommendations and the applicant's test scores to place people in occupations. The counselor's recommendation is particularly influential.

In the end, about 20 percent of the people who initially showed up at an outreach center were admitted into Project QUEST. This, in turn, implies that, with about 40 percent of initial applicants eliminating themselves, Project QUEST selected about one out of three of the remaining applicants.

Training and Job Linkages

There are several distinctive aspects of the Project QUEST approach to training and placement.

The program began with commitments from employers to provide jobs to 650 participants. This up front commitment was intended to distinguish Project QUEST from programs which trained without knowing where the placements would come from. An additional element of the program model was working with employers to design training curriculum and to forecast future needs. Hence in an important sense Project QUEST saw itself as helping to provide structure to the labor market. Over time the program has moved somewhat away from the large scale job commitment approach and the burden of finding new placements has fallen on the occupational analysis staff. The implications of this will be discussed in the conclusion.
Training takes place almost exclusively in community colleges and Project QUEST works closely with the community colleges in designing appropriate training curriculum. This is an important area of institutional change by QUEST and the role of the occupational staff in this regard is described in detail in Chapter 6.
Project QUEST set as a goal that it would not place people in jobs which paid below $7.50 an hour.

The occupations QUEST has trained in, and the distribution of students within, is included in Table 2-1 below. It is notable that there is a focus on medical occupations in QUEST training.

Table 2-1 QUEST Occupations

Training Field QUEST Students Enrolled Percent of QUEST Students Enrolled
Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) 165 20
Registered Nurse (RN) 57 6.9
Medical Technician of Varied Specialties 233 28.2
Health Unit Coordinator 29 3.5
Medical Assistant 13 1.6
Social Services Technician 8 1.0
Child Care Technician 5 0.6
Customer Service Representative 18 2.2
Office Systems Technician 57 6.9
Financial Services 53 6.4
Accounting Technician 14 1.7
Legal Assistant 5 0.6
Network Administrator 16 1.9
Computer Programmer 7 0.9
Facilities Technician 10 1.2
Aircraft Maintenance 15 1.8
Plumber 10 1.2
Electrical Technician 36 4.4
Diesel Mechanic 37 4.5
Miscellaneous 37 4.5

(Source: AIM Database)

Participant Support

The high level of support provided to participants is one of the distinguishing characteristics of Project QUEST. This help is financial but also includes assistance in navigating the community college system and a wide range of emotional and personal and family support.

It is the counselors in particular who diagnose and attempt to remedy the problems their students arrive with, and those which emerge over the course of the program. Approximately 90 percent of counselor time is allocated to client related activities, with the remainder required for program administration. Of this ninety percent, about half is academic. This involves speaking to instructors, tutoring, and keeping in touch with what's happening in school; it also includes motivational group sessions called VIP meetings (for Vision, Initiative and Persistence). These meetings are held once per week and attendance is mandatory for QUEST participants. In these sessions, counselors keep students updated on program information, such as when new ID cards must be made and when forms must be completed. The VIP meetings also provide a forum for students to air their concerns and for counselors to track student progress in class.

The remainder of counselor time is split between emotional support and financial support services. Emotional support involves talking things out with students and providing referrals to other public or community resources. Counselors are not qualified to do full psychiatric intervention, so this is limited. Examples of issues counselors deal with include spousal abuse, low self esteem and parenting challenges. A final critical part of the counselors' role is to assist the economically disadvantaged participants in QUEST in accessing available financial support. Counselors provide advice to participants on how to budget their resources, provide references to other private and public aid that is available, and administer QUEST support which consists of tuition,books, child care and transportation funds as well as limited emergency aid for other living expenses. (QUEST students generally work part time or arrange for student loans (Pell Grants) to support themselves while going through the program.)

The financial support process begins each semester when students are required to fill out budget worksheets. If student expenses exceed their income, including that through available public sources, they are eligible for financial support through Project QUEST. Most students in QUEST are eligible for transportation money that amounts to $25 every two weeks. Many students also receive financial assistance with child care and exceptional intervention in crises situations.

