Navigators Evidence-Building Portfolio

In partnership with the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), the Women’s Bureau, the Office of Unemployment Insurance, and the Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance, the project includes a coordinated data collection approach to build a cohesive evidence base across all three evaluations. It also includes coordinating evidence building activities with other DOL agencies, contractors, and other stakeholders. 

The project includes three studies: 

• Implementation evaluation of the Fostering Access, Rights, and Equity (FARE) Navigator grantees.
• Implementation evaluation and evaluability assessment of Unemployment Insurance (UI) Navigator grantees
• Formative evaluation of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Navigators

The FARE Grant Navigators implementation study will capture the nature of programs established by 2021 and 2022 FARE grantees, assess the nature and degree of grantees’ achievement of FARE grant goals, and identify key learnings from FARE grantees with respect to challenges and promising practices. 

The UI Navigators implementation study will focus on ARPA UI Navigator grants to seven states to better understand how UI agencies partnered with community-based organizations (CBOs) to reduce disparities in access to UI benefits and services and to explore barriers in implementation. It will also include an evaluability assessment for an impact study on the effectiveness and impact of UI Navigator models. 

The TAA Navigators formative study will focus on the implementation of Navigator programs across states and how those programs have provided hands-on assistance to employers and workers to increase enrollment in TAA and improve training and employment outcomes.