The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) are long-standing policies that link cash assistance to low-income families to work effort. A new policy being tested in New York City adopts this "conditional cash transfer" principle and extends it to a broader set of family efforts to build their…

Access to post-secondary education for welfare recipients has been profoundly curtailed by social and welfare policies. However, many low-income mothers know that post-secondary education is the best means to escape poverty. This article focuses on five "student mothers" who have persisted in fulfilling their dreams of a college education with the…

Examines the issues surrounding the controversial Workfare program, which establishes work effort as a requirement for receipt of welfare benefits. (SK)

This document presents a transcript of a Joint Subcommittee on Monetary and Fiscal Policy hearing on the impact of the Federal "War on Poverty" programs. Testimony and submissions for the record included: (1) a paper by Lowell Gallaway et al., "The 'New' Structural Poverty: A Quantitative Analysis," which examines the effects…

This report contains eight papers which summarize a two-year research project that examined the income dynamics of poor families. The empirical work is based upon the National Longitudinal Surveys of the Michigan Survey Research Center, a special sample of 3,000 Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) families conducted by the authors, the…

There is a great deal of misunderstanding about welfare programs and clients. This booklet attempts to dispel popular misconceptions concerning the Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare (DPW). Using graphs, it provides a demographic profile of welfare recipients. It also provides other statistics about welfare through Aid to Families with…

This background paper provides the basis for evaluation of programs aimed at reforming social welfare programs. It analyzes the effect of current income transfer programs on poor families. Public expenditures for social welfare programs have grown four-fold while at the same time, the percentage of families in poverty has declined by only 30%.…

Uses federal survey data to examine U.S. population with inadequate income for less than one year. Reports long-term and persistent poor are more likely to be aged, Black, and disabled. Welfare programs may not target groups comprising the short-term poor, leading to inadequate services. (DHP)

Provides important information to better prepare advocates participating in the welfare reform debate. Presents excerpts from reports by the General Accounting Office and the Advisory Committee of the Department of Health and Human Services. Suggests that virtually all of the reform proposals require much more stringent work participation by…

Highlights issues in funding, service availability, child care services, and mandated participation in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) training program. Suggests full implementation of the Family Support Act of 1988 and the expansion of other income supports for low-income families rather than further development of welfare benefits…

Noting the while there may be much support for the principle that families on welfare should have access to 2 years of education and training and then be expected to work, this paper contends that it will be extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, to design a coherent and constructive program within the probable federal budget constraints. In…

This paper details the structure and eligibility criteria for the two largest public child care subsidy programs in Minnesota, the Minnesota Family Investment Program Statewide (MFIP-S) and the Basic Sliding Fee Program (BSF). These programs assist low-income families to pay for child care in order for parents to work, search for a job or…

This analysis of how plans to balance the budget are likely to affect the public considers the latest Republican offer and the Democratic administration's offer of January 18, 1996, as well as pending action on the fiscal year 1996 appropriations bills. The analysis finds that the latest Republican offer, in conjunction with pending and enacted…

The anti-poverty impact of government benefit programs has decreased since 1979 due to budget cuts during the Reagan Administration and the failure of states to keep benefits up with inflation. Since 1979, 30 percent of the increase in poverty has been among families with children, and half of the increase since 1981 is due to the declining…

Poverty has risen faster in recent years under measures of poverty that include the value of non-cash benefits. The Census Bureau recently issued nine measures of poverty which make the poverty population appear unrealistically small. In summary, these measures do the following: (l) count non-cash benefits because they include household purchasing…