This paper describes the Essential Skills Program at the Community College of Denver (CCD), which functions as an education broker and a labor market intermediary that coordinates the services offered by CCD with the needs of a number of Department of Social Service clients. The Essential Skills Program (ESP) supplements the services offered by…

This paper reviews the changes in federal requirements for welfare recipients and the response by California's community colleges, in particular Los Angeles City College (LACC) and Los Angeles Trade Technical College (LATTC), to welfare-to-work legislation. In 1985, the California Legislature enacted GAIN (Greater Avenues for Independence) as its…

A study evaluated the basic skills and employment prospects of current adult Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) recipients. It performed an analysis for the United States as a whole and separate analyses for nearly all the 75 most populous U.S. counties, plus the District of Columbia. These counties contained 43 percent of the nation's…

Cites data from 214 welfare families to support the argument that tougher child-support enforcement can reduce welfare dependency. Suggests that the best way to mend the child-support system for welfare-reliant children is to create a system that takes into account the real-life situations of mothers and fathers, as well as norms regarding…

Twenty-seven female welfare recipients who had been forced to enroll in a career and life planning class or lose their welfare benefits were observed in class for 1 month in 1972. Five to 6 months after the class, 15 of the women were interviewed in informal small group and one-on-one conversations and formal open-ended individual interviews…

This statement by the associate director of Income Security Issues of the Department of Health, Education and Human Services Division addresses the Congressional welfare reform goal of self-sufficiency for welfare mothers through employment. It analyzes the problems of the current welfare subsidy system by examining the effect of child care…

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…

Successful welfare reform requires quickly moving welfare recipients into jobs. Components to this challenge include the following: a poor fit between where jobs are located and where many welfare recipients live; recipients who lack experience and skills and do not know how to seek, find, or qualify for jobs; childcare and transportation needs;…

An evaluation of Jobs First (JF) compared the experiences of JF participants who were subject to welfare reform policies with those of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) participants who were subject to prior welfare rules. It collected information for four years about JF's impacts on participants' children and analyzed its financial…

The Education Commission of the States conducted a national survey on workforce development in the community college. The research instrument was sent to the state agency responsible for oversight of the community colleges in each of the 50 states. Forty-five states responded. The five states that did not respond are Idaho, Hawaii, Maryland,…

This guide is designed to help U.S. businesses successfully hire and retain individuals moving from welfare to work. Section 1 discusses the different circumstances created by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and how those changes affect business. Section 2 reviews bottom-line benefits realized by…

A study conducted a questionnaire survey of 70 refugee women in Illinois and 2 service provider focus groups to assess the effects of welfare changes on refugee women and to identify barriers to workforce participation. Survey findings were that refugee women in the workforce are concentrated in low-wage jobs and do not earn enough income to move…

Rising maternal employment, welfare reform, and increased preschool enrollment contribute to accelerating family demand for child care in California, and federal and state governments have responded by doubling support for child care and preschool programs between 1996 and 1999. However, there is little information available on how child care…

Riverside Community College (RCC), in Riverside, California, launched New Visions in 1999, a program designed to help welfare recipients prepare for college and move to better jobs. The program is a partnership between RCC and the Riverside Department of Public Social Services (DPSS). New Visions provides a 24-week program of academic instruction…

Current debates about welfare reform center on the upcoming reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) legislation. The provisions of TANF include the elimination of the entitlement to cash assistance, block grant funding to the states, mandatory work requirements, sanctions, a 5-year limit on cash assistance, and…