New York State’s $2.1 Billion Excluded Workers Fund: A Program Evaluation

Response to the COVID-19 pandemic and recession spurred a wave of policy innovation around the country. The pandemic revealed weak spots in our social safety net, and governments scrambled to fix them—at least temporarily. Although federal efforts typically tried to carve out undocumented immigrants, many states and localities around the country made a particular effort to include immigrants and others who were excluded. New York’s Excluded Worker Fund (EWF) was by far the largest of these efforts. The New York fund was a $2.1 billion program that allowed 130,000 immigrants without work authorization, as well as some others who fell between the gaps of federal aid, to get unemployment compensation if they lost work during the pandemic recession. The amount of aid to the vast majority of workers, $15,600, was nearly as much as the annual amount other New Yorkers who lost work were getting in unemployment insurance.

To investigate the impact that this fund, Immigration Research Initiative and the Urban Institute undertook a year-long study that included both a survey with over 400 participants and in-depth interviews with applicants to the fund.
The survey found that:

  • Rent and food were the top two uses of the fund, showing that it helped people meet basic needs.
  • The fund opened up new possibilities for earnings, such as investing in a business or taking job training. It was both a bridge over a tough period and a springboard to a better future.
  • It aided family well-being: people were able to get delayed medical care, or visit out-of-town family and friends, or even have a long-needed night out for dinner.
  • And, we saw the fund leading to a wide range of positive outcomes in community and civic engagement: participating in advocacy, volunteering for church groups, or getting a driver’s license, for example.

And, the in-depth interviews gave details and individual stories about the difference the fund made. As one recipient of the fund told us:“It was like an oasis in the desert…In my 50 years of life, this is the first time I have ever received something like this from the country.”

To view the reports:

Expanding Inclusion in the Social Safety Net: Impacts of New York’s Excluded Workers Fund

6-page summary in:

English
Arabic
Bangla
Chinese
French
Korean
Spanish

Full report in English.

“Finally We’re Being Recognized”: An Up-Close and Personal View of the Excluded Workers Fund

6-page summary in:

English
Arabic
Bangla
Chinese
Korean
Spanish

Full report in English.

Co-authors are:

Authors

  • David Dyssegaard Kallick

    Kallick is director of Immigration Research Initiative, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that looks at immigration issues.

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  • Elaine Waxman

    Elaine Waxman is a senior fellow in the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Her expertise includes food insecurity, nutrition, and the US safety net, as well as broader issues affecting families and communities with low incomes. She received her MPP and PhD from the University of Chicago, where she is currently a lecturer at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice.

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  • Hamutal Bernstein

    Hamutal Bernstein is a principal research associate in the Income and Benefits Policy Center, where she leads Urban’s program on immigrants and immigration. Her research focuses on the well-being and integration of immigrant and refugee families and workers. Her areas of expertise include immigration and integration, workforce development and training, and human services. Before joining Urban, Bernstein was a program officer at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and research associate at the Georgetown University Institute for the Study of International Migration. Bernstein received her BA in international relations from Brown University and her PhD in government from Georgetown University.

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  • Julio Salas

    Julio Salas is a research intern in the Income and Benefits Policy Center. Julio is also a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Public Policy fellow and was a recent legislative health fellow at the US House of Representatives, where he led a health portfolio. Julio graduated from Cornell University and Queensborough Community College with degrees in human development and health sciences.

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  • Luis Gallardo

    Luis Hassan Gallardo is a research assistant in the Health Policy Center at the Urban Institute. His past research focused on United States immigration policy and the barriers vulnerable populations face in accessing health and welfare services. Gallardo graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with degrees in political science and ethnic studies.

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  • Poonam Gupta

    Poonam Gupta is a research analyst in the Income and Benefits Policy Center, where she focuses on social safety net policy. She works on several projects related to federal nutrition programs and food insecurity. Gupta holds BAs in public health and Spanish from the Johns Hopkins University and an MSPH in international health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

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