YTD--Baseline Questionnaire

SAMPLE PRE-NOTIFICATION LETTER
Dear [NAME],
You are invited to be in a national study called the Youth Transition Demonstration Project (YTDP). You
are eligible to be in this study because you get benefits from Social Security. The YTDP will test ways to help
young people with disabilities become more independent. More than 5,000 young people will be included in
the national study. Erie 1 Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES), Mathematica Policy Research,
Inc. (MPR), and the Social Security Administration (SSA) are working together on this project, which it called
Transition WORKS.
If you agree to be included in the research project, you will be asked to answer some questions. MPR will
call you within the next few weeks to ask about your school, work or job training experiences. You can have
someone help you answer the questions. MPR will call again in one year, and again in three years.
Half of the youth in the study will be part of a special program at Transition WORKS. Transition
WORKS will work with young adults to help them become more independent. Participants will develop goals
and work on plans to meet their goals. Possible goals can include career exploration, education goals and
social opportunities. Transition WORKS will help young adults to find and keep jobs that match their
interests, abilities and goals. Participants will also work with Neighborhood Legal Services and Parent
Network Center to better understand their SSA benefits and develop organizational strategies to keep their
records in order.
The Social Security Administration will apply special program rules to youth who participate in the
YTDP, protecting their benefits and enabling them to earn more and save more money than they could under
normal program rules.
The Transition WORKS research study only has 800 openings. MPR will pick youth at random to see
who gets to be part of the program. Picking at random is like a lottery or tossing a coin. It is a way to make
sure that everyone who wants the extra support has a fair chance to get it.
To be in the study, you need to sign a consent form. We will send you the consent form in the mail after
we talk to you on the telephone. You will get a $10 Target gift card when the signed consent form is returned.
The gift card will not affect your benefits from Social Security. You will get the $10 gift card even if you
decide not to be in the study. If you decide not to be in the study, it will not affect the services or benefits you
get now.
To be in the study, please call MPR at 800-298-3383. There is no cost to call this number. We will call
you in a few weeks if we do not hear from you. You can also call this number if you have questions. You may
also e-mail MPR at ytdp@mathematica-mpr.com. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, call 877-542-6734
(TTY) to talk to the research staff.
Thank you.
This information collection meets the requirements of 44 U.S.C. § 3507, as amended by section 2 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995. You do not need to answer these questions unless we display a valid Office of Management and Budget control number. We
estimate that it will take about 33 minutes to read the instructions, gather the facts, and answer the questions. You may send comments
on our time estimate above to: SSA, 6401 Security Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21235-6401. Send only comments relating to our time
estimate to this address, not the completed form. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0960-0687.