A new way to fight poverty: Fort Worth, TX
Published on: March 2, 2026
MORE ABOUT THE STRATEGY USED IN THIS CASE STUDY Wealth building, Job placement services and supports
Overview
Summary
Every person experiencing poverty faces unique and interrelated factors that act as obstacles to change. In the years following the 2008 Great Recession, Catholic Charities Fort Worth (CCFW) created a number of programs to address persistent poverty in the region, offering individuals services focused in areas like job training and transportation. While these programs were helping in the short-term, the organization’s leaders wanted to generate longer-lasting change.
With the goal of helping people permanently exit poverty, CCFW designed a holistic, deeply client-centered anti-poverty program that focused on the specific needs of individuals and families, rather than pre-defined service delivery. Launched in 2015, Padua offers intensive case management and wraparound services to low-income clients. Each client identifies their strengths, goals, and the obstacles they face. With support from a case management team, clients create a personalized service plan to reach specific goals.
Padua is flexible by design. Participants may remain in the program as long as they continue to work toward personalized goals that will lead them to self-sufficiency. Two-person case management teams refer individuals to services provided by CCFW and partner organizations, but they also help to develop executive functioning and problem-solving skills. Case managers can offer strategic financial assistance in support of a specific goal defined in a client’s service plan.
A randomized control trial has evaluated the program’s impact on participants, finding increased employment, earning, housing and well-being outcomes for enrolled individuals. For example, Padua clients were 67% more likely to be employed full-time and 64% more likely to have stable housing two years after program enrollment, compared to a control group.
Results and Accomplishments
67%
Padua clients who were unemployed at the start of the program were 67% more likely to be employed full-time two years after their enrollment, compared to a control group.
46%
Padua clients were 46% more likely to see an increase in monthly earnings two years after their enrollment, compared to a control group.
43%
The percentage of Padua clients who reported improved physical or emotional well-being two years after enrollment.
Helping over 750 households move out of poverty: Padua clients experienced significant improvements, on average, across various labor market and financial metrics: higher income, higher employment rates and less credit card debt. They also saw housing benefits: Participants who began Padua unstably housed were 64% more likely to have stable housing 24 months after program enrollment.
Improving clients’ well-being: Program clients are 53% more likely to rate their emotional or physical health as having improved or stayed “excellent” after program completion.
Proving the value of a holistic approach to moving people out of poverty: Padua’s model fundamentally differs from traditional anti-poverty social services. Rather than focusing on one particular service (e.g., food or housing), the program addresses root causes through a client-centered, holistic approach. Case managers partner with clients to understand and address an individual’s unique array of needs and challenges. Each client sets personal goals and receives personalized case worker support with integrated wraparound services.
Evidence-based refinement and replication: Catholic Charities Fort Worth (CCFW) was committed to rigorously evaluating the Padua program from its inception. Data from randomized control trial evaluations spurred refinements to the model and built support for its replication in other locations. In 2026, new Padua programs will launch in South Bend, Indiana and Chicago, Illinois.
Solution
What was the challenge?
Persistent poverty with complex causes: In 2014, nearly 300,000 people lived in poverty in Tarrant County, which encompasses Fort Worth. This included 113,000 children. Poverty rates continued to rise in the following years. Families and individuals often struggled against multiple challenges simultaneously, such as unstable employment, unaffordable housing, lack of transportation, poor health and language barriers.
An anti-poverty model focused on discrete services and resource connections: The dominant approach to fighting poverty in the 2010s in Fort Worth involved connecting individuals and families to specific kinds of resources and services. Nonprofit organizations offered food aid or help finding affordable housing, for example, but were not able to address underlying caregiving, medical, or employment challenges that act as obstacles to transformational change. In the decade preceding Padua’s launch in 2015, CCFW had developed multiple separate programs to help those in need, including ones focused on transportation, dental care, and job training. By 2014, CCFW leaders realized that simply growing the organization’s individual programs and services didn’t offer people a path out of poverty. It needed a new strategy to help change life trajectories.
What was the approach?
A new kind of client-focused program: Recognizing the need for a new approach, CCFW created Padua, a wraparound case management program for low-income individuals and families designed to help people move past the barriers contributing to poverty. (Catholics consider St. Anthony of Padua to be the patron saint of the poor.) Padua case managers start by helping clients envision a better future for themselves. Each client completes an assessment to identify strengths, goals, and obstacles faced. The process invites clients to articulate what a better future looks like—and then set specific goals leading to emotional resiliency, economic mobility, and independence.
