This document combines a final project report and the resulting guidebook of 20 lesson plans for English as a second language (ESL) instructors to help learners work within the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) system and acquire effective job readiness strategies, choose a career path, and pursue employment. The report describes the…

The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) makes it possible to build human capital resources by providing employment services and training to youth and adult dislocated workers. Such services are particularly needed in the rural South, where those affected by welfare reform have few job skills or educational credentials. WIA calls for the…

Increasingly, less educated Americans are struggling with self-sufficiency. Low-end jobs are diminishing, and adults who left high school with education adequate to support themselves now find their marketable skills limited. Recent welfare reforms restrict assistance, leaving struggling workers with dwindling aid. Changing family structures…

This monograph examines adult education issues in Minnesota, such as the proper role of the Federal Government, institutions of higher education, the business sector, the non-profit sector, labor unions, the public schools and community education, teachers, public school administrators, and learners in the fight against adult illiteracy in the…

The Confidence Clinic at Clackamas Community College was designed to help women on welfare to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency. The need for such a program was evidenced by the fact that 11% of the county's population were women heads of households who had below median family incomes, and by the apparent increase of such situations. The…

WorkFirst is Washington State's welfare-to-work program. The program's mission is to help citizens get "a job, a better job, a better life." Inaugurated in 1996, it is based on the 1996 federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) welfare reform legislation. As part of this new program, the community and technical college system…

Focusing on the influence of impoverished environments on child outcomes, this Kids Count report examines trends in the well-being of Iowa children. The first section of the report presents an overview essay detailing the presence and location of high risk and moderate risk census tracts in Iowa, based on information from the 2000 Census using…

This report from the Children's Defense Fund lists statistics on child and youth well-being for each of the states and the United States as a whole. Statistics are provided in the following categories: (1) children participating in federally subsidized programs (including Title 1 Education for the Disadvantaged, bilingual education programs,…

With increasing unemployment in the United States, the nation has seen a drop in the percentage of children in poverty with one or more parents in the workforce, a reverse of trends evident in the late 1990s. This research brief presents a statistical snapshot of working poor families with children in 2001. Analyses revealed that in 2001 children…

Part of a series from the Child Care Law Center, this issue of "Working for Change" discusses the need for quality, affordable child care as a support for working parents trying to break out of welfare dependency. This report details the current realities of poor parents who struggle to find and pay for child care while they work and…

Congress will likely soon enact work force development legislation that consolidates education and training programs, reduces federal funding, and gives states greater discretion in program and services design. It may also adopt welfare reform legislation that creates a block grant commingling cash assistance and Job Opportunities and Basic Skills…

Today, many jobs that once could support a family barely suffice to keep that family out of poverty. The implied bargain America offers its citizens is supposed to be that anyone who works hard and plays by the rules can support his or her family and move onward and upward. But for millions of New Yorkers, that bargain is out of reach; the uphill…

Ohio, like other states, will soon begin implementing parts of a sweeping new federal welfare reform law. These seven 1- and 2-page reports, issued under the general heading of "Ohio Children: Together We Can Help Them Grow," describe various Ohio welfare programs, providing statistics on their costs and usage rates, as well as changes…

The Culebra Road GED/JOBS (General Educational Development/Job Opportunities and Basic Skills) class provides recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) with remedial academic instruction, job preparedness training, and training in parenting skills. At the suggestion of one of its students, the class undertook a project that…

This report provides a comprehensive portrait of educationally disadvantaged college aspirants, focusing on three important factors that hinder access to and success in postsecondary education. These factors--welfare participation, first-generation college student status, and parental divorce--exacerbate the obstacles that continue to confront…