Countywide Evaluation of the Long-Term Family Self-Sufficiency Plan: Assessing the Utility of the LTFSS Plan Service Delivery and Planning Framework

Abstract : The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (the Board) adopted the Long-Term Family Self-Sufficiency (LTFSS) Plan on November 16,1999. The LTFSS Plan consists of 46 projects whose goal is to promote self-sufficiency among families that are participating in the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Act of 1997 (CalWORKS) program, former CalWORKS families, and other low-income families. The Chief Administrative Office (CAO) is the lead agency responsible for implementing the evaluation of the LTFSS Plan. On December 5, 2000, the Board approved the implementation plan for the evaluation of the LTFSS Plan, LTFSS Project #46. Following an open and competitive bidding process, the Board awarded RAND a contract to conduct a Countywide evaluation of the LTFSS Plan. The LTFSS Plan is explicitly guided by Mark Friedman's Results-Based Decision Making (RBDM) Framework (the RBDM Framework). LTFSS Plan experiences with the RBDM Framework can provide early indications of the utility of the RBDM Framework, the challenges that are likely to be encountered as County departments attempt to apply the RBDM Framework in the County, and approaches to addressing those challenges. This document is intended to extract those lessons learned by providing insights into the use and utility of the RBDM Framework as it has been adopted and adapted by the County. Most of the analysis in this report represents work completed as of the end of October 2001.