Reviews evolution of workfare programs during the past 25 years. Summarizes both positive and negative outcomes of such programs, and identifies some key issues and unanswered questions resulting from these outcomes. Suggests a more viable direction for welfare reform in the areas of child care responsibility, balance of rights and obligations,…

The Neighborhood Jobs Initiative (NJI) began in 1998 in five cities (Chicago, Fort Worth, Hartford, New York, and Washington, D.C.) in 1998. The NJI targets high-poverty urban neighborhoods, attempting to connect residents to employment opportunities nearby and in the urban periphery by providing training, supporting interpersonal networks, and…

This report proposes that state economic development policy and resources, and state personnel, with their knowledge of and access to the business community, can contribute to the intertwined issues of competitiveness and poverty. Following an introduction, chapter 2 examines four related issues: poverty, income equity, welfare dependency, and the…

Summarizes the Report and Recommendations of the Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation. Proposes an economic development approach that is based on a people-centered values framework and social mobilization. Profiles a similar program, Janasaviya, pioneered in Sri Lanka in 1989. (MJP)

Illustrates how poor women were able to move out of poverty and dehumanization through a process of mobilization and organization. The process was catalyzed by the intervention of a non-governmental organization, the Working Women's Forum. Outlines the Forum's program of economic, social, and technological empowerment. (MJP)