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Research Projects on Welfare Reform
unpublished papers are available upon request
Pennsylvania Projects
1) Social Networks, Career and Training Paths for Participants in Education and Training Programs for the Disadvantaged (1996-1997) (Social Network Study) is a statistical study of 338 people enrolled in nine training programs or community college in Philadelphia. Study participants came from a stratified sample of people in training programs which served the range of low-income individuals in the Philadelphia area. The programs included training that drew both men and women and a combination of schools which offered adult basic education, job specific skills, and college education. The project also included a mandatory community service program for two parent families on welfare and a mandatory job development program. The questionnaire included career and training histories of study participants, public assistance use, and demographic information. Eighty-three percent of the participants were on welfare at the time of the study and, 94 percent had been on public assistance at some point in their life.
Publication:
Social Networks, Career and Training Paths for Participants in Education and Training Programs: Technical Report. Philadelphia: Produced for the Philadelphia Private Industry Council. 1997
2) Life Experience of Welfare Recipients (1992-1996) is the qualitative companion project to the Social Network Study including life history interviews of 20 individuals and participant observation of over 100 public assistance recipients in various education and training programs offered by the Institute for the Study of Civic Values.
3) Community Women's Education Project (CWEP) Anonymous Survey Analysis (1988-1993) is a statistical study of 373 people enrolled in the CWEP workstart program over 5 years. The sample included everyone who participated in CWEP programs during this time. CWEP is an innovative adult basic education and career preparation program for women. Sixty-nine percent of the study population were on welfare at the time of the study and 76 percent had been on welfare at some point in their lives. Questionnaires included work and training history, welfare use and demographic information.
4) The Alternative Work Experience Program Evaluation (1993-1995) is an evaluation of a model service learning workfare program for two-parent families on welfare, based on program statistics for 154 individuals and ethnographic observations of that program from 1993 through 1995.
Publication:
Making Workfare a Success: Alternative Work Experience Program Two Year Report. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Civic Values. (1996)
5) Economic, Racial and Educational Census Mapping Project, analyzes census maps of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia region.
6) Survey of Training Providers in Philadelphia (1992-93) is a questionnaire study of 29 training programs in Philadelphia. Questionnaires were sent out to most programs in Philadelphia providing education and training under contract to the Philadelphia Private Industry Council or through Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Adult Basic Education funds.
7) The Education and Training System in Philadelphia is the companion anthropological study to the Survey of Training Providers examining Philadelphia PIC and Commonwealth and Federal documents on training and welfare reform, as well as my notes on working with training programs.
8) The Rapid Attachment Study (1996-1998) is a statistical study of an administrative database for a short-term job readiness and job placement program in Philadelphia. The database includes demographic information, work and training history, and job placement information for 718 people who participated in this program from February 1996 to February 1997. All program participants were on welfare. Analysis focuses on the relationship of previous work and training experience to placement and the relationship between where participants live and where they work.
Publication:
Linking Welfare Recipients to Jobs: Connections between Client Abilities, Previous Work and Education History, Social Isolation and Placement in a Rapid Attachment Program. Presented at the 28th Annual Urban Affairs Association Meetings, Fort Worth Texas, April 1998.
Papers and Publications Drawing From Several Projects:
Social
Capital and Welfare Reform: Organizations, Congregations and Communities. Columbia
University Press.
Getting
Beyond the Training vs. Work Experience Debate: The Role of Labor Markets,
Social Capital, Cultural Capital, and Community Resources in Long Term Poverty. Women,
Politics, and Policy, 27 (3/4) invited double special
issue. First
presented at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) conference,
Washington D.C., June 2003. Also
published in the conference proceedings.
Social
Capital, Community and Economic Development.
White paper produced for Foundation for Community Empowerment.
Dallas: FCE.
The
Role of Social Capital in Building Healthy Communities: Policy Paper Produced
for the Annie E. Casey Foundation. November, 2004.
Baltimore: Annie E.
Casey Foundation.
TANF
Reauthorization Policy Suggestions Background Paper.
American Anthropological Association.
Available at http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ppc/tanf_bkgd.htm.
Welfare
Moms in Congress’ Cross Hairs. Op-ed piece with Louise Lamphere and Sandra
Morgen. The Albuquerque Tribune,
October 10, C1-2.
Social
Capital and Community Supports for Low Income Families: Examples from
Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Social Policy
Journal., 1 (1): pp 35-56. First
presented at the Work, Welfare and Politics Conference, University of Oregon,
February 2000.
