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 examined the use of, and the need for, the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act funding reserves for sex equity programs and programs for displaced homemakers, single parents, and single pregnant women. Of 34 local program operators interviewed, 17 received sex equity grants, and 22 received displaced homemaker,…

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…

Connecticut's Jobs First program, which began operating in January 1996, combines a time limit on welfare receipt with generous financial work incentives and requires recipients to participate in employment-related services targeted toward rapid job placement. The impacts of the Jobs First program were examined by following several thousand…

San Francisco Works (SFWorks) is a collaborative welfare-to-work project conducted by a coalition of large San Francisco-area employers, the city's Chamber of Commerce, and the United Way of the Bay Area. The project was piloted beginning in March 1998 by contracting with five community-based organizations (CBOs) to provide a comprehensive range…

This report focuses on key findings, recommendations, and cross-site analysis of a study of vocational education practices that support welfare reform by preparing individuals for workforce entry. An introduction describes study methodology. Chapter 2 provides an overview of differences between vocational education under the Carl D. Perkins…

This report focuses on total welfare enrollments in two-year colleges and the enrollments in four new WorkFirst training programs that started in fall 1998. The new programs initiate a wage and skill progression strategy that gets WorkFirst students started in better jobs than they could find without training and helps them to advance in…

The General Accounting Office (GAO) examined worksite-based activities currently in place to help recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) develop the skills required for successful transition to unsubsidized employment. Data were collected from the following sources: (1) data reported by states to the Department of Health and…

This report examines implementation and impacts of Ramsey County's Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP), a "work first" program. Chapter 1 lists key findings, provides an overview of the Ramsey County variant (MFIP-R) evaluation, and policy relevance of MFIP-R. Chapter 2 describes key features of MFIP-R and compares them with…