As states implement new strategies to help more families make the transition from welfare to work, they will be faced with the challenge of designing programs that address the needs of an extremely diverse population of families. Some families will be able to make the transition to work with limited assistance, especially in a strong economy. Others will benefit greatly from traditional welfare-to-work programs and skills training geared to labor market demands. But a substantial portion of the caseload faces significant personal or family challenges. These individuals are likely to need more assistance than offered in past programs and will benefit from more creative approaches to work experience opportunities. The success of welfare reform will depend on states' abilities to engage welfare recipients, especially the hard-to-employ, in the labor force without causing harm to large numbers of poor families in the process. A number of innovative strategies have been implemented to enable welfare recipients and other low-income people to get long-term, unsubsidized unemployment. Nine case studies were examined representing different welfare-to-work strategies. Together they depict different promising approaches to welfare-to-work focusing on the following: (1) community jobs and innovative employer involvement; (2) comprehensive programs for the hard-to-employ; (3) training in specialized fields with good employment prospects; and (4) support for postsecondary education. (This report includes profiles of nine programs; it contains 38 references and resources.) (KC)