There are policy limits on emergency funds through QUEST. Rent is available to a maximum of $350. It may only be paid out twice without the authorization of the executive director of QUEST. Utility support has a maximum of $200. It is available up to three months per year if a need can be documented. Then there is an additional $50 available if all three months support has been exhausted and the person still has no alternative support. Water bills will only be paid to a maximum of $25. Phone support covers basic phone fees. Child care support is currently $70 per week per child, but revision of this to $75 is now being considered. Clients may also qualify for financial coverage of a daycare enrollment fee of up to $35 per year. Eye care vouchers are available for $70. Hair styling financial support has a maximum of $20. QUEST will also pay up to $50 for an outfit of clothes, and $30 for shoes to meet training or employment needs, with up to 5 outfits and two pairs of shoes allowed.

Minimal time is spent by counselors on assisting the job search of QUEST participants, since the responsibility for this is on the occupational side. During the job search phase, counselors still offer support services. For example, if someone is having a problem with getting a job and it is related to a family issue, a counselor is brought in, but only on the limited family issue, not in terms of general job placement. (QUEST occupational analysts start working with students six months prior to graduation, providing assistance with resumes and interview skills and setting up meetings with employers. The same level of placement services are provided to the QUEST participants who fail to complete their programs).

Each QUEST counselor supports from 50 to 60 students but despite this load responses to our survey indicate that 86 percent of students have contact with their counselors at least once per week.

Landmark Events

Since its inception and original design, there have been a number of changes in the structure and operation of QUEST. We highlight the most critical of these below.

There were a few surprises in the start up of Project QUEST. Program designers did not anticipate the extent to which students would require remediation before being able to enter their occupational training. Fully 90 percent of QUEST students undergo remediation in English, math or both. Occupational staff also play a greater role in developing community college programs in some areas QUEST designers anticipated.
In at least one case a group of students did not follow the general process of admission and placement within QUEST. In July of 1994, the Alamo Community College District (ACCD) was running a JTPA-funded training program. At the end of the program year funding was discontinued. The only options were to drop currently enrolled students or to transfer them to another program that was receiving funding. QUEST was presented with the option of accepting some of these students.
Early in the operation of QUEST pressure built to speed up the entry of new participants. In this push to increase the numbers of people going through the program, QUEST staff believe that admission and occupational matching was not as rigorous as it is currently. Both community college administrators who noted this, as well as QUEST staff, think this led to greater problems for participants: more students had difficulty in their programs, and the drop out rate for QUEST increased overall. Whether in fact this is true is unclear and we provide some data on this question later.
Currently QUEST staff are bringing in potential participants for interviews with the EDP team. The objective of this is to tighten screening in the program, ensuring that only applicants with the requisite skills and motivation enter the program.
After the initial funding that the IAF leaders acquired for QUEST, the sources of funding to continue operation of the program became unclear. QUEST began to rely on competing for JTPA funding and on periodic grants from public agencies. This uncertainty had a number of implications for program operation.
--The testing methods QUEST employs have changed over time. Until spring of 1995, QUEST tested students using the TABE and Sage tests. At this point QUEST was denied further funding through the TABE and had to return the TABE and Sage testing equipment which was owned by TABE. QUEST then shifted to testing through another agency, Goodwill Industries, but this was viewed by QUEST staff as less desirable because Sage aptitude and occupational testing were not available. Until the program has funds to purchase its own testing equipment, QUEST plans to borrow testing equipment from various sources.
--In the spring of l 995 QUEST had a reduction of its counseling staff from 7 to 3 persons. Some staff left on their own accord, but others were laid off.
--Currently, there are plans to bring a new group of students into training at QUEST, but less than two months before their planned time of entry, funding to support them had still not been acquired. Although the IAF leaders want to bring in at least 150 new participants, available funding will likely limit new enrollment to approximately 100.
--In the summer of 1995, QUEST had recruited and accepted a group of applicants to the program, in anticipation of receiving JTPA funding. This financial support did not materialize, so QUEST then had to turn away the students.
The designers of Project QUEST specified that training would extend only to occupations that were skilled, linked to current labor market openings and that offered reasonable chances of promotion from an initial wage of at least $7.50/hour. Over time, however, the last of these requirements has been mod)classified. The current approach of QUEST administrators is to consider training in occupations with lower wages than $7.50/hour in certain situations.

This arose initially when QUEST needed to create a role for people not succeeding in other programs. That is, when a group of students failed in the higher skilled occupational program they were enrolled in and had only a limited amount of time to train for an alternate occupation with QUEST support. For example, QUEST now trains for the health unit coordinator (HUC) occupation, which offers starting wages of only $5.50 to $6.50 per hour. QUEST began training in this occupation when faced with a group of students unable to complete the more rigorous RN and LVN programs. In other cases, the criteria for expanding training in lower wage occupations have been less clear. The current approach seems to be to consider whether these jobs may have career ladders that offer promotion possibilities.

