Examined the impact of 1996 welfare reform legislation on immigrants' welfare use. Nationally, immigrants' welfare participation rates declined relative to those of natives. This trend was attributable to trends in welfare participation in California, where immigrants experienced a precipitous drop in participation rates. Much of the potential…

States with family cap public assistance policies deny or reduce additional welfare benefits to mothers who conceive and give birth to additional children while they are receiving aid. By 1999, 22 states had family cap policies in place. This paper reports estimates of the number and cost implications of infants conceived by mothers receiving…

President Clinton has repeatedly called for a bipartisan welfare reform bill that is tough on work and responsibility, but not tough on children. This means providing adequate child care to enable recipients to leave welfare for work; rewarding states for placing people in jobs; guaranteeing health coverage for families leaving welfare for…

The School Attendance Demonstration Project (SADP) was designed to improve school attendance among teenagers receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) benefits in San Diego County, California. An impact study was conducted from March 10, 1996 to March 10, 1998, to evaluate the effects of providing social services and imposing…

This report helps state and local decision makers understand the range of services ordinarily needed and provided in alcohol and drug treatment programs serving women and families receiving welfare and how those services support the goals of welfare reform. The model programs profiled here tend to the needs of women on welfare and their families…

This report details inequities in how preschool and child care opportunities are distributed among 4 California counties, across communities situated within these counties, and among the state's 200 localities with the most families receiving welfare benefits. Analysis of uniform data on the state's 8,831 licensed preschools and 30,730 family…

An analysis of California's Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) work-to-welfare program did not find achievement test score improvement as a result of mandatory adult education participation. This reanalysis of GAIN impact with 581 enrollees and 500 controls finds a more positive overall impact and confirms test score improvements in one…

Interviewed 1,343 single mothers in California who received Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) concerning available child day care options and subsidies. Results suggested that efforts to increase target efficiency in public child day care subsidies by narrowly restricting eligibility may be reducing effectiveness on related policy…

This report provides objective information about the relationship of poverty, welfare, and homelessness to California's regional economy and about the design of programs that help people in poverty build working lives. California does not have enough jobs for its workforce, and welfare caseloads are consequently determined by the economy. The…

This paper contends that, because the direct connection between education and earnings is growing, with higher earnings increasingly linked to some form of postsecondary education and training, economic self-sufficiency frequently requires that workers advance beyond high school. At the same time, employers are increasingly reporting difficulty in…

A study examined barriers to employment faced by 4,014 welfare recipients in Merced County, California. Ethnic groups differed in the importance of various barriers to workforce entry: educational attainment; family composition; and lack of work experience, vocational training, English language fluency, a vehicle, or driver's license. Asians,…

This document explains the objectives and components of California Work Opportunities and Responsibility for Kids (CalWORKs), which is a seven-step program designed to move welfare parents into the workplace. Presented first are a list of the 14 principles behind CalWORKs and a flowchart illustrating the program's operation. After a discussion of…

Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN), California's welfare reform program, provides education, job services, and support services to welfare recipients to promote self-sufficiency and eliminate welfare dependency. In 1989, a survey was conducted of all California community colleges to gather information on GAIN participants, services, and…

California's welfare reform program, Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN), assigned the state's community colleges a major role in promoting financial self-sufficiency among welfare recipients by equipping them with marketable vocational skills. A study was conducted to determine the nature and amount of involvement of the community colleges in…

Rising maternal employment, welfare reform, and increased preschool enrollment contribute to accelerating family demand for child care in California, and federal and state governments have responded by doubling support for child care and preschool programs between 1996 and 1999. However, there is little information available on how child care…