New Tool | 2Generation Economy Workforce Ecosystem
The Durability Index
A practical scorecard for measuring whether second chance work is producing household stability, not just activity.
Designed for the 2Generation Economy Workforce Ecosystem, this tool helps employers, workforce boards, corrections leaders, funders, and community partners measure what actually matters over a 12–24 month time horizon.
Download the Scorecard →Foundation: Lived Experience Is System Intelligence
Most systems say they "center lived experience," but too often they use it as testimony instead of design intelligence. The foundational claim of this tool is simple: lived experience is system intelligence.
That means the people most impacted by the justice system are not an advisory add-on. They are a source of irreplaceable knowledge about how the system actually behaves in real life—across housing, work, supervision, transportation, family life, benefits, and daily survival.
If lived experience does not change what gets measured, how success is defined, which pilots are funded, and who holds decision-making power, then it is not being used as system intelligence. It is being used as public relations.
This is where the Durability Index begins. It is not just a scorecard. It is a way to translate Lived Experience System Intelligence into metrics, governance, and action.
Why This Tool Exists
Most second chance dashboards still ask the same questions: How many people with records did we hire? How long did they stay? How do they perform compared with everyone else?
Those are useful business metrics. They are not enough. A worker can keep a job and still live one emergency away from collapse; a household can show effort without experiencing stability; and a program can hit placement targets while missing the real outcome.
The Durability Index shifts the unit of change from individual activity to household stability. That is the core logic of the 2Generation Economy Workforce Ecosystem: measure the system at the level where life is actually lived.
What It Measures
Five Domains That Define Household Durability
The Durability Index is built around five domains. These domains reflect a core argument: stable work, housing, financial resilience, and family-centered supports change trajectories more than one-time placements or short-term completions.
Employment Retention
Is work still present 12 and 24 months later?
Wage Progression
Is income moving up, not just starting somewhere?
Housing Stability
Is the household more stable, safer, and less transient?
Financial Resilience
Can the household absorb a modest shock without spiraling?
Justice-System Stability
Is justice-system contact decreasing over time?
Design Principle: From Story to Scorecard
Lived experience belongs in the design of the scorecard itself, not only in opening remarks or testimonials.
The Durability Index should therefore be designed, interpreted, and improved with lived-experience leaders who can name where policy and practice collide with reality. They help surface design failures a spreadsheet alone cannot see—release dates that do not match housing intake, supervision rules that compete with employment, or wages that look acceptable on paper but still leave a family in crisis.
In that sense, the Index is strongest when it is co-authored by agencies, employers, funders, and people with direct justice experience.
How to Use It
Four Steps to Better Decisions
Pick a Cohort
Choose justice-impacted workers hired in the last 90 days.
Score at Intervals
Score each household at baseline, 12 months, and 24 months.
Review Patterns
Review the pattern across all five domains.
Decide & Adjust
Use the results to decide what to fix in policy, practice, benefits, scheduling, partnerships, and funding.
This is not a compliance form. It is a decision tool.
Scoring Method
How to Score Each Domain
Score each domain on a 0–4 scale:
- 0 = Crisis
- 1 = Fragile
- 2 = Stabilizing
- 3 = Stable
- 4 = Durable
Add the five domain scores for a total possible score of 20.
Durability Bands
| Total Score | Band | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 0–5 | Crisis Zone | Household instability is acute; urgent support is needed. |
| 6–9 | Fragile Zone | Some movement is present, but stability is not yet holding. |
| 10–14 | Stabilizing Zone | Key systems are improving, but durability is still unproven. |
| 15–17 | Stable Zone | The household is holding across most domains. |
| 18–20 | Durable Zone | Strong, multi-domain stability is present. |
Domain 1
Employment Retention
Is the worker connected to consistent employment over time?
| Score | Definition |
|---|---|
| 0 | No job, or repeated job loss with long gaps in employment. |
| 1 | Employed intermittently, unstable hours, or frequent churn. |
| 2 | Employed, but under 12 months or at clear risk of separation. |
| 3 | Retained in employment for 12 months with a consistent work pattern. |
| 4 | Retained for 24 months and showing advancement, stronger hours, or promotion. |
Suggested evidence: hire date, payroll continuity, attendance pattern, supervisor confirmation, advancement records.
