The purpose of "Focus" is to provide coverage of poverty-related research, events, and issues, and to acquaint a large audience with the work of the Institute for Research on Poverty by means of short essays on selected pieces of research. This issue features articles drawn from four of the conference papers presented at the September 2007 IRP (Institute for Research on Poverty) conference Pathways to Self-Sufficiency: (1) Effects of welfare and antipoverty programs on participants' children (Greg J. Duncan, Lisa Gennetian, and Pamela Morris); (2) Improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children (David N. Figlio); (3) The employment prospects of ex-offenders (Steven Raphael); and (4) The growing problem of disconnected single mothers (Rebecca Blank and Brian Kovak). An introductory essay (Pathways to self-sufficiency) by Carolyn Heinrich and John Karl Scholz is also included. Individual articles contain figures and footnotes.