Investing in Youth

Over the summer and fall of 2021, the Urban Institute worked with the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services to recruit participants for a cash transfer study aimed at reducing rates of violence among young men in Wilmington. There are two main types of cash transfers: unconditional cash transfers, defined as money provided to people without any stipulations, and conditional cash transfers, defined as money provided to people with certain conditions, such as program attendance or work requirements. The Yes! Study included young men between the ages of 14 and 17 who were randomly assigned to one of three groups:an after-school program combined with a cash transfer that participants received if they attended the first few weeks of programming (a partial conditional cash transfer), a cash transfer without any program requirements (an unconditional cash transfer), or a waitlisted group that served as a control group and received no treatment until after the study was complete.