The Residency Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency Program Evaluation

Through HUD funding, the ROSS program provides funds for job training and supportive services to help residents of public housing transition from welfare to work. The City of Tucson was awarded funding in 2004 and adopted this national funding to meet the needs of local public housing residents.

The City of Tucson chose to incorporate a variety of activities through partnering with existing services in the public housing community. Through partnerships with local providers, ROSS makes referrals to the following types of services:

§ employment & training
§ job retention & career advancement
§ financial literacy
§ homeownership
§ family strengthening
§ youth character & community skill building
§ youth development/delinquency prevention

In addition, the ROSS program provides transportation, childcare, and educational supply reimbursements for participating families.

The evaluation focuses on assessing the program’s main goals through answering the following questions. The evaluation will contain both process and outcome components to answer these questions.

1) Overarching question: Do the constellation of services provided help families become more self-sufficient?

2) Does providing employment and training services result in increased employment?

3) Does providing employment and training services result in sustained employment?

Link to Final Report