Domain 2
Wage Progression
Is earned income improving over time?
| Score | Definition |
|---|---|
| 0 | No earned income. |
| 1 | Income is present but stagnant, highly volatile, or clearly insufficient for basic stability. |
| 2 | Modest income with limited movement or irregular hours undermining predictability. |
| 3 | Measurable wage or income growth over 12 months. |
| 4 | Strong wage progression over 24 months, with improved predictability and benefits where applicable. |
Suggested evidence: pay stubs, hourly wage changes, average weekly hours, benefits enrollment, wage review history.
Domain 3
Housing Stability
Is the household in a more stable housing situation than at baseline?
| Score | Definition |
|---|---|
| 0 | Unhoused, couch-surfing, emergency shelter use, or constant housing disruption. |
| 1 | Temporary housing or unstable arrangements with high displacement risk. |
| 2 | Housed, but unstable, overcrowded, unsafe, or financially precarious. |
| 3 | Stable housing maintained over 12 months with reduced move frequency. |
| 4 | Stable housing over 24 months with stronger safety, predictability, or neighborhood quality. |
Suggested evidence: self-report, lease status, move count, shelter use, landlord verification where appropriate.
Domain 4
Financial Resilience
Can the household absorb a modest financial shock?
| Score | Definition |
|---|---|
| 0 | One emergency creates immediate crisis, missed rent, utility shutoff, or food insecurity. |
| 1 | Some income flow, but no emergency buffer and recurring hardship. |
| 2 | The household can manage basic expenses but remains highly vulnerable to shocks. |
| 3 | The household can absorb a modest unexpected expense without severe disruption. |
| 4 | The household has an emergency cushion, reduced debt stress, and stronger monthly predictability. |
Suggested evidence: self-attestation, savings pattern, missed bill frequency, utility notices, debt or fee reduction, budgeting support notes.
Domain 5
Justice-System Stability
Is justice-system contact decreasing over time for the worker and the immediate household environment?
| Score | Definition |
|---|---|
| 0 | New arrests, repeated violations, custody returns, or acute system instability. |
| 1 | Ongoing system contact that regularly disrupts work or family stability. |
| 2 | Reduced contact, but continued instability or unresolved supervision barriers. |
| 3 | Minimal justice-system disruption over 12 months, with improved compliance and fewer interruptions. |
| 4 | Sustained reduction in system contact over 24 months with stable compliance and no major disruptions. |
Suggested evidence: supervision records, self-report, employer attendance impacts, case manager notes, court or compliance documentation.
Household Context Screen
Before scoring, capture a quick baseline profile:
- Worker name / household ID
- Employer / program / referral source
- Start date
- Household size
- Number of dependent children
- Current housing status at entry
- Current supervision status at entry
- Starting wage / average weekly hours
- Key barriers at entry (transportation, childcare, fines and fees, housing restrictions, benefits loss, digital access)
The Durability Index is not designed to flatten people into numbers. It is designed to help leaders make better decisions with sharper context.
Recommended Weighting
The simplest version uses equal weighting. For the 2Generation Economy Workforce Ecosystem, a strong default weighting is:
- Employment Retention = 20%
- Wage Progression = 20%
- Housing Stability = 25%
- Financial Resilience = 20%
- Justice-System Stability = 15%
Housing carries the highest weight because a job alone does not create durability if the household remains unstable. Housing is often the anchor condition that determines whether work can hold.
What a Strong Score Looks Like
A household is not durable because one person got hired. A household is durable when:
- Work is still there.
- Wages are improving.
- Housing is holding.
- Shocks are survivable.
- Justice-system disruption is declining.
That is the difference between placement and progress.
Red-Flag Patterns to Watch
Use the Index to spot traps early.
Pattern A: Job Yes, Stability No
- Retention score is 3 or 4.
