Employment & Self-Sufficiency

  Poor Finances: Assets and Low-Income Households Assets, Poverty, and Public Policy: Challenges in Definition and Measurement December 2008 By: Yunju Nam, Jin Huang, and Michael Sherraden Center for Social Development Washington University in Saint Louis

The Welfare Indicators Act of 1994 requires the Department of Health and Human Services to prepare annual reports to Congress on indicators and predictors of welfare dependence.  The 2008 Indicators of Welfare Dependence, the eleventh annual report, provides welfare dependence indicators through 2005, reflecting changes that have taken place since enactment of the Personal Respons

This practice brief profiles three programs, two statewide and one local, that provide work opportunities to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients who are participating in vocational education programs.

  Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates Using Data to Monitor and Improve the Work Participation of TANF Recipients: Examples from New York City and Utah December 2008 By: Jeffrey Max and Gretchen Kirby Mathematica Policy Research

  Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates Summary Report December 2008 By: LaDonna Pavetti, Jacqueline Kauff, Michelle K. Derr, Jeffrey Max, Ann Person, and Gretchen Kirby Mathematica Policy Research

This practice brief profiles the multi-pronged, comprehensive approaches taken by Maryland and Utah to increase their state's work participation rates. Both states have more than doubled their state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) work participation rates within a one-year period.

  Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates Providing Unpaid Work Experience Opportunities for TANF Recipients: Examples from Erie County, New York; Montana; and Hamilton County, Ohio December 2008 By: Michelle K. Kerr Mathematica Policy Research

  Poor Finances:  Assets and Low-Income Households The Effects of Holding Assets on Social and Economic Outcomes of Families: A Review of Theory and Evidence November 2008 By: Robert Lerman and Signe-Mary McKernan The Urban Institute

  Poor Finances:  Assets and Low-Income Households Asset Building over the Life Course Final Report By: Mark R. Rank Center for Social Development Washington University in Saint Louis November 2008

The purpose of this exploratory study was to learn what factors and approaches utilized by Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) programs contribute to refugee economic self-sufficiency. The issue of whether these approaches were applicable to mainstream welfare-to-work programs was also addressed.