Far from being an anti-poverty program, welfare reform, as we now know it, has become a program that punishes people who are poor and in many cases makes them even poorer. Welfare reform has eliminated a federal commitment to protect poor children and replaced it with a program to separate poor women from the work of caring for their children and to force them into poverty-level jobs, often at less than a minimum wage.
The ideological shift from a program designed to alleviate structural economic difficulties to one designed to correct the perceived character flaws of individuals has resulted in increased discrimination in the operation of welfare programs.
As the color of welfare recipients has changed across time, the welfare program has abandoned its original mission of providing economic support to keep children and their parents out of poverty in favor of controlling the allegedly deviant behavior of its recipients. It should not surprise us that since preventing poverty is no longer its goal, neither is it any longer the effect of the American welfare system.
Excerpted from Poverty to Punishment: How Welfare Reform Punishes the Poor.
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As part of ARC's "Check the ColorLine" series, this fact sheet provides a brief look at the poverty status of people of color in the United States. Using the latest data (2007) from the U.S. Census' annual American Community Survey, the Poverty we present state level data for those states with the Top 10 largest populations of Latinos, Blacks, and American Indian Alaska Natives. Our analysis finds that although national poverty rates have remained relatively stagnant for all races over the last few years, a wide gap, which may worsen in light of the current economic recession, remains between whites and people of color. Download ARC Poverty Fact Sheet |
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This report examines seven principles that laid the groundwork for the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act that ended the government guarantee of welfare assistance to low-income