Assessed impact of an antipoverty program on family functioning and developmental outcomes for preschool- and school-aged children. Found that the New Hope program had strong positive effects on boys' academic achievement, classroom behavior, positive social behavior, and problem behaviors, and on boys' expectations for advanced education and…

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%.…

The new pressures on aging policy are certain to bring with them inequitable and unintended consequences. The very old have not shared fully in the policy gains made by the older population generally, yet they will possibly suffer most from whatever "aging backlash" develops in the future. (Author/AM)

How many people reading this brief believes they could financially survive in a household of four people on $19,784 a year? Yet, this was the official poverty threshold as determined by the federal government for 2005. During this same year, 17% of children under 18 lived below the poverty line, of which 14% were white, 11% Asian, 28% Hispanic and…

This paper attempts to provide a general equilibrium framework for comparing the merits of alternative methods of raising the income of the employable poor. The strategy is to specify a complete and interacting set of factor markets, parameterize alternative program types in a manner convenient to this specification, and then solve the system of…

Basing his discussion on an earlier paper Dr. Charles J. Erasmus ("Community Development and the Encogido Syndrome"), the author argues that community development should be defined in a more restricted fashion than has been done; that the techniques and limitations of the community development worker should be more clearly recognized;…

Reviews the major enactments of federal income transfer programs, Federal payments programs presently in force, Federal manpower training programs, and recent developments in Congress. Presents a pro and con discussion by several Senators and Representatives on the Adminsistration's current plan to terminate the Federal anti-poverty agency.…

This article describes Federal income maintenance programs for people with mental retardation in the United States. Combined Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Disability Insurance (DI) totaled an estimated $20.6 billion for people with mental retardation in 2000. Discussion focuses on the relative importance of these programs for this…

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…

This paper provides a general description of the Consumer Price Index, giving special attention to the applicability and reliability of this survey data for revising or refining the current poverty measure. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is a statistical measure of the average change in prices…

Systematic data on the life satisfaction of persons living in a rural county of the Southern Appalachian Region and in a metropolitan center located outside the region were reported. Data were collected by means of structured interviews with 400 persons who comprised probability samples of men and women aged 20 to 29 and 60 and over. Life…

Child welfare services currently operate in an environment characterized by increasing need for services, and calls for cost containment and system reform. To survive in this environment, foster care agencies will have to reexamine their use of resources to ensure that they are used to achieve the best possible outcomes for the children in their…

Casts doubts on the current belief that poverty leads to less medical care, and results in diminished health. Holds that level of education is a causal factor in individual health status and medical care utilization; the observed correlation between income and medical deprivation appears to be a consequence of education's relationship with both…