Increasing education among low-income parents is a vital component of policies to improve families' economic status. Educational attainment matters: between 1979 and 2005, wages for those with college and advanced degrees rose by 22 and 28 percent, respectively, while wages for high school graduates remained stagnant and wages for high school…

This report summarizes the final impact results for the national Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project. This project tested, using a random assignment design, the effectiveness of numerous programs intended to promote steady work and career advancement. All the programs targeted current and former welfare recipients and other low-wage…

Using data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS), an ongoing investigation of a panel of low-income minority children growing up in an inner city, this study investigated whether retention is associated with participation in postsecondary education and public aid receipt. The study sample included 1,367 participants whose data were available…

Research completed since the 1980s has yielded substantial knowledge about how to help welfare recipients and other low-income individuals prepare for and find jobs. Many participants in these successful job preparation and placement programs, however, ended up in unstable, low-paying jobs, and little was known about how to effectively help them…

This study uses data from an experimental employment program and instrumental variables (IV) estimation to examine the effects of maternal job loss on child classroom behavior. Random assignment to the treatment at one of three program sites is an exogenous predictor of employment patterns. Cross-site variation in treatment-control differences is…

Adult (age 30) educational, economic, and social-emotional adjustment outcomes were investigated for participants in the Abecedarian Project, a randomized controlled trial of early childhood education for children from low-income families. Of the original 111 infants enrolled (98% African American), 101 took part in the age 30 follow-up. Primary…

Objective: To examine whether acculturation and social networks influence household food insecurity in an inner-city Puerto Rican community. Methods: A survey was administered to 200 low-income female Puerto Rican caregivers with at least 1 child 12-72 months old living in Hartford, CT. Food insecurity was measured with the Radimer/Cornell Hunger…

Children living in lower-income and poor families are more likely to suffer from poor physical and mental health, engage in risky and delinquent behaviors, fare worse academically, and drop out of school than children from more advantaged backgrounds. Higher income does not guarantee protection from these risks, but is associated with a range of…

This article places the choice to claim welfare benefits in a social context by studying how neighborhood welfare receipt affects welfare receipt among couples in Stockholm, Sweden. It is expected that the propensity to claim welfare should increase with welfare use in the neighborhood, primarily through stigma reduction and increasing…

It is commonly assumed that better living standards will boost subjective well-being. The post-apartheid South African government subscribes to this idea; its social policies aim to provide "a better life for all". Since the coming of democracy in 1994, the state has built over 3 million houses and supplied electricity and clean water to…

Between 2000 and 2003, the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project identified and implemented a diverse set of innovative models designed to promote employment stability and wage or earnings progression among low-income individuals, mostly current or former welfare recipients. The project's goal was to determine which strategies could…

For the people behind the Lumina Foundation for Education, the term "network" has particular meaning. In fact, largely as a result of their work in a national college awareness and action campaign called KnowHow2GO, they have come to define networks in a specific way--and they ask their KnowHow2GO grantees and partners to form networks…

Using human capital theory, this paper identifies the factors that may affect the opportunity for rural low-income mothers to pursue post-secondary education or training in order to escape poverty. Dependent variables used in the logistic regression model included micro-level household variables as well as the effects of state-wide welfare…

Two food pantries were surveyed for nutrition education (NE) interests and experiences. One site provided nutrition education classes; the comparison site was utilized to assess client interest in class topics. "Fixing low cost meals," "fixing quick and easy recipes," and "stretching food and food dollars" were topics…

Access to post-secondary education for welfare recipients has been profoundly curtailed by social and welfare policies. However, many low-income mothers know that post-secondary education is the best means to escape poverty. This article focuses on five "student mothers" who have persisted in fulfilling their dreams of a college education with the…