This guide shares information about setting up and operating Neighborhood Networks centers. (These centers operate in Department of Housing and Urban Development-assisted or -insured housing nationwide to help low-income people boost their basic skills and find good jobs, learn to use computers and the Internet, run businesses, improve their…

This brief summarizes information collected during visits to Hennepin County (Minnesota's largest urban county) in 1999 and 2000 to document changes and progress since 1997. It updates a 1997 report that reviewed the benefits and services in the state and described the economic and political context shaping Minnesota's agenda for serving…

A study determined the extent to which states spend federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and state maintenance-of-effort (MOE) funds for cash assistance and non-cash services and how this compares to welfare spending in fiscal year (FY) 1995. It also identifed the extent to which states use TANF and MOE funds to provide services…

A Cuyahoga County, Ohio, study focused on two cohorts: pre-Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) leavers who left in the third quarter of 1996 and post-TANF leavers who left in the third quarter of 1998. Outcomes were examined for about 6,151 adult welfare leavers. Findings indicated the rate of leaving welfare increased between 1996-98;…

This paper provides an early analysis of child care subsidies under welfare reform. The paper reviews the literature on child care subsidies and discusses the potential for such subsidies to be an effective part of the effort to make low-income families economically self-sufficient. The paper then uses data from the National Survey of America's…

Presents interim findings from an impact analysis of Ohio's Learning, Earning, and Parenting (LEAP) Program. LEAP is a statewide program designed to encourage school attendance among pregnant and parenting teens on welfare. Suggests that LEAP has succeeded in its primary short-term goal of increasing the school enrollment and attendance of teen…

Notes that Zaslow study marks an important advance in understanding of child-care-utilization patterns and how center-based programs in low-income communities may influence children's development and school readiness. Asserts that researchers should not become complacent after finding that simply being in a child-care program makes a difference in…

Today, a college education is increasingly viewed as the gateway to the American Dream--a necessary prerequisite for social mobility. Yet recent policy reforms in the United States effectively steer former welfare recipients away from an education that could further their career prospects, forcing them directly into the workforce where they often…

Most discussions of welfare reform ignore two factors: its effect on children; and the fact that a welfare reform law, the Family Support Act of 1988 (FSA), already exists. FSA created state Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) welfare-to-work programs, and if the JOBS program is adequately funded, it can improve the lives of welfare…

"Confronting the New Politics of Child and Family Policy in the United States" is an 18-month project designed to help states, local governments, and the voluntary sector as they respond to the social policy debates and changes precipitated by the 104th Congress. The project's main vehicle will be a series of reports, based on a series…

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…

Efforts to reform the welfare system in the United States have been gaining momentum since the late 1980s. Critics have been arguing that states should receive federal waivers to create their own programs to encourage welfare recipients to find work. The thrust of the 1996 welfare reform act transfers control over welfare spending to the states.…

This report synthesizes first-phase evaluation results of the Teenage Parent Demonstration program. This program, whose cornerstone is case management, responded to three concerns: (1) rising welfare caseloads; (2) persistently high rates of teenage pregnancies and births; and (3) the high probability that teenage parents will go onto welfare and…

Noting Congressional interest in encouraging low-income mothers to seek employment as an alternative to receiving welfare, this report describes a study of the impact of child care expenditures on mothers' decision to work and compares the differences in costs for poor, near-poor, and non-poor mothers. The study developed measures for predicted…

In response to the increasing numbers of homeless families, Homes for the Homeless surveyed families in emergency shelters in Newark (New Jersey) to gain some insights into the characteristics and circumstances of urban homeless families. Newark was chosen because it is a large urban center with a high concentration of welfare recipients that is…