Partners for Reentry Opportunities in Workforce Development (PROWD) Grant Program

Partners for Reentry Opportunities in Workforce Development (PROWD) Grant Program is sponsored by U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Employment and Training Administration. This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.

Partners for Reentry Opportunities in Workforce Development (PROWD) Grants Evaluation | U.S. Department of Labor Disaster Recovery Assistance Equal Employment Opportunity Health Plans and Benefits Registered Apprenticeship International Labor Issues Retirement Plans, Benefits and Savings Spanish-Language Resources Workplace Safety and Health Youth & Young Worker Employment Administrative Review Board (ARB) Benefits Review Board (BRB) Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) Employees' Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) Office of Congressional & Intergovernmental Affairs (OCIA) Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy (OASP) Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) Office of the Solicitor (SOL) Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) Ombudsman for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOMBD) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) Budget, Performance and Planning Economic Data from the Department of Labor Partners for Reentry Opportunities in Workforce Development (PROWD) Grants Evaluation Partners for Reentry Opportunities in Workforce Development (PROWD) Grants Evaluation Implementation Evaluation Incarcerated or Formerly Incarcerated In 2022, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration’s (ETA) Reentry Employment Opportunity (REO) Program to fund Mathematica, Inc. and its subcontractors—RTI International and Abt Associates—to conduct the Partners for Reentry Opportunities in Workforce Development (PROWD) Grants Evaluation.

The PROWD grants effort is a first-of-its-kind partnership between DOL and the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons to support states’ provision of employment-related reentry services to people in minimum- and low-security federal prisons, residential reentry centers, and the community. In 2022 and 2023, DOL awarded funding to grantees in sixteen states.

The PROWD grants aim to improve employment outcomes, strengthen communities where grant programs operate, and increase justice and workforce system partnerships. The PROWD Grants Evaluation aims to understand the implementation and impact of reentry employment programs that prepare people exiting federal prisons to find and maintain good jobs after release.

The evaluation includes foundational fact-finding activities including a synthesis of recent research, early and full implementation studies of the PROWD grants, and an impact and cost-benefit evaluability assessment and study. It also includes a sub-study on the outcomes of participants of registered apprenticeship programs in federal prisons.

The evaluation design and activities are informed by experts with lived experience, PROWD grantees, and researchers with expertise in the field. This Department of Labor-funded study builds on evaluations of prior DOL reentry efforts, including the Linking to Employment Activities Pre-Release and Pathway Home grants , which focused on incarceration at the state and local levels.

The PROWD Grants Evaluation will help build the evidence base about what works for employment-focused reentry programs serving people exiting federal prisons. Foundational fact-finding: What innovative program approaches, components, or features of programs appear to be most promising for scaling based on existing literature and recommendations from the field?

Early implementation: How did PROWD grantees plan for implementation of their program model? How were programs implemented during the first year of the grant, including the planning period? To what extent were new systems or partnerships built?

What challenges and barriers did grantees face? Full Implementation study: What were the reported barriers and facilitators to implementation at each stage of services? How were systems and partnerships built and maintained?

What are the characteristics of programs that grantees offered within prisons, RRCs and communities? What are the characteristics of the populations served by the PROWD grants and how did they vary? Impact and benefit-cost evaluability assessment and study: What evaluation designs are feasible to study the impact of the grant program on participant outcomes?

What impact does the grant program have on participant outcomes (e.g., employment, earnings, credential attainment, skills gain, and recidivism)? What are the direct and indirect benefits for the government, participants, grantees, and other partners? What is the typical implementation cost?

How do the costs and benefits compare for the PROWD program? Registered Apprenticeship in Federal Facilities : How many registered apprenticeships programs (RAPs) are in federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities? What percent of federal facilities have RAPs operating in them?

What are the characteristics of registered apprentices in federal BOP facilities? What are the short-term and long-term employment and criminal justice outcomes for those who enrolled and/or completed RAPs (e.g., 1 year post-release, 3 years, etc.)?

Charting the Path to Employment After Incarceration: A Research Synthesis of Employment-Focused Reentry Programs (Synthesis Report, October 2024) Project Duration: 30 Months Contract End Date : March 2025 Contractor: Mathematica, Inc For More Information: ChiefEvaluationOffice@dol.

gov The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process .