Conditional cash transfer programs (CCTs) have two main objectives: reducing poverty and increasing the human capital of children. To reach these objectives, transfers are given to poor households conditioned on investments in their children's education, health, and nutrition. Targeting mechanisms used by CCTs have been generally successful in…

THE HEADSTART PROGRAM, NOW 3 YEARS OLD, IS AN ATTEMPT TO BREAK INTO THE SELF-PERPETUATING "CULTURES OF POVERTY." THE EVALUATION WHICH HAS ACCOMPANIED THIS SOCIAL EXPERIMENT HAS BEEN DIRECTED TOWARDS IDENTIFYING EFFECTIVE AND PROFITABLE KINDS OF INTERVENTION. THE OBJECTIVES OF HEADSTART ARE NOT SOLELY ACADEMIC BUT SEEK BROAD IMPROVEMENTS…

Advocates that the Current Population Survey (CPS) be redesigned to permit valid longitudinal studies, that the CPS include questions to evaluate poverty programs, that a common sampling framework be designed for the CPS and operating agencies serving the poor to assure that links between CPS and other data can be established, and that samples of…

This report is one of a series of papers presented to encourage discussion on the evaluation of important development issues. The recent emphasis within the Agency for International Development (AID) on knowing the impacts of development assistance, particularly the benefit incidence of projects and programs, makes it important to look at the…

Examines two goals of anti-poverty programs beyond reducing the number of people in income poverty and increasing public expenditures disproportionately benefiting the poor: that inequality of income should be substantially narrowed, and that benefits for the poor must meet their needs. (Author/JM)

The impact of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) Community Action Programs (CAP) on 6 selected American Indian reservations (Gila River and Papago, Arizona; Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico; Pine Ridge, South Dakota; Turtle Mountain, North Dakota, and White Earth Chippewa, Minnesota) are evaluated. After considering the development of Indian…

This study reviews the evidence on the impact that manpower training programs have had on the earnings of the poor, in order to assess the likely success that greatly expanded training programs would have in reducing the amount of public assistance payments and the size of welfare roles. Between 1963 and 1971, the Federal Government obligated 6.8…

THIS STUDY EXAMINES THE PROGRESS OF 125 CHILDREN IN THE CLEVELAND PUBLIC SCHOOL KINDERGARTENS WHO ATTENDED HEADSTART DURING THE SUMMER AND 125 CHILDREN IN THE SAME SCHOOLS WHO DID NOT ATTEND THE HEADSTART PROGRAM. SOME INDICATIONS IN THIS STUDY SUGGEST THAT A HEADSTART CHILD SHOWS MUCH GREATER VARIABILITY IN HIS CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT THAN A…

The stated purpose of this paper is to review some of the critical issues that arise in the planning and conduct of the evaluation of action programmes amongst the socially and educationally disadvantaged, and to suggest the means that might be adopted to overcome the inherent difficulties. The discussion first focuses on the characteristics of…

A meeting was held April 3, 1974, by the African-American Institute (AAI) to discuss the need for rural change and the strategies for achieving change in Africa. Participants in the meeting included two Africans who have leading roles in the economic development of their countries, representatives from 12 governmental and private agencies that are…

The Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966 called for a comprehensive attack on social, economic, and physical problems of blighted urban areas through the concentration and coordination of resources. It also required the involvement of neighborhood citizens in all aspects of planning: from setting goals, choosing…

An evaluation of efforts by the Carter and Reagan Administrations to reduce fraud, error, and mismanagement in social programs is provided, examining the food stamp program as an example. Data available do not make it possible to say whether these administrative and political efforts actually decreased fraud and error. (SLD)

An evaluation was conducted of the effectiveness of the 12 LULAC [League of United Latin American Citizens] National Education Service Centers, Inc. (LNESC), which assist Hispanic and other educationally deprived students in pursuing post-secondary education. The evaluation focused on three LNESC objectives: (1) to increase the number of persons…

A 1965 summer training program for 90 VISTA volunteers at Monte Vista, Colorado, is described and evaluated in this report. The program was designed to prepare VISTA trainees to work in poverty areas by providing individual helping services and by planning and organizing community action. The trainees lived and worked in Monte Vista, a small…

This case study of New Haven's Residential Youth Center (RYC) dramatizes the need for an alliance between social activists and the clinician in the arena of community action. A neighborhood-based, self-helf center oriented for "hard-core" inner-city youths, the RYC was funded in 1966 as an experimental and demonstration program by U.S.…