MDRC has been contracted by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF)’s Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to lead the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency-Next Generation (BIAS-NG) project. This initiative, which builds on the success of the original MDRC-led BIAS project, will apply and test insights about the science of decision-making in the context of ACF’s social assistance programs and populations. Partners in BIAS-NG include Dr. Larry Katz of Harvard University, who is serving as co-principal investigator; MEF Associates; Child Trends; and Public Strategies. BIAS-NG will be led by MDRC’s Dr. Lashawn Richburg-Hayes (co-principal investigator) and Nadine Dechausay.

The new BIAS-NG project joins a full suite of initiatives at MDRC that are testing behavioral interventions, including the newly established Center for Applied Behavioral Sciences. BIAS-NG joins two large-scale HHS-funded projects: the original BIAS initiative and Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS), sponsored by the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. Other MDRC projects that incorporate behavioral science practices include Nudges to Increase Customer Engagement (NICE) in Child Support Programs, sponsored by the New York City Center for Economic Opportunity; Building Bridges and Bonds (B3), sponsored by ACF; Kansas Child Support Savings Initiative, sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; and the Paycheck Plus Demonstration, sponsored by the NYC Center for Economic Opportunity.