This report offers an evaluation of services for families in New York State, finds that system is in chaos, and proposes a 5-year commitment to integrate programs and funding in six agencies. The report finds that billions of federal, state, local, and private dollars are committed annually to support separate service systems with no imperative…

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…

As provided by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, the Massachusetts State Department of Education (MSDE) has developed this plan to attempt to meet the educational needs of homeless children and to supply them with resources to meet those needs. The plan contains a section delineating federal and state laws and state policies…

The impact of 1996 federal welfare reform legislation on state work force development programs was examined through a study of work force development programs and policies in 13 states: Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. The study focused on…

The California Workforce Literacy Task Force conducted studies and surveyed existing literature to determine the status of literacy and other basic skills in the state's work force. The results are reported with a series of recommendations for a broad-based state strategy to improve worker productivity through better educational opportunities. Ten…

Many of Wisconsin's working families face economic distress, living from paycheck to paycheck and being forced to choose between paying their rent or buying food for their children. Parents under stress often cannot support their children with time, energy or resources. In order to affirm the importance of children in the state, and to help build…

This document, which is designed to help state administrators and legislators formulate policies enhancing family economic security, summarizes research findings regarding barriers to economic self-sufficiency and policies used by various states to improve poor family's available work opportunities and economic security. Discussed in the…

It is becoming increasingly clear that "work first" solutions to welfare reform such as Wisconsin Works (W-2) are problematic for families with a disabled parent or child. Wisconsin's existing policies are especially ill-tailored to meet the special needs of the following broad categories of low-income families: (1) W-2 families that…

This three-part annual report examines the challenges facing Arizona and the nation in the "war on adult illiteracy" and describes the state's responses to the multiple aspects of lifelong learning. Demographic data in Part I point out the basic elements of the challenges in adult education in Arizona. These challenges include cultural…

Wisconsin's welfare reform program, which is called Wisconsin Works or W-2, emphasizes work over education. Wisconsin's welfare reform policy caused the numbers of Wisconsin welfare recipients attending college to shrink by thousands in the mid-1990s. In contrast, increasing numbers of states are coming to realize how much flexibility they really…

Despite 6 years of economic growth, California's workforce investment system faces the following challenges: (1) meeting the needs of workers who do not earn enough to bring their families significantly above the poverty level; (2) meeting the needs of employers who face continuing shortages of workers with needed skills; and (3) meeting the needs…