The Building Evidence on Employment Strategies (BEES) Project is conducting an evaluation of four Individual Placement and Support (IPS) programs—three of which are based in Washington State and one that is in the Chicago metropolitan area. The programs provide individualized employment services to a subset of individuals receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is funding the study through the BEES Project. BEES is part of OPRE’s Innovative Strategies for Addressing Employment Barriers Portfolio, which seeks to rigorously evaluate the next generation of employment strategies for people with low incomes, and is partnering with the Social Security Administration on select evaluations.

This profile provides a short overview of the four participating programs, the program model, and the IPS TANF-SNAP study’s activities.