Individualized service plan: With support from a case manager and a case worker, the client creates a service plan to reach specific goals, such as increased income and savings, or debt reduction. The plan leverages the client’s strengths to reach goals and overcome any obstacles he or she may face. Specific services provided in support of the plan vary by client. They can include housing assistance, transportation, budgeting and financial literacy, child care, counseling and mental health, job training and employment assistance. CCFW also operates a dental clinic available to clients.
Strategic financial assistance: CCFW offers direct, flexible financial assistance to Padua clients—helping with rent and utility bills, car repairs or a medical emergency, for example—but it must relate to a goal set out in the client’s service plan. Financial assistance is sometimes used as a tool to incentivize or encourage progress toward goals. For example, Padua may match an individual’s savings to encourage saving. Whenever financial assistance is provided, the client is involved with the strategic planning surrounding it.
Intensive case management: Case managers and case workers have small caseloads (18-24 clients) allowing them to embrace a “whatever it takes” mindset and come up with creative solutions to support progress toward goals. Two-person teams do more than refer individuals to partner organizations for services. A case manager, for example, may work with a client to develop executive functioning and problem-solving skills, and coach for overall well-being.
- Flexible by design: There’s no fixed timeline for program completion. Participants may remain in the program until they complete their service plan and reach the goals they’ve set for themselves. Many individuals remain in the program for more than two years. The flexible and intensive nature of the program means that although it is relatively costly to operate ($11,000 per participant, on average), it can also have a larger and more lasting impact on the trajectory of participants’ lives.
Who was involved?
Clients and their families: Participation is open to Tarrant County residents whose household income falls below 200% of the federal poverty line. In addition, at least one person older than 18 per household must be willing and able to work. Participants are typically referred to the program when they seek other social assistance from CCFW.
Catholic Charities Fort Worth: Founded in 1910, the nonprofit serves tens of thousands of people in North Texas each year. CCFW is Padua’s program designer and administrator.
Case management teams: Padua case managers and caseworkers build relationships with clients to support progress toward client goals through personalized supports. Case managers hold master’s degrees in clinical counseling or social work, and case workers hold bachelor's degrees.
Service provider community partners: Dozens of community-based organizations provide specific services for Padua clients. Examples include education, job training, transportation, employment, language interpreters/translators, child care, and auto repair shops that offer discounts to Padua clients. CCFW has also cultivated core strategic partners (e.g., Fort Worth County Hospital), who commit to Padua’s vision and agree to streamline access to services (while working with case workers) to support Padua clients.
Referral community partners: These organizations in the Fort Worth area support Padua by referring potential clients to CCFW, helping to build the program’s pipeline.
University of Notre Dame’s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO): LEO is dedicated to partnering with anti-poverty service providers to evaluate interventions and understand what works. CCFW partnered with LEO before Padua launched, so that an evaluation could begin with the very first cohort of the program’s clients.
External funders: Padua is primarily funded by foundations, including the America Idea Foundation.
How was this approach funded?
- Private donations: CCFW’s leaders built support for Padua’s ambitious vision for long-term change, convincing foundations and other private donors that a new approach could deliver real impact—and reward patience. As of 2025, the organization has raised a total of $6 million for the program from foundations and private individuals who had previously financially supported anti-poverty work without seeing significant impacts. No government funding supports Padua, although some clients may receive Medicaid, SNAP, or other safety net benefits.
Timeline
Catholic Charities Fort Worth launches Padua, a new program to move people out of poverty, with 103 clients. All are enrolled in a randomized control trial (RCT) conducted by the University of Notre Dame’s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO).
CCFW evolves the use of direct financial assistance to be a strategic tool for developing executive functioning skills and overcoming challenges. Going forward, the organization only offers cash aid if doing so helps a client move closer to a goal in his or her long-term plan.
LEO begins a second RCT evaluation with a new cohort of Padua clients. LEO researchers will track employment and earning levels, as well as other labor market outcomes, for all RCT participants in the years that follow.
CCFW adjusts Padua’s case management model to support more clients more efficiently. Going forward, case managers are the owners of client relationships, and case workers support two case managers’ client portfolios at a time.