- Housing or financial resilience is 0 or 1.
Meaning: the job exists, but the household is still brittle.
Pattern B: Program Success, Family Stress
- Completions and placements look good.
- Household total score remains under 10.
Meaning: the dashboard may be rewarding activity over outcomes.
Pattern C: Wages Rising, Justice Friction Unchanged
- Income improves.
- Court, supervision, or compliance disruption stays high.
Meaning: policy friction is eroding the gains.
Pattern D: Stable Worker, Unstable Children's Environment
- Worker is employed.
- Household still faces repeated moves, caregiving breakdown, or school instability.
Meaning: the system is measuring the worker, not the household.
Governance: Where System Intelligence Belongs
Metrics alone do not change systems. Power does.
The proper place of lived experience in the Durability Index is foundational, not decorative. Lived-experience leaders should hold defined roles in how the Index is governed, interpreted, and improved over time. That means:
- Lived-experience leaders help define thresholds and review findings
- They have a voice in which pilots get tested and funded
- They stay in the room when data is reviewed and when the next experiment is chosen
Without that governance structure, dashboards can glow green while households remain one crisis away from collapse. With it, the Index becomes honest enough to support real redesign.
90-Day Implementation Guide
Getting Started by Sector
For Employers
- Choose one cohort of justice-impacted employees hired in the last quarter.
- Score the five domains at baseline.
- Recheck at 90 days and identify the lowest-scoring domain.
- Adjust one business practice: scheduling, transportation support, manager training, emergency cash support, or referral partnership.
- Review again in the next quarter.
For Workforce Boards
- Add the Durability Index to one pilot cohort.
- Require 12- and 24-month follow-up instead of only exit outcomes.
- Track which providers produce multi-domain gains, not just completions.
- Shift performance conversations toward household stability.
For Corrections and Reentry Partners
- Map where supervision conditions collide with work and family obligations.
- Use Index patterns to identify avoidable disruption points.
- Bring those patterns to the 2G Economy Council for problem-solving.
For Funders
- Ask grantees for household-level indicators, not just placement counts.
- Fund follow-up capacity for 12–24 month measurement.
- Reward cross-system pilots that move multiple domains at once.
One-Page Scorecard
| Domain | Baseline (0–4) | 12 Months (0–4) | 24 Months (0–4) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employment Retention | ||||
| Wage Progression | ||||
| Housing Stability | ||||
| Financial Resilience | ||||
| Justice-System Stability | ||||
| Total |
Interpretation Guide
- If the total score rises, ask why and build on what worked.
- If one domain stays low, ask what system incentive is driving that.
- If household experience and dashboard numbers conflict, trust the conflict and investigate it.
- If scores improve for one partner but not across the household, redesign the partnership, not the person.
Suggested Companion Tools
This download works best when paired with:
- A 2G Economy Council Meeting Agenda
- A 90-Day Pilot Design Worksheet
- A Household Stability Intake Form
- A Funder Dashboard Template
- An Employer Durability Review Checklist
Closing Call to Action
Use this tool to start one different conversation this quarter.
Not: "How many people did we place?"
But: "What are we funding—placement, or progress?"
That is where the 2Generation Economy Workforce Ecosystem begins. Change the metrics. Change the incentives. Change the outcomes.
Sources & Further Reading
- Council of State Governments Justice Center – "Beyond Recidivism: Redefining Measures to Understand Reentry Success"
- National Reentry Resource Center – "Measuring Reentry Success Beyond Recidivism"
- National Institute of Justice – "Incorporating Those with Lived Experience to Improve Community Supervision Outcomes"
- Penal Reform International – "Involving People with Lived Experience in Criminal Justice Reform" and "Placing lived experience at the heart of systemic change in prisons"
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce – "The Workforce Impact of Second Chance Hiring"
- Jobs for the Future (JFF) – "Freedom to Achieve"
Download the Durability Index Scorecard
Get the complete scoring tool, household context screen, red-flag pattern guide, and 90-day implementation roadmap — all in one practical PDF.
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