This study focuses on how Wisconsin built up work requirements in Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) prior to both Wisconsin Works (W-2) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It suggests that Wisconsin is an example to other states and that Wisconsin provides a good test of the top-down hypothesis about the implementation…

This exploratory study examined the level of involvement of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) applicants in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin with the child welfare system both before and after their application for TANF assistance and inclusion in the study. The study found a high level of involvement of TANF applicants with child…

Describes the impact of Wisconsin Works (W-2), a work-first welfare reform effort that has created significant welfare enrollment reduction. While critics claimed it would devastate inner cities, poor families are faring better. W-2 built on diversion and incentives, opening up welfare administration to competition. Despite many successes, W-2 has…

The Job Opportunities and Basic Skills program (JOBS) is an ambitious federal effort at welfare reform but the federal government has given local operators little direction on how to run it. JOBS can be improved using existing evaluations and analyses of administrative data. Reform depends mostly on capable local administration. (JOW)

This report from a 1996 Child Care Action Campaign national audioconference concerns approaches taken by Wisconsin and Minnesota in designing and implementing federally funded child care subsidy systems. Wisconsin Works phases out Aid to Families with Dependent Children cash assistance and redirects funds into job training, child care, and health…

Wisconsin's new welfare program was a dramatic departure from the old income maintenance system of welfare and moved beyond other states' work-based welfare reform programs. This report describes Wisconsin's approach to welfare reform, using data collected in 1999 and 2000 from state and local administrators, direct service providers, and, in some…

This book examines welfare reform, occasioned by the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), which abolished Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and replaced it with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It is based on research in Ohio, Kansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan that…

This report discusses the outcomes of a study that examined the impact of welfare reform on individuals with disabilities in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. New welfare reforms required individuals to develop marketable skills and acceptable work behaviors and move along a path to employment. For individuals with disabilities in the Temporary…

The initial client assessment procedures used by case managers in the Wisconsin Works (W-2) program in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, were examined. Data were collected through the following activities: (1) observations of 100 financial and employment planner (FEP)-applicant intake interviews; (2) an examination of administrative data to learn how…

Summarizes remarks made by the Governor of Wisconsin about welfare reform, supporting more flexibility at the state level to enable states to try new approaches that will help people get off welfare. Initiatives undertaken in Wisconsin are reviewed, with emphasis on work programs and apprenticeships for high school students. (SLD)

A study focused on the effect of welfare reform legislation on literacy or social service providers and families participating in the programs. Program staff and participants in Wisconsin and California were surveyed and interviewed to determine how welfare reform impacted what they do programmatically or personally. Findings indicated receipt of…

This book analyzes the responses of five states (Florida, Mississippi, New York, Washington, and Wisconsin) to challenges posed by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to alter state welfare programs and management systems. Using case studies, the book highlights similarities and differences in the states'…

The practices and perceptions of Wisconsin employers regarding welfare recipients were examined. First, 500 employers outside the Milwaukee metropolitan area were interviewed by telephone. Those data were merged with data from a survey of Milwaukee-area employers, resulting in a statewide sample of about 1,250 Wisconsin employers (25%, 35%, and…