The connections between COPS, Metro Alliance and QUEST have evolved over time. Initially, connections between the IAF leadership and the training project were close; the community leaders were attuned to developments in the program and intimately involved in key decisions. In addition, leaders serve on the QUEST board. The IAF leaders were careful, though, to avoid patronage: for example, instead of hiring a community leader to head Project QUEST an ex-Air Force human resource executive was chosen.

After the start up period more distance developed between the IAFs and Project QUEST. Community leaders remained committed to the training project, but seemed to be less acquainted with issues in its daily operations (for example, with the shifting nature of occupations chosen for training).

Recently QUEST staff have started working more closely with IAF leaders in a monitoring program directed at intervening where students are having problems in school, or graduates are slow to find jobs. In such cases, the counselor or occupational analyst contacts the Director of Client Services who meets weekly with an IAF leader. Project QUEST provides the community orginazation with a list of names of students who are either proving hard to contact or having problems. COPS/Metro contacts these QUEST participants, sometimes just to remind them to see their counselor, but typically to place pressure on them to work harder towards the objectives of the program. The IAF liaison person then meets again with QUEST staff to pass on information they have gathered about the status of problematic participants.

Chapter 3: Who Are the QUESTers

"There was opportunity at a time I needed a lifeline."
"Going for something that would better my life. Instead of having all these jobs...my boss didn't 't treat me with respect. When I started going to school I felt better."
(Focus Group Participants)

In this chapter we present a detailed profile of the participants in Project QUEST. We first develop a portrait of QUESTers based on their demographic and economic characteristics and on their prior involvement in community organizations. In a second section, we examine the personal barriers most QUEST students encounter in order to learn whether Project QUEST is adding value or simply selecting likely success stories.

The data in this and subsequent chapters are taken from two sources:

The Project QUEST Management Information system (the AIM database) contains information for all 825 participants on their demographic characteristics, some of the employment barriers they faced, upon their pre-QUEST employment experience and (for positive terminations only) upon wages and other characteristics of the jobs they obtained after leaving QUEST.
The survey we conducted interviewed by telephone 541 of the participants. The survey collected information on the experiences of the participants while in QUEST, upon some aspects of their pre QUEST experience, and on what happened to them after leaving Project QUEST. This survey is the only source of information on what happened to individuals who were negative terminators (a term we define later).

We believe that taken together the AIM data and our survey provide a very rich portrait of QUEST participants and the outcomes they experience as a result of QUEST. Nonetheless although we tried to interview all 825 QUEST participants for our survey we were unable to do so and in Appendix 2 we discuss the survey methodology and possible biases which may have arisen.

QUEST Participants

Sixty five percent of the 825 QUEST participants are women. (See Figure 3-1) While QUESTers range in age from 17 to 55, their average age is 30 and 75 percent are 35 or younger.

Figure 3-1
QUEST Demographic Breakdown
(modified from a graph format to a table for on-line viewing)

Female 65%
Male 35%

(Source: AIM)

Sixty nine percent of participants are Hispanic, 11 percent are black, 18 percent are white, with the remaining participation in the program drawing from American Indian, Alaskan native, Asian and Pacific Islander groups. Virtually all (97 percent) of QUEST participants are US citizens. The remaining three percent include permanent residents and other legal immigrants.

Figure 3-2
Ethnicity
(modified from a pie chart format to a table for on-line viewing)

Hispanic 69%
White 18%
Black 11%
Asian 1%
Native 1%

(Source: AIM)

Sixty four percent of those in QUEST have children. While seventy two percent of QUEST parents have only one or two children, about 9 percent of QUEST parents have four or more children. In a majority of cases, QUEST parents have at least one preschool age child. Of QUEST participants with children, 60 percent are single parents.

Most QUEST participants enter this program with a basic high school education. Seventy percent of QUESTers have a high school diploma; the remainder have a GED or other equivalent certification. Fifty five percent of QUEST students lack any college training before entering the program. Those with some college experience have an average of 33 credit hours before entry.

Just prior to entering Project QUEST, participants were engaged in a variety of activities. Figure 33 summarizes their endeavors. It shows that 48 percent were employed, 26 percent were searching for work, 10 percent was at home full time caring for their families, and 8 percent was in school or another training program. The remaining 8 percent were engaged in some combination of child care and skill upgrading activities.

