In 2018, the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research launched a major research initiative into place-based strategies for local prosperity. Place-based strategies are nothing new. For decades, cities, regions, and states have sought to increase the number of jobs available to residents, expand their tax base, and promote amenities and…

The main objective of this project is to demonstrate how a community action agency can operate manpower and economic development programs with continuing impact. The program offers: (1) training in four areas, (2) supportive services, including counseling and basic education, (3) youth programs, (4) economic development efforts to help the local…

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…

The National Urban Coalition conducted this evaluation to determine the manner in which the provisions of the Emergency Employment Act of 1971 have been carried out, the problems raised by legislative and administrative guidelines, and the difficulties experienced in implementing projects locally. Some major findings were: (1) The Labor Department…

The Duke Endowment's Program for the Rural Carolinas is a 5-year effort to assist the revitalization of rural communities. Guiding principles of the program are that the rural Carolinas matter, this generation of workers matters, effective community development involves the entire community, solutions must be locally determined, healthy…

Grameen Banks are a model of successful support for the smallest businesses. The Grameen Bank began in 1976, when Muhammad Yunus, an economics professor at Chittagong University in southern Bangladesh, loaned Sufiya Khatun, a weaver of bamboo stools, $4 U.S. to buy supplies and raise her daily profit from 2 cents to $1.25. Her success prompted…

During the first phase of this project, from June 1964 to November 1965, the effectiveness and feasibility of centralized training in offsetting the employment problems of rural Alaska were tested. Recruitment was handled through mail contacts with village councils and subsequent recruitment trips to the villages. Training at a state vocational…

This volume is one of the products that emerged from Project Labor Market, a study financed by the City of New York's Human Resources Administration to investigate the relation between poverty and the job market in New York City. Although focused on that city, the project's specific aim was to determine how a labor market policy could and should…

A study assessed the first two years of a three-year initiative to test the potential of extending sectoral employment strategies among 10 organizations, most of which were new to the sectoral employment field. Five organizations increasing low-income workers' access to good jobs were ARCH; PhAME; Training, Inc.; WIRE-Net; and Project QUEST. Five…

The antipoverty initiatives of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations were essentially continued and given increased funding during the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations. The Reagan and Bush administrations marked the regression of many employment, training, and welfare programs. Employment and training issues were given high priority…