We examine the effects of 10 welfare and employment programs on single mothers' use of Head Start for their 3- to 4-year-old children, considering concurrent program effects on employment, income, and the use of other types of childcare settings. In general, these welfare and employment experiments increased parental employment and the use of…

This document presents a transcript of a Joint Subcommittee on Monetary and Fiscal Policy hearing on the impact of the Federal "War on Poverty" programs. Testimony and submissions for the record included: (1) a paper by Lowell Gallaway et al., "The 'New' Structural Poverty: A Quantitative Analysis," which examines the effects…

In response to federal welfare reform legislation, Arkansas created the Transitional Employment Assistance (TEA) program in April 1997. The goal of this Kids Count report is to increase awareness regarding issues underlying the early implementation of TEA, focusing on caseload reductions, demographic composition of the caseload, level of support…

Can a multicomponent employment initiative that is located in public housing developments help residents work, earn more money, and improve their quality of life? The Jobs-Plus Community Revitalization Initiative for Public Housing Families (Jobs-Plus, for short) sought to achieve these ambitious goals in difficult environments. Operated as a…

The Work Incentive Program was designed to motivate welfare recipients to upgrade their academic and vocational skills so that they become independent from welfare rolls. (Author/RK)

Used a three-group design to determine the effects on child development of the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP), a state welfare reform program. Findings showed that MFIP increased employment rates and decreased poverty. According to mother-reports, children were less likely to exhibit problem behaviors and more likely to perform better…

Evaluation of the work experience and job training (WEJT) program of Kenosha County (Wisconsin) suggests that it has no effect on length of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), a preventive impact on AFDC cases headed by never-married African-American teenagers, and a negative impact on unemployed parent cases. (SLD)

Presents evidence that policy changes in Delaware with regard to welfare reform did influence marriage and childbearing outcomes using survey data from the state's A Better Chance (ABC) program (n=1,547). After 18 months, the program had positive effects on marital cohabitation, but only a small impact on actual fertility, although it reduced the…

The conventional way to measure program impacts is to compute the average treatment effect; that is, the difference between a treatment group that received some intervention and a control group that did not. Recently, scholars have recognized that looking only at the average treatment effect may obscure impacts that accrue to subgroups. In an…

This report presents an assessment of the implementation and the two-year impacts of a program in Texas that aimed to promote job placement, employment retention, and advancement among applicants and recipients to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The program in Texas is part of the Employment Retention and Advancement…

Winnipeg Boys and Girls Clubs Inc. is a private, voluntary, non-profit, human service group which provides disadvantaged children and youth of diverse social and cultural backgrounds with a safe and challenging environment and the experiences to acquire the skills which will enable them to become responsible and participating adults. Special…

Although it has been assumed that increasing maternal education or family income will improve children's well-being, considering the impact on child care arrangements and home environment raises the possibility of negative effects. This paper reviews experimental evaluations of seven programs designed to enhance welfare families' self-sufficiency,…

This paper uses data from the 1996 and 2001 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation to assess the impact of recent policy initiatives intended to increase access to Food Stamps. It finds that reductions in state certification requirements increased Food Stamp participation rates of income-eligible families with children by one to…

This report presents the findings from a three-year study of two San Diego demonstration projects designed to increase unsubsidized employment and reduce welfare dependency and costs. One involved a job search requirement, while the other combined that requirement with a short-term work obligation. Overall, compared to the few earlier studies on…

The San Diego (California) Saturation Work Initiative Model (SWIM) was part of the Social Security Administration's two-site demonstration of saturation work programs in an urban area. The multicomponent program operated from July 1985 until late 1987, when it was replaced by a new statewide initiative called the Greater Avenues for Independence…