Pathways to Opportunity: The Role of Race, Social Networks, Institutions and Neighborhood in Career and Educational Paths for People on Welfare. Human Organization, volume 59, number 1: pp 72-85. 2000
The Dialectic Between Research and Practice: Learning from Welfare Reform. In Community Politics and Policy, Research in Politics and Society, volume 7, edited by Nancy Kleniewski and Gordana Rabrenovic. Stamford, CO: JAI Press Inc.: pp135-159. 1999
And How Are We Supposed to Pay for Health Care?: Views of the Poor and the Near Poor on Welfare Reform. American Anthropologist, volume 101, number 4: pp 761-782. 1999
We Are Not Just Making Widgets: Non-Profit Training Providers and Welfare Reform in Philadelphia. Presented at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Urban Affairs Association, Louisville, KY, April 1999.
Working and Welfare: A Brief Look at the Work Experience of the Public Assistance Population in Philadelphia. Philadelphia: 21st Century League. 1997
Welfare to Network. London: Demos Quarterly, number 12: 30-32. 1997
Related Publication:
Instrumental and Economic Adjustment of Polish and Soviet Jewish Refugees in Philadelphia, PA: A Study of the Context of Resettlement. Report produced as part of NSF dissertation improvement grant #BNS 8602374. December 1988.
Wisconsin Projects
1) Kenosha Conversation Project (1997-1998) is a community needs assessment project on welfare reform in Kenosha, a small city in Southeastern Wisconsin. Research consisted of focus groups with stakeholders involved in welfare reform (program participants; Kenosha County Job Center (KCJC) and Department of Human Services administrators, program managers, and line staff; social service agency staff; employers; government officials; church representatives; concerned advocacy organizations) combined with interviews with key people involved in welfare reform and participant observation in KCJC and one advocacy organization. Research was used to develop a conference which brought together stakeholders from various groups to share experience and develop program and policy ideas to address five major issues which emerged from the focus groups (job retention and advancement; childcare; transportation; support services for low income people; W-2 education and outreach).
Publications:
Kenosha Conversation Project Education Booklet. Kenosha, WI: University of Wisconsin-Parkside. 1999. Available upon request.
2) Neighborhood Settlement House Evaluation Study (1998-1999) is an evaluation study of the effects of changing welfare and child welfare policy on a Milwaukee community based organization, its neighborhood, and its participants. The neighborhood center which requested the research is a settlement house using a one-stop-shop model which includes educational and basic services for the entire age range through partnerships with 15 organizations. Multi-method team study consisting of four components: 1) ethnography of the Neighborhood Settlement House and the agencies associated with the facility; 2) depth interview study of Neighborhood Settlement House Participants (48 families); 3) community resource analysis through statistical mapping of the neighborhood, windshield survey of community organizations, and interviews with selected organizations and churches; 4) analysis of Neighborhood Settlement House administrative databases and correlation of those data with available demographic resources on the community.
Unpublished Papers:
Organizations, Communities and Social Capital: Exploring the Dynamics Between Community Based Organizations, Churches and the Communities they Serve in a Milwaukee Neighborhood. Presented at the 28th annual Association for Research in Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action Meetings, Arlington, VA November 1999.
Organizations and Communities: Conceptualizing the Dynamics of Social Capital as Support for Low Income People under Welfare Reform: the Milwaukee Experience. Presented at the 97th annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, November 1999.
3) Kenosha Social Capital Study (1999-2001) is a study of the Latino and African American sub-communities of Kenosha focusing on the dynamic between Latino and African American focused community based organizations and churches; community residents; employers; and the city-wide community organization and church context. Multi-method team study consisting of four components: 1) Ethnography in key organizations and churches serving these communities; 2) life history interviews with 30 families (15 from each community) regarding social resources, work, education, and involvement in organizations and churches; 3) survey of employment practices of Kenosha employers; 4) needs assessment survey of the Kenosha Latino population. Publications and Papers:
Kenosha Social Capital Project Education Report: Churches, Non-profits and Community. Indiana, PA: Indiana University of Pennsylvania, July 2001.
Conceptualizing Community through Non-profits and Churches in "Minority" Communities: Social Capital in Action in Kenosha, WI. Presented at the 4th International Conference of the International Society for Third Sector Research, Dublin, Ireland, July 2000.
Papers and Publications Drawing From Several Projects:
Special Issue on Welfare Reform for American Anthropologist. Co-editor with Rae Bridgman and Alex Stepick. Author, Introduction. September 2001.
Social Capital and Community Supports for Low Income Families: Examples from Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Social Policy Journal. First Presented at the Work, Welfare and Politics Conference, University of Oregon, February 2000.
Social Capital and Community Supports for Low Income Families: Examples from Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Paper presented at the Work Welfare and Politics Conference
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, February 2000.
Social Capital and Welfare Reform I: Interorganization Dynamics Among Churches and W-2 Agencies in Wisconsin. Presented at the 27th annual Association for Research in Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action Meetings, Seattle, November 1998.
Social Capital and Welfare Reform II: Lessons from Philadelphia and Wisconsin. Presented at the 97th annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, December 1998.