Figure 3-3
Activities Prior to QUEST
(modified from a pie chart format to a table for on-line viewing)

Employed 48%
Job Search 26%
Home with Family 10%
School/Training 8%
Varied Activities 8%

(Source: Survey)

QUESTers were in difficult financial circumstances prior to entering the program. 53 percent were receiving some form of public assistance, including AFDC and food stamps. According to the AIM data, in the last job they held prior to entering the program, QUEST participants earned an average of $6.02 pa hour, being employed only for 33 hours per week. [1] Men fared slightly better than women before the program, however, earning $6.43 per hour rather than the $5.78 the average woman earned.

The Barriers of QUEST Participants

A legitimate concern about Project QUEST is that it "creams" applicants who could have done well on their own. This concern is heightened by the relatively high educational levels of QUEST participants (45 percent have some college and all have a high school degree or GED). In order to learn if creaming is a problem, we have carefully investigated the barriers faced by Project QUEST participants.

In our survey we asked people directly about why they were unable to find the kind of jobs they desired. The participants attribute this failure primarily to a lack of skills and education. Jobs that were available to them, given their previous training, were too low paying.

Table 3-1
Importance of Select Barriers to Employment

Percent Rating This Barrier
Somewhat Important
or Very Important
Lack Education 78
Available Jobs Pay Little 78
Lacked Skills 77
Felt Uncomfortable
or Out of Place in Workplace 31
Didn't Think Jobs Were Available 29
Lacked Confidence 28
No Affordable Child care 26
Didn't Know How to Find a Job 22
Transportation Problems 21
Family Care Responsibilities 11
Health Problems 10
Limited English Skills 2

(Source: Survey)

We also asked survey respondents about the nature of problems that emerged for them through the course of their training. [2] Their responses are summarized in Table 3-2 below and three striking conclusions may be derived from it. First, less than a percentage point of QUEST participants state that they experienced no problems during their training. At the other extreme, a full 65 percent encountered financial difficulties. Health and other personal problems are also important to many QUEST participants.

Table 3-2
Problems Encountered During Training

Percent of Participants Experiencing
This Barrier During Training
Financial Difficulties 65%
Own Health Problems 23.2
Miscellaneous Personal 20.9
Divorce/Single Parent 5.7
Health Problems of Family Members 5
Death In Family 5.1
Scheduling 2
Communication Problem/
Conflict With Staff 2
Crime Committed Against Family
Or Self 1.7
Academic 1.7
No Help With Job Placement .56
Other .56
None .56

(Source: Survey)

To further document the range and severity of the barriers QUESTers face and remedies to them, we randomly selected QUEST participants, dropouts and graduates, and studied the detailed counseling notes and other QUEST records on them. We include some of their stories below, with some details altered to disguise participants' identities. (See Appendix 3 at the end of this report for a detailed summary of 35 case histories we studied--not available on-line). These stories reveal two central points: first, that it is not only the barren facts of employment history and demographics that are relevant to understanding the potential accomplishments of people, but that personal issues such as available support networks, traumatic relationships or incidents, health and child care are also critical. In addition, these stories also show the important role that counselors in this training program play in dismantling the barriers and enabling their clients to complete the program and step up to new opportunities. In particular, the barriers QUEST participants face tend to be remedied through financial and emotional support, as well as referral to other governmental and community resources.

The circumstances of Stacey, a current participant in Project QUEST, illustrate these points well. Stacey is a white, 33 year old mother of one child in a two parent household, with a husband who earns approximately $20,000/year. She was admitted to QUEST primarily because she lacked a significant work history; she hadn't worked in over 6 years and she had never had a full time job of more than two weeks duration. Throughout her tenure in Project QUEST, a number of other barriers became visible in Stacey's life. In her initial testing, it was discovered that Stacey needed remedial math training before she could start occupational training. In response, QUEST arranged for upgrading courses for her. Stacey also began to experience emotional problems that interfered with her schooling, causing absenteeism and diminished scholastic performance. She sought assistance from her doctor about nervousness and her counselor arranged for Stacey to attend motivational classes, also providing transportation money to facilitate this. Stacey's QUEST counselor provided emotional support through these difficulties and talked to her about altering her family situation.

