This book presents research results relating to historical trends in the AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) caseload, the personal characteristics and patterns of welfare participation in a nationally representative sample of young women followed over a 13-year period, and an evaluative survey of the effectiveness of past education,…

In 1993 the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights concluded that the election of Bill Clinton as President presented a new opportunity to work toward equal opportunity. In 1995, at the midpoint of his first term, the Commission identified the new and often formidable challenges his administration was facing in dealing with issues of equal…

In the nearly 5 years since the passage of the Family Support Act, a body of research related to the convergence of welfare reform and adult basic and literacy education has begun to emerge. Much of it deals directly with the experience of providing adult basic and literacy education to Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) Program…

Students in the Culebra Road GED/JOBS (General Educational Development/Job Opportunities and Basic Skills) class, an adult education class for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) students, created their own website. First, students completed a computer literacy survey to gauge their computer skills. Next, students were encouraged to…

This report explores how private sector employers are reacting to, responding to, and participating in welfare-to-work (WTW) efforts. Chapter 1 explains the study background and approach. Chapter 2 examines the environment, perspectives, experiences, and role of business in the WTW process and presents findings about employment patterns of welfare…

In 1997, the National Center for Family Literacy convened four state policymakers for an audioconference to discuss five issues related to family literacy and its role as a welfare reform strategy. First, with regard to the value of family literacy, policymakers saw literacy as the key to employment and job retention. Second, family literacy was a…

This how-to guide, which is designed to assist state and local welfare reform efforts, explains how to design, implement, and manage mandatory stay-in-school (learnfare) programs for teenage parents on welfare. The following topics are discussed in the guide's five chapters: the importance of focusing on teen parents on welfare, Ohio's Learning,…

With a national goal announced as "ending welfare as we know it," it is necessary to discuss questions regarding targeting, sanctions and incentives, service delivery, and success criteria for adult literacy programs that attempt to train low-literate adults for jobs. At present, there are about 14-15 million recipients of Aid to Families with…

In operation since 1990, the Gateway Program is a collaborative welfare reform effort developed by Colorado Mountain College (CMC), the county department of social services, and the local Job Training Partnership Act provider. One component of the program is the Link Program, developed to prepare welfare recipients for enrollment in vocational…

California's welfare reform program, Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN), assigned the state's community colleges a major role in promoting financial self-sufficiency among welfare recipients by equipping them with marketable vocational skills. A study was conducted to determine the nature and amount of involvement of the community colleges in…

Female headed families with dependent children are the poorest in the nation and the major consumers of Federal assistance programs. The findings of a study undertaken to determine the impact of the current Federal strategy toward the poor upon the low income female headed family are described in this document. The report includes: (1) a…

The initial client assessment procedures used by case managers in the Wisconsin Works (W-2) program in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, were examined. Data were collected through the following activities: (1) observations of 100 financial and employment planner (FEP)-applicant intake interviews; (2) an examination of administrative data to learn how…

This report addresses the failure of U.S. systems of support for homeless families, the impact of this failure on the nature of poverty across the country, and common sense options for turning failure into success. Extensive histories of participation in U.S. institutions of support are not spread evenly across the homeless population. While about…

A crucial key to preventing and ending poverty is the system of education and training for employment. The 104th Congress is considering several proposals to reform vocational education, employment training, and welfare. The most sweeping would consolidate all employment training programs and vocational education into a single block grant to each…

This document describes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, which California instituted in response to the 1996 federal welfare-to-work legislation. The CalWORKs program also has the mandate to develop employment opportunities for welfare students. Community colleges are required to spend their CalWORKs…