Food insecurity is a growing concern for Eau Claire County residents in Western Wisconsin. A community-academic partnership studied food insecurity through the voices of families struggling to access food and institutions that assist with hunger related problems. Data were collected through focus groups held in urban and rural parts of the county.…

Planning and preparing for life after high school is a central developmental task of American adolescents, and may be even more critical for low-income youth who are less likely to attend a four year college. This study investigates factors that led to the effects of the New Hope Project, a work-based, anti-poverty program directed at parents on…

New Hope, an employment-based poverty-reduction intervention for adults evaluated in a random-assignment experimental design, had positive impacts on children's achievement and social behavior two and five years after random assignment. The question addressed in this paper was the following: Did the positive effects of New Hope on younger children…

Examines CCIs (Comprehensive Community Initiatives), which can help librarians expand services to young adults who live in poverty; reviews a Wisconsin plan which highlights community-based librarianship; presents a case study of a Florida CCI-based youth development project; and discusses public libraries and CCIs, and library education programs…

This report consists of tabulations by county for the entire 1987 and 1988 population receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and the entire population in the Work Experience and Job Training (WEJT) and Community Work Experience (CWEP) programs in Wisconsin. The tables include a complete history of all reported earnings data for…

This report examines state earned income tax credits (EICs) as a means to assist working poor families to escape poverty. Specifically, the report notes that six states have their own EICs, expressed as a percentage of the federal EIC, with the advantages being that the credit is a reward for work, is a pro-family policy, is efficiently targeted,…

Wisconsin's guaranteed tax base equalization formula has no direct adjustment for the additional costs of educating poverty level pupils. This paper establishes the need for an adjustment and examines three measures (based on varying poverty definitions) to determine which provides the most equitable funding formula for educating poor children. (9…

This book analyzes the responses of five states (Florida, Mississippi, New York, Washington, and Wisconsin) to challenges posed by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to alter state welfare programs and management systems. Using case studies, the book highlights similarities and differences in the states'…

TWO APPROACHES WERE USED IN STUDYING THE EFFECTS OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD YOUTH CORPS (NYC) ON MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN -- (1) IMPLICATIONS FOR THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL OPERATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED IN ITS WORK FLOW, AND (2) IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIFIC PROBLEMS IN THE YOUTH AND POVERTY AREAS (SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AND ACHIEVEMENT, JUVENILE DELINQUENCY,…

It is becoming increasingly clear that "work first" solutions to welfare reform such as Wisconsin Works (W-2) are problematic for families with a disabled parent or child. Wisconsin's existing policies are especially ill-tailored to meet the special needs of the following broad categories of low-income families: (1) W-2 families that…