Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on first 10, then seven sites. It…

Opportunity NYC-Family Rewards, an experimental, privately funded, conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to help families break the cycle of poverty, was the first comprehensive CCT program in a developed country. Launched in 2007 by New York City's Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO), Family Rewards offered cash assistance to low-income…

Discusses the emphasis on promoting policy and practice changes based on research evidence in projects (funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation) related to housing, social policy, social care, youth, and families. Discusses the difficulties in using random control trials for assessing the effectiveness of interventions with individuals. Concludes…

Despite claims that benefits for the needy have not been reduced, the Reagan Administration's final budget for fiscal year 1990 is marked by substantial reductions in programs for the poor. Actual spending for low-income programs would be sliced $6.75 billion below current levels. Medicaid, which provides health care coverage for poor families…

In Head Start, family service workers facilitate the process for guiding and assisting families in securing services needed for specific family issues regarding health care, housing, employment, education, and/or crisis management. These services were particularly important to families following Hurricane Charley and the subsequent recovery…

Migration has been an essential part of American life and a contributing factor to the urbanization of its cities. The pages of history are filled with the record of the movement of people away from a lesser toward a greater opportunity and the search for security and happiness in some more favorable environment. There are two large groups of…