Higher education is essential to accessing high-demand jobs with family-supporting wages and improving family financial wellbeing. This was true before the COVID-19 pandemic and is especially true now as the nation continues the process of recovering from one of the worst public health, economic, and social crises in modern U.S. history. To…

Nearly half of the nation's families with young children struggle to make ends meet. A new KIDS COUNT policy report makes the case for creating opportunity for families by addressing the needs of parents and their children simultaneously. "Creating Opportunity for Families: A Two-Generation Approach" describes a new approach to reducing…

This special report from the National Commission for Employment Policy on coordinating federal assistance programs for the economically disadvantaged contains two parts. Part 1 includes recommendations for improving public assistance coordination programs in general and employment and training programs in particular. Eight recommendations focus on…

The Congress of American Industry of the National Association of Manufacturers attempted in their conference to answer some questions related to defining vocational education, directing vocational education, and the role of the U.S. Office of Education. Major papers presented were: (1) "New Directions in Vocational Education," by Grant…

In August, 1997, the California State Legislature created CalWORKs as California's version of federal welfare reform, known nationally as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. Cal WORKs provides that each eligible adult recipient may receive up to 60 months of assistance during their lifetime. All adult recipients must…

COMMUNITY PROGRESS, INC. A NONPROFIT COMMUITY ACTION CORPORATION WAS ESTABLISHED IN NEW HAVEN CONNECTICUT, IN 1962, WITH A THREE YEAR FORD FOUNDATION GRANT. IT HAS UNDERTAKEN PROGRAMS OF EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION, AND SOCIAL SERVICES, EMPHASIZING INVOLVEMENT WITH THE POOR ON A CLOSE, INFORMAL, NEIGHBORHOOD BASIS. SOCIAL, VOCATIONAL, HEALTH,…

Part One of this report summarizes the detailed data and findings of Part Two (VT 005 949). A thoroughly documented analysis of federally supported job training programs in terms of their scope, interrelationships, and administration (including inter- and intra-agency coordination) led to 25 recommendations, including: (1) Consolidation of program…

Political changes underway at both the federal and state levels will dramatically affect public policies for children and their families in the years ahead. Drawing from over 550 budget line items in 10 state departments from 1990 to 1995, this report looks at spending on Illinois' children and families by program areas, with some specific…

Part I (VT 005 948) of the report to the Committee on Administration of Training Programs contains summaries of the findings and recommendations based on the analysis of data presented in this volume. Answers to two basic questions were sought: (1) To what extent is there waste, duplication, and inefficiency in administering federally supported…