This report addresses the failure of U.S. systems of support for homeless families, the impact of this failure on the nature of poverty across the country, and common sense options for turning failure into success. Extensive histories of participation in U.S. institutions of support are not spread evenly across the homeless population. While about…

A net impact evaluation was conducted of the Ohio JOBS (Job Opportunities and Basic Skills) Student Retention Program (JSRP) pursued by some JOBS program clients to fulfill their responsibilities and receive federal aid. JSRP was a support program designed to assist entry to and success in programs of study at two-year community or technical…

The Public Assistance Comprehensive Education (PACE) Program at Bronx Community College provides programs and services to assist students on welfare to successfully overcome barriers they meet while becoming productive members of the workforce. Each semester, PACE will recruit 200 students from the COPE program and work intensively in addressing…

This report on the early implementation of the Texas Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program and its impact on participants begins with an executive summary. An introduction outlines key research questions, components, and timelines. Section II covers program design and implementation and substate variations. The next five sections…

This study describes how poor people fared in the state tax and spending decisions made in 1991, a year marked by the most serious fiscal crisis for the states since the recessions of the early 1980s. These decisions primarily affected fiscal year 1992 state budgets, which typically began in July 1991. The report focuses on income support, medical…

The Wisconsin "Learnfare" policy requires that teenagers receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) attend school regularly until they have completed high school. The population of teen parents and dependent teens receiving AFDC from September 1988 through December 1989 included 22,241 males and 30,995 females. About half…

This study was conducted to determine how many workers are in low-wage jobs; their characteristics and changes in their characteristics over time; the characteristics of the low-wage jobs; gender, sex, and racial factors influencing participation in low-wage jobs; and the relationship of low-wage work to family poverty and welfare receipt. The…

The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)--through the explicit and implicit shelter allowance provided under Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and General Assistance--spends at least $10 billion a year on housing assistance, or about as much as the Department of Housing and…

In the Family Employability Development Plan (FEDP) process, a facilitator works with the family to help its members acquire the skills to develop their own plan for economic independence. The facilitator helps coordinate the interagency effort and helps the family become empowered to carry out its own plan. Carried out as a pilot project in 13…

Successful welfare reform requires quickly moving welfare recipients into jobs. Components to this challenge include the following: a poor fit between where jobs are located and where many welfare recipients live; recipients who lack experience and skills and do not know how to seek, find, or qualify for jobs; childcare and transportation needs;…

An evaluation of Jobs First (JF) compared the experiences of JF participants who were subject to welfare reform policies with those of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) participants who were subject to prior welfare rules. It collected information for four years about JF's impacts on participants' children and analyzed its financial…

Connecticut's Jobs First program, which began operating in January 1996, combines a time limit on welfare receipt with generous financial work incentives and requires recipients to participate in employment-related services targeted toward rapid job placement. The impacts of the Jobs First program were examined by following several thousand…

The General Accounting Office (GAO) examined worksite-based activities currently in place to help recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) develop the skills required for successful transition to unsubsidized employment. Data were collected from the following sources: (1) data reported by states to the Department of Health and…

This report examines implementation and impacts of Ramsey County's Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP), a "work first" program. Chapter 1 lists key findings, provides an overview of the Ramsey County variant (MFIP-R) evaluation, and policy relevance of MFIP-R. Chapter 2 describes key features of MFIP-R and compares them with…

This report presents findings about emerging approaches to enhance the well-being of young children and families in the context of welfare reform. Information on programs and initiatives was obtained from nomination forms sent to over 300 key informants, including child care officials, Head Start collaboration directors, governors' early childhood…