This report deals with the absorptive capacity of Vermont's private and public sectors to accommodate welfare clients into gainful employment. Detailed attention is given to estimating the immediate and projected job vacancies in the state. When seeking these jobs, the client must not only compete against other unemployed persons, but also has to…

Because American Indians are the largest minority group in South Dakota and because they are known to be among the most poverty stricken in the Nation, South Dakota annually reports on the extent to which the group depends on welfare payments. The report, prepared by the Program Analysis Section of the State Department of Social Services, analyzes…

A study examined effects of the Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP) Plus program. A small group of long-term income assistance (IA) recipients in New Brunswick was offered an earnings supplement and employment services (SSP Plus); a second group was offered the regular SSP earnings supplement only; and a third group was offered neither supplement nor…

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 net impact evaluation was conducted of the Ohio JOBS (Job Opportunities and Basic Skills) Student Retention Program (JSRP) pursued by some JOBS program clients to fulfill their responsibilities and receive federal aid. JSRP was a support program designed to assist entry to and success in programs of study at two-year community or technical…

The Public Assistance Comprehensive Education (PACE) Program at Bronx Community College provides programs and services to assist students on welfare to successfully overcome barriers they meet while becoming productive members of the workforce. Each semester, PACE will recruit 200 students from the COPE program and work intensively in addressing…

This report on the early implementation of the Texas Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program and its impact on participants begins with an executive summary. An introduction outlines key research questions, components, and timelines. Section II covers program design and implementation and substate variations. The next five sections…

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…

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…

All businesses are grappling with knowledge networks--finding the right employees at the right time with the right knowledge and skills. The National Alliance of Business, MIT, and others have been working on an intriguing way to look at labor supply and demand issues called knowledge supply chain management. UPS (United Parcel Service) manages…

This report explores promising welfare-to-work programs and practices of states and localities as they balance supply- with demand-side strategies to help welfare recipients and low-wage workers work their way out of poverty while meeting employers' needs for reliable workers. Chapter 2 describes the new environment created by changes in the…

This report describes the Jobs-Plus approach, an attempt to transform low-work, high-welfare public housing developments into high-work, low-welfare communities. It highlights the rationale of the approach, the way the demonstration has been set up to test the approach in the field, and what has been accomplished so far by the seven cities chosen…