This report provides interim findings from a study of families leaving welfare in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The study is designed to monitor the status of families leaving cash assistance at multiple times and to compare the experiences of exit cohorts drawn at quarterly intervals throughout the process of welfare reform implementation. The report…

As of the 1997 Ohio welfare reform laws, families not receiving cash assistance and earning 135 percent or less of the poverty income were eligible for subsidized child care (non-assistance subsidized child care). This study sought to estimate the number of working families in Cuyahoga County, Ohio that could take advantage of non-assistance…

A 3-year study of welfare reform in Ohio's 29 Appalachian counties surveyed human services agencies, county commissioners, poor families, and employers and found that rural barriers to employment included lack of jobs, lack of child care, poor health, lack of education and job skills, and transportation problems. Many former welfare recipients…

This report helps state and local decision makers understand the range of services ordinarily needed and provided in alcohol and drug treatment programs serving women and families receiving welfare and how those services support the goals of welfare reform. The model programs profiled here tend to the needs of women on welfare and their families…

This report recommends a new poverty indicator to use when distributing Disadvantaged Pupil Impact Aid (DPIA) to Ohio school districts. It also describes the implications of substituting the new indicator in the current formulas used to calculate DPIA funding. Ohio school districts receive DPIA, based on earlier aid programs, to provide all-day…

This book examines welfare reform, occasioned by the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), which abolished Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and replaced it with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It is based on research in Ohio, Kansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan that…

As welfare programs have grown more costly, it has become obvious that they merely treat the symptom, poverty, instead of the problem, unemployment. Jobs increasingly require higher levels of skills and better educated workers. Since the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 has ended the federal guarantee of…

A study assessed Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) implementation and effects in Cuyahoga County between 1992-2000. It used field research, surveys and interviews of current and former welfare recipients, state and county welfare and employment records, and indicators of social and economic trends. Findings indicated Cuyahoga County…

This guide is second in a series that provides basic information about programs affecting Ohio's children; it provides a summary of key data on child care in Ohio, especially with regard to recent welfare reform. Recommendations for improvement in child care services are given in the following areas: (1) "Children Learning," including…

The most striking characteristic of the human service system in Montgomery County, Ohio, is the size and scope of its job center. The center occupies 5.5 acres of office space, has ample parking, is well served by the public transportation system, and is the locus of many human service and employment programs and service providers. The county's…

This document highlights 101 partnerships developed as part of Ohio's welfare reform initiative, Ohio Works First (OWF). Section 1 deals with communication strategies: a new lexicon; interagency information exchange and confidentiality issues; intake, referral, and case management tools; and cross-agency communications. Section 2 describes…

Ohio, like other states, will soon begin implementing parts of a sweeping new federal welfare reform law. These seven 1- and 2-page reports, issued under the general heading of "Ohio Children: Together We Can Help Them Grow," describe various Ohio welfare programs, providing statistics on their costs and usage rates, as well as changes…

The National Center for Family Literacy (FCFL) began the Family Independence Initiative (FII) to address the needs of welfare recipients and their families for literacy services. During the FII's development phase in 1997-1998, NCFL funded five family literacy program grantees to develop models of work-focused family literacy services. To satisfy…

This Kids Count report highlights state and countywide findings on key indicators affecting the educational and life success of Ohio's children. The statistical portrait is based on five indicators: (1) fourth graders' performance on the Ohio fourth grade reading proficiency test; (2) number of children receiving child care assistance or…

This document examines emerging issues and opportunities for community-based organization (CBO) involvement in welfare reform. The document begins with a brief section of background information on past CBO involvement in helping families move from welfare to work. The next section answers policy questions pertaining to the following issues: (1)…