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Transforming Impossible Into Possible (Tip): A Bottom-Up Practice In Workforce Development For Low-Income Jobseekers, Philip Young P. Hong Oct 2017

Transforming Impossible Into Possible (Tip): A Bottom-Up Practice In Workforce Development For Low-Income Jobseekers, Philip Young P. Hong

Philip Hong

This paper discusses an evidence-informed bottom-up transformative social work practice model that holistically encapsulates multi-system levels of practice. Based on 12 years of empirical evidence on psychological self-sufficiency (PSS), the Transforming Impossible into Possible (TIP) program was developed to focuses on the ‘process’ of human agency development that leads to economic self-sufficiency (ESS) ‘outcomes’. It attempts to bring together various modalities of social work practice into a transformational leadership development framework that reflects a bottom-up, participant-centered approach to empowering individuals to impact larger systems. In workforce development practice, it is being regarded that constructs reflected in TIP improve both employment …


Psychological And Economic Self-Sufficiency Among Low-Income Jobseekers With Physical Disability Barriers, Philip Young P. Hong, Hayley Sneiderman Stokar, Sangmi Choi Oct 2017

Psychological And Economic Self-Sufficiency Among Low-Income Jobseekers With Physical Disability Barriers, Philip Young P. Hong, Hayley Sneiderman Stokar, Sangmi Choi

Philip Hong

The purpose of this research is to investigate the process of psychological empowerment by way of examin- ing the effects of perceived employment barrier on employment hope, and employment hope on economic self-suffi- ciency. A structural equation modeling analysis was used with a sample of 517 participants in a job readiness program of a community-based social service organization in Chicago. Results indicate that employment hope mediates the path between perceived barriers and economic self-sufficiency. Findings provide preliminary evidence to support an em- powerment-based approach to rehabilitation, promoting self-sufficiency among people with physical disabilities using interventions that address employment barriers and …


Transforming Impossible Into Possible (Tip): A Group Work Model In Workforce Development, Philip Young P. Hong Jan 2016

Transforming Impossible Into Possible (Tip): A Group Work Model In Workforce Development, Philip Young P. Hong

Philip Hong

This presentation introduces a newly developed social work group intervention model in workforce development. Transforming Impossible into Possible (TIP) program empowers participants to develop self-awareness, confidence, hope, goal-orientation, leadership, accountability, conscientiousness, and grit, it is anticipated that it improves both employment and retention outcomes.


Structural Reinterpretation Of Poverty By Examining Working Poverty: Implications For Community And Policy Practice, Philip Young P. Hong, Stephen Wernet Jan 2016

Structural Reinterpretation Of Poverty By Examining Working Poverty: Implications For Community And Policy Practice, Philip Young P. Hong, Stephen Wernet

Philip Hong

This exploratory research focused on the structural context of working poverty, thereby transcending its individual or behavioral aspects. Two major questions guided this study: (1) How are the working poor different compared to the working nonpoor? (2) How do structural conditions affect the chances of one being working poor? Central findings of the study were that four primary sets of factors—demographic, human capital, employment barriers, and labor market positions—contribute to an individual's likelihood of being among the working poor. The structural factors—employment barriers and labor market positions—significantly contributed to the effects of human capital and demographic variables. All four factors …


Toward A Client-Centered Benchmark For Self-Sufficiency: Evaluating The ‘Process’ Of Becoming Job Ready., Philip Young P. Hong May 2014

Toward A Client-Centered Benchmark For Self-Sufficiency: Evaluating The ‘Process’ Of Becoming Job Ready., Philip Young P. Hong

Philip Hong

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how service providers, clients, and graduates of a job training program define the term self-sufficiency (SS). This community-engaged, mixed method study qualitatively analyzes focus group data from each group and quantitatively examines survey data obtained from participants of the program. Findings reveal that psychological transformation as a ‘process’ represents the emic definition of SS—psychological SS—but each dimension of the concept is reflected in varying degrees by group. Provider and participant views are vastly different from the outcome-driven policy and funder definitions. Implications for benchmarking psychological SS as an empowerment-based ‘process’ measure of …


A Bottom-Up Definition Of Self-Sufficiency: Voices From Low-Income Jobseekers., Philip Young P. Hong, Vamadu A. Sheriff, Sandra R. Naeger May 2014

A Bottom-Up Definition Of Self-Sufficiency: Voices From Low-Income Jobseekers., Philip Young P. Hong, Vamadu A. Sheriff, Sandra R. Naeger

Philip Hong

Self-sufficiency (SS) is the epitome of America’s ‘reluctant’welfare state. It is generally accepted in social welfare policycircles as a concept related to independence and financialstability. Nevertheless, SS is not a term agreed upon inpractice by policymakers, researchers, or service providersand is frequently used without a clear common definition.In this sense, the purpose of this study is to explore the extentto which the top-down definition of ‘economic’ SS as thesocial policy goal is consistent with how the clients of job training programs perceive the term. Using a groundedtheory approach, a bottom-up definition of SS was derivedfrom a focus group of low-income …


The Employment Hope Scale: Measuring An Empowerment Pathway To Employment Success, Philip Young P. Hong, Sangmi Choi May 2014

The Employment Hope Scale: Measuring An Empowerment Pathway To Employment Success, Philip Young P. Hong, Sangmi Choi

Philip Hong

This chapter presents findings on revalidation of the Short Employment Hope Scale (EHS- 14) using a recently collected independent sample of 661 low-income jobseekers. This client- centered measure captures an aspect of multi-dimensional psychological self-sufficiency (SS) as a process-driven assessment tool. The original employment hope metric was constructed as a 24-item six-factor structure from its earlier conceptualization resulting from client focus group interviews. The EHS measure was initially validated using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), resulting in a 14-item two-factor structure with Factor 1 representing ‘psychological empowerment’ and Factor 2 representing ‘goal-oriented pathways’. In the following revalidation process using a …


Validation Of The Employment Hope Scale: Measuring Psychological Self-Sufficiency Among Low-Income Jobseekers, Philip Young P. Hong, Joshua R. Polanin, Terri D. Pigott May 2014

Validation Of The Employment Hope Scale: Measuring Psychological Self-Sufficiency Among Low-Income Jobseekers, Philip Young P. Hong, Joshua R. Polanin, Terri D. Pigott

Philip Hong

The Employment Hope scale (EHS) was designed to measure the empowerment-based self-sufficiency (SS) outcome among low-income job-seeking clients. This measure captures the psychological SS dimension as opposed to the more commonly used economic SS in workforce development and employment support practice. The study validates the EHS and reports its psychometric properties. Method: An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted using an agency data from the Cara Program in Chicago, United States. The principal axis factor extraction process was employed to identify the factor structure. Results: EFA resulted in a 13-item two-factor structure with Factor 1 representing “Psychological Empowerment” and Factor …


Employment Hope: A Path To Empowering Disconnected Workers, Philip Young Hong Dec 2013

Employment Hope: A Path To Empowering Disconnected Workers, Philip Young Hong

Philip Hong

No abstract provided.