The results of a RCT are published by LEO researchers. The paper, titled “Fighting Poverty One Family at a Time,” finds that Padua increased employment and housing outcomes for enrolled individuals. After two years of program participation, full-time employment increased by 25 percent.
The Padua program is replicated outside of the Fort Worth region for the first time, with support from Franchise for Good. New programs are scheduled to be launched in South Bend, Indiana and Chicago, Illinois, supported by new private donors. The evidence base built by LEO studies helped build support for program replication.
Implementation
What factors drove success?
Commitment to longer-term change. Padua was designed to be an alternative to the dominant anti-poverty social services paradigm of specific aid offered with a relatively short-term mindset. The guiding idea is that Padua case managers will support clients through the process of believing in themselves and developing the skills necessary to achieve their vision for lasting change.
Client-led, strengths-based approach: Padua focuses on clients’ visions for their future rather than their deficits. The program is premised on the idea that most people want agency in their life, and that lasting change requires individuals to have the confidence and resilience to overcome obstacles on their own.
Relatively small client caseloads: Padua case managers support 25 households at a time. This relatively small caseload size allows them to sustain close relationships with clients over time. The ability to understand each client’s unique needs and goals, and devote the time needed to help spur progress, is a central factor in the success of the Padua program model.
Access to a wide range of resources: Case managers and case workers are able to support each client through a large ecosystem of service providers and community partners who support Padua’s long-term anti-poverty vision. This is crucial for supporting each client’s goals and helping remove whatever obstacles to change and stability stand in the way.
A learning mindset: CCFW committed to evaluating Padua from its inception, partnering with the University of Notre Dame in 2014 to begin evaluating the program through a RCT when it launched the following year. CCFW leaders wanted solid data to understand what worked or didn’t work—and then refine the program. As one Padua program leader put it, “We were designing the plane while learning to fly it.” Ultimately, the learning mindset—not being afraid to “fail forward,” as program leaders put it—helped generate evidence of effectiveness and build funding and community support for Padua’s novel approach.
What were the major obstacles?
Funders expecting short-term results. CCFW had to build support for its long-term vision among funders. Padua’s anti-poverty approach was novel, requiring patience and a longer-term commitment. At the program’s outset, some funders needed to be persuaded that the new model was worth investing in.
The COVID-19 pandemic: The public health crisis challenged Padua in multiple ways. The shift to video conference-based case management made it harder for case management teams to build relationships with clients. Many new clients during the pandemic were experiencing significant financial hardship for the first time and had never relied on social services and/or had a case manager before—helping them adjust was often difficult. And an uptick in Padua program staff turnover during the pandemic also proved challenging.
How was the approach measured and refined?
- Randomized control trial (RCT) evaluation: CCFW partnered with the University of Notre Dame’s LEO in 2014 to plan a rigorous evaluation of Padua. Two cohorts of Padua clients have enrolled in RCTs conducted by LEO since the program launched in 2015.
To measure the program’s impact on key outcomes, LEO’s research team conducted follow-up surveys 12 and 24 months after individuals in the initial cohort enrolled in the RCT.
Longer-term outcomes have been tracked through administrative data, including credit information and earnings.
About 750 households have been part of the RCTs conducted by LEO, whether in treatment or control groups.
The evaluation data has influenced the program's design and helped secure additional funding and support for replication.
A more strategic approach to direct financial assistance: In 2016, CCFW changed its approach to cash assistance: It had to support a client’s service plan and be tied to specific client goals. CCFW made this decision after a data analysis revealed that clients who were receiving the most financial assistance were often progressing toward their goals more slowly than other clients.
Evolving how case managers and case workers support clients: In 2019, CCFW adjusted Padua’s case management model to support more clients more efficiently. Padua case managers (who had a maximum of 25 clients) became the owners of client relationships, while case workers began supporting two case managers’ client portfolios, for a total of 50 clients. This was possible because most clients did not have simultaneous resource needs. The shift helped make program operations more cost-effective.
Strengthened support for client-facing program staff: In 2016, CCFW began coaching case managers and case workers to ensure they were fully prepared for new client intake and assessment processes, and were aware of their own biases. There is a therapeutic aspect of this professional coaching support, which proved particularly helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because the coaching proved so valuable to Padua staff, CCFW expanded it to support staff in other programs.