A Longitudinal Approach To Evaluating Wisconsin's Low-income Programs: Results To Date

摘要

The Wisconsin Department of Administration's Public Benefits program, Focus on Energy, is sponsoring a three-year (June 30, 2001 to June 30, 2004) evaluation of the State's low-income programs - the Wisconsin Home Energy Assistance Program (WHEAP) and the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). This timeframe allows the authors to take a longitudinal approach to evaluating the program administration and the effects of the low-income programs over three years. As a result of the longitudinal approach, we can track over the course of the evaluation process issues identified, improvements made, response to program changes, and changes in participants well-being and self-sufficiency as a result of the program. This longitudinal approach differs from the majority of evaluations which are funded and designed for a one-year look or snapshot of program process issues and impacts. Because we are in the middle of the longitudinal study and only year one results are available to-date, this paper focuses on introducing the WHEAP and WAP programs, discussing the evaluation methodology and research activities taking place annually, and presenting year one results (July 1, 2001-June 30, 2002).