Suggests ways to improve child support enforcement. Getting the child support system out of the courts to the extent possible and providing government guarantees of child support are two types of proposals that must be considered. A final necessity is increasing welfare benefits to a subsistence level. (SLD)

Smart Start is a multi-disciplinary, comprehensive, community-based initiative to serve North Carolina children under age 6 and their families to ensure that all children enter school healthy and prepared to succeed. To achieve this, local county partnerships have focused both their attention and their funds on three major areas of service…

This report traces the growth of Project Integrated Education and Community Development (now known as the Education and Community Project) in the town of Ofakim, Israel, from its conceptual beginnings in 1977 through the first three years of its development into a multifaceted community education program. The project, conducted in predominantly…

The General Accounting Office assessed the extent to which states were coordinating their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) services with their one-stop centers. Data were gathered through the following activities: (1) an autumn 2001 survey of workforce development agency officials in all 50 states and a similar survey conducted in…

In this report, the General Accounting Office (GAO) examined how different states are implementing the work requirements and time limits called for by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Data were collected from site visits in 4 states, telephone interviews with TANF officials in 8 additional states, and a survey…

Smart Start is a multi-disciplinary, comprehensive, community-based initiative to serve North Carolina children under age 6 and their families to ensure that all children enter school healthy and prepared to succeed. To achieve this, local county partnerships have focused both their attention and their funds on implementing child care programs,…

Demographic and educational data were gathered from July 1986 through April 1989 for approximately 121,504 participants in Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) from all 58 counties in California that have implemented GAIN. Instrumentation was the GAIN Appraisal Program, three tests developed to provide an initial appraisal of participants'…

The General Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed states' implementation of the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) Training Program. GAO studied states' progress in implementing JOBS, decisions about which welfare recipients to serve and what services to provide, views on implementation problems or difficulties, and the nature and extent to…

Strategies for helping recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) benefits to pursue postsecondary education are considered, based on a review of activities in Massachusetts and supplemented by findings about 11 other states and the District of Columbia. College financial aid officers, state aid agencies, and Educational…

The characteristics, earnings, employment experiences, and material well-being of California welfare recipients after leaving welfare were examined by comparing the postwelfare experiences of groups who exited welfare before and after institution of California's welfare reform program CalWORKs. The first group (pre-CalWORKs group) exited welfare…

The New Hope Project in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was developed to reduce poverty and reform welfare by providing adults who are willing to work least 30 hours per week with the following: help obtaining a job, including time-limited, minimum wage community service jobs (CSJ) if full-time employment was not otherwise available; a monthly earnings…

This report addresses expanding welfare-to-work (WTW) programs to increase work among welfare recipients facing personal and family challenges. Section 1 examines what is known about the impact of traditional WTW program models and policy innovations on employment and earning profiles of these recipients. Evidence is presented showing WTW programs…

Studies have shown an inextricable link between under-education and chronic, intergenerational welfare dependency. With welfare reform focusing on moving individuals into the workforce more quickly, state welfare reform efforts to assist low-income parents and their children are needed. Incorporating family literacy instruction into…

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)

This study investigated the needs of low-literate students participating in a Human Resources Administration/City University of New York (HRA/CUNY) program offering English-as-a-Second-Language and employment-related training to low-income Hispanic women receiving welfare. It identified participants in need of literacy instruction based on grade…