The activities of the first five years of New York City's Welfare Education Program are summarized. Operation Second Chance and Mothers at School, the two parts of WEP, provide 194 basic education classes, with a combined enrollment of 4,000. The program is intended to give welfare recipients the basic skills and self-confidence they need to…

An evaluation addressed how existing services in England, especially the ConneXions career guidance service, reach or overlook groups of young people at the margins--those from minority ethnic groups who experience social exclusion and disaffection. Material from 2 sets of indepth interviews with 64 young people (most 16 and 17 years old) in 2…

The federal policy shift from skills training and toward work first strategies has come about, in part, from a misconception that "training does not work." A more comprehensive look at existing research reveals the documented effectiveness of skills training. A growing number of studies have shown skills training can increase earnings;…

States have used variants of these three approaches to structure the welfare to-work component of welfare reform for single mothers: (1) put education or training first; (2) place job searching first; and (3) create a flexible program that allows staff and participants choice in the initial and subsequent activities. Research on these program…

This Kids Count report provides information on state and county-wide trends in the well-being of New Jersey's children from 1990 to 2000. The statistical portrait is social indicators in the areas of families in need, child health, troubled teens, abused and neglected children, school enrollment, and early care and education. The 23 indicators…

Studies of nearly a dozen welfare programs were reviewed to determine the effects of welfare policies on children and youth and to identify issues requiring consideration during reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The following were among the key findings: (1) the school achievement of elementary school-age…

These case studies and analytic essays are intended to give the reader a richer understanding of when and how top managers succeed or fail in their efforts to use performance management (PM) systems to improve the functioning of federal, state, and local government in the United States (U.S.). The question mark in the title is intended to remind…

The Project on Devolution and Urban Change studied the effects of welfare reform in the counties encompassing the following cities: Cleveland, Ohio; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In May 1995, the 3,900 women in the sample were receiving public assistance and living in high-poverty neighborhoods. After 3-4…

Policy options for increasing the earnings of the young welfare recipients were explored by analyzing the incomes of nearly 12,000 young women in Baltimore, Maryland, whose 19th birthday fell between April 1, 1985, and March 31, 1989, and who had at least one spell of welfare dependency between their 19th and 29th birthdays. An analysis of the…

A study examined the impacts of different education and training (E&T) assignments in Ohio's Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) Training Program on the employment and earnings of Aid to Families with Dependent Children recipients who became mandatory JOBS clients in 1989 or 1990. Data on the JOBS assignments and earnings and employment…

The Child Care Action Campaign (CCAC) is a national nonprofit advocacy organization whose goal is to improve the lives of children and their families by expanding the supply of good quality, affordable child care. This publication summarizes remarks made by presenters at a CCAC audio-conference on the recruitment and training of welfare recipients…

An evaluation was conducted of the Texas Food Stamp Employment and Training (FSE&T)/Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) Program Conformance Demonstration. The BOND (Better Opportunities for New Directions) demonstration program tested conformance compatibility between the FSE&T and JOBS programs. It enacted such policy changes as…

This document examines strategies for preventing working families and disadvantaged youth from needing cash assistance and becoming dependent on welfare. The document begins with a brief discussion of the tenuous nature of the boundary between families who need public assistance and families who don't and factors contributing to welfare…

This Kids Count fact book examines statewide trends in well-being for South Dakota's children. The statistical portrait is based on 25 indicators in the areas of demographics, health, education, economic status, and safety. The indicators are: (1) population; (2) family profile; (3) poverty thresholds; (4) infant mortality rate; (5) low birth…

The Sectoral Employment Development Learning Project (SEDLP) examined industry-based ("sectoral") approaches to employment training to determine whether they can help low-income individuals advance in the labor market. The SEDLP sample included 732 individuals at baseline, including 185 recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy…