Participating in the Study

The Community Choice Demonstration includes an independent evaluation—the Community Choice Demonstration study. The goal of the Community Choice Demonstration study is to understand what services and supports help eligible families access neighborhoods that provide good opportunities for parents and their children. A family is considered eligible if they have a Housing Choice Voucher and at least one child aged 17 or under that they consent to have participate in the study.  A number of families from the current Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) Housing Choice Voucher waitlist are also being invited to participate in the Demonstration.  Participation in the program and study is completely voluntary. To have a chance of being offered services under the program, however, you must agree to participate in the study.

To help you determine if participating in the Community Choice Demonstration is right for your family, HANO will invite you to an information session so you can learn more about the study. If you choose to participate, the following will occur:

1. You will be asked to answer some questions about yourself and your family such as the names and ages of the people living with you HANO will review a form with you that explains more about the study and the requirements if you decide to participate. If you agree to participate, you will be asked some additional questions about your child’s current school experiences, and your child’s health. You will also be asked to fill out a survey that will ask about your housing situation, your thoughts on moving, your education and employment status, and your health.

2. If you choose to participate, you will be assigned to one of two groups. This assignment will be random, like flipping a coin, to make sure that each family that participates has an equal chance of being placed in either group. Groups will not be decided by any person, rather they will be randomly determined by a computer. The first group will be offered a Housing Choice Voucher and the usual services from HANO without any additional services. The second group will be offered a Housing Choice Voucher and a set of additional services that will assist them in searching for and moving to housing in specific areas of their choice, called Opportunity Areas.

3. You may be asked to participate in future surveys or interviews as researchers study the impacts of the services provided under the Community Choice Demonstration. Your participation in those future study activities is voluntary.

4. To learn about the long-term effects of being offered these services and supports, researchers may collect data about you and your children from different sources for several years.

The study will allow for a better understanding of how to support families with a Housing Choice Voucher in finding housing in Opportunity Areas. Researchers will use information collected from the study to measure whether children in households that receive services and move to new neighborhoods do better in school and earn more money later in life. The study will also measure how well these services help adults in the household. For more information about how you can participate in the study, contact Germika Stewart at (504) 670-3257 or gstewart@hano.org or visit: www.hano.org/Housing/CommunityChoiceDemonstration.

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