This study, conducted in 2000-01, investigated young mothers' experiences with the receipt of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), focusing on whether changes in the TANF application process for teen parents were needed, whether the TANF system inappropriately led to teen exits, and whether local welfare offices were effectively…

This report addresses questions concerning the extent to which U.S. families depend on income from welfare programs, offering updated data on measures of welfare recipiency, dependency, and predictors of welfare dependence developed for previous reports. Chapter 1, "Introduction," reviews specific summary measures of welfare dependence…

Benefit Alert was designed to help the low-income aged of Philadelphia take advantage of material benefits they were entitled to under existing state and federal legislation. An implicit goal of the project was to test a governmental agency's ability to be an advocate for the poor. (Author)

Examines the issues surrounding the controversial Workfare program, which establishes work effort as a requirement for receipt of welfare benefits. (SK)

Used survey data (response rate of 75% for sample of 1,200), administrative data, and a database of the use of emergency assistance provided by community-based organizations to examine the economic status of former welfare recipients in Missouri and their use of government supports and community-based emergency assistance. (SLD)

This paper is part of the Next Generation?s working paper series. The Next Generation is a project that examines the effects of welfare, antipoverty, and employment policies on children and families. Drawing on rich data from recent welfare reform evaluations, the project aims to inform the work of policymakers, practitioners, and researchers by…

Interviews with seven women before and 6 months after leaving welfare revealed barriers to self-sufficiency (low wages, lack of advancement opportunities in jobs, confusion about program regulations) and survival strategies (continued reliance on income and family support, banking of care benefits under the 5-year limit as a safety net). (SK)

The 1996 welfare reform law restricted immigrants' eligibility for public assistance, although many states have at least partially restored their eligibility. However, about three-fourths of the children of non-citizen immigrants were born in the United States and are therefore eligible for all government benefits. This brief examines whether…

Reviews recent evaluation research findings about welfare recipients from a perspective of support-to-self-sufficiency rather than the welfare-to-work viewpoint that denominates the evaluation literature. Recent research suggests that many families have moved from welfare to work, but few of these families have achieved financial self-sufficiency.…

This study builds on research that examines the effects of microenterprise on poor women in the United States. Household income, income from the business, and poverty status were examined over time and comparisons were drawn among three groups of women: low-income women who participated in one of seven U.S. microenterprise assistance programs;…

The authors examined how welfare recipiency is associated with savings outcomes in individual development accounts (IDAs), a structured savings program for low-income people. They investigated whether welfare recipients can save if they are provided with incentives. Data for this study ore from the American Dream Demonstration (ADD), the first…

This manuscript reports on a study of how low-income employed single mothers and young adolescents manage household daily life. Analysis is based on longitudinal ethnographic data collected from families of 35 young adolescents over 3 years following the 1996 welfare reforms. Although mothers worked, young adolescents spent time unsupervised,…

The authors examined the effects of antipoverty programs on children's cumulative poverty-related risk and the relationship between cumulative poverty-related risk and child outcomes among low-income families. Samples included 419 children ages 3-10 years in the New Hope program and 759 children ages 2-9 years in the Minnesota Family …

This paper reports the findings of a study which examined the problems of homeless adults in New York City. The goals of the study were twofold: (1) to document and analyze the life circumstances of homeless adults in New York City who are dependent upon the public sector for their sustenance; and (2) to develop explicit standards for the…