National Evaluation of the 2nd Generation of Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0) COVID-Cohort Impact Study
Creators: name: Roy, Radha
name: Judkins, David
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Adult and Continuing Education
subject: Education
subject: Vocational Education

description: The Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program awarded grants to organizations to provide education and training to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients and other low-income individuals for “occupations in the healthcare field that pay well and are expected to either experience labor shortages or be in high demand.” HPOG grantees designed and implemented programs in accordance with the guidelines articulated in the grant funding opportunity announcement to provide eligible participants with education, occupational training, and supportive and employment services to help them train for and find jobs in a variety of healthcare professions. Congress authorized HPOG in 2010. The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services used those funds to award 32 grants in 2010, termed HPOG 1.0, and 32 grants in 2015, termed HPOG 2.0. Of the HPOG 2.0 grants, five were awarded to Tribal-affiliated organizations, and the remaining 27 non-Tribal grants were awarded to a variety of entities including government agencies, community-based organizations, and postsecondary educational institutions. ACF’s Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) is administering a robust evaluation of the HPOG 2.0 effort: the National and Tribal Evaluation of the 2nd Generation of Health Profession Opportunity Grants. The National Evaluation of 27 non-Tribal grantees is comparing outcomes and impacts for program applicants randomly assigned access to the grantees’ HPOG 2.0 programs (treatment group) versus those randomly assigned access only to services available elsewhere in the community (control group). These grantees operate 38 distinct local HPOG 2.0 programs, with each program offering a locally designed set of services, training courses, and personnel. The HPOG 2.0 non-Tribal grantees operate in 17 states and include four state government entities, seven workforce system agencies, ten institutions of higher education, and six community-based organizations. See Klerman, Judkins, and Locke (2019) for a list of the grantees and their programs. In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, disrupting American lives, labor markets, and local HPOG 2.0 programs. To better understand how COVID changed outcomes and impacts for HPOG 2.0 study members relative to the pre-COVID period, OPRE contracted with Abt Associates to conduct the HPOG 2.0 National Evaluation COVID-Cohort Study. This registration describes the methodology for answering the key research questions for the COVID-Cohort Impact Report (CCIR). Together with the analysis plan, this registration document improves the transparency and replicability of study findings by committing the research team to make consequential decisions prior to inspecting estimates of program impacts.