After class she picks up her husband, picks up her 1 year old, and puts the 13 year old to bed. I asked if she gets help from her husband? She said no, but he's getting better. {Stacey} then explained that they've been married for {six} years and his alcoholism is not as bad. He doesn't argue and beat her if she keeps her mouth shut.

Eventually a crisis was reached in Stacey's life when she left her husband because he had beaten her again. Her QUEST counselor talked to her about this and about the support networks she has available in her family to deal with this situation. This precipitated Stacey's husband entering full time alcohol treatment and eventually reuniting with Stacey. Despite a death in her family and further difficulties, Stacey was able to graduate from her program.

The experiences of another participant, Maria, also illustrate the range of barriers encountered by students in QUEST and the extensive assistance they require in dismantling them. When Maria entered QUEST she was receiving both AFDC and food stamps and had no work experience in her desired occupational area She was a single parent of four children aged 5 through 16. She seemed, from the outset, to be exactly the type of person who could benefit from the training QUEST provides. Throughout the course of her program, it became apparent that there were additional barriers to Maria's success. She had trouble studying for her courses, particularly because one of her sons who was abused has medical problems and demands alot of attention. Maria's counselor followed up on this situation and urged her to take her son to the doctor.

Financial problems also distracted Maria from her studies. In part this was due to her being on public assistance, as she repeatedly had difficulties getting recertification and this generated delays in receiving money. In addition, Maria had been partially supported by a boyfriend and this relationship ended during her training period.

She mentioned that she really didn't have any money for necessities to include clothing. She stated very quietly that she never knew what new clothes felt like until she tried some on. She reports never shopping but "just wanted to feel what its like to put on something new".

In response to these financial problems, Maria's counselor arranged for some clothing assistance money and some emergency funds to cover her utilities bill.

These types of financial problems resurfaced for Maria three times during her training. The next time her counselor arranged for temporary funds for water and power bills. Subsequent to this incident, Maria again couldn't pay her bills because her ex-husband was behind on his support payments. QUEST helped her both with money and with advice on how to fight to obtain child support. The next and final time that Maria had financial difficulties it was again related to being denied services by her public assistance caseworker. Her counselor arranged for emergency financial assistance and provided referrals to food banks and other public sources, but this time took steps to help Maria to take care of these problems herself in future. Her counselor talked with Maria about how to avoid these periodic financial emergencies. The counselor at this point also informed Maria that she had exhausted all available financial assistance from QUEST.

The QUEST counselors also help with practical advice for students on managing time and fulfilling their obligations in the program. In Maria's case, she had problems with being late for QUEST VIP meetings because her car broke down. She also had a car accident, though not a serious one. Her counselor advised her how to deal with being late because of this.

In general, Maria's counselor provided her with extensive emotional support, both individually and in group sessions. Maria and her children are recovering from "painful abuse" in her past marriage and this was discussed in group discussions on emotional abuse. In addition, Maria suffered from self doubts related to performance in her program. Her QUEST counselor provided advice and information about self esteem.

The experiences of Stacey, Maria and the other QUEST students show the critical role of counseling in this program. As QUEST counselors attest, there's rarely a day without a crisis, and few QUEST participants who do not require assistance. In the vast majority of cases, QUEST participants require emotional support from counselors when faced with these barriers, as well as access to periodic financial aid. In fewer cases referrals to resources outside QUEST, like food banks, is also required.

The problems we have identified from our analysis of the survey and case information appear to serve as significant barriers to the participants achieving success in education and in the labor market. In sum, these barriers make QUEST's target population a group who have a high probability of slipping below the poverty line without assistance.

Endnotes

Chapter 1

[1] In this report we refer to positive and negative terminations. These are JTPA definitions which we adopt for the sake of consistency with the management information system of Project Quest, but which we are not particularly fond of. A positive termination is defined as one of the following outcomes: entered a job, entered the Armed Forces, entered a registered apprenticeship, entered non ma training, completed a major level of education or passed the TASP educational achievement test. A negative termination is a program departure for any other reason. It should be noted that a positive termination does not necessarily entail program graduation nor a job placement. Also, our survey suggests that a number of people classified in the Quest database as negative terminators in fact left the program to take jobs and should therefore be more properly classified as positive terminations.

Chapter 3

[1]These figures are slightly different than those in Table 4-2 because these figures include all QUEST participants, whereas the later ones are limited to program leavers.

[2] We asked respondents an open ended question about their problems. Thus, the categories that emerged can be assumed to closely reflect the personal difficulties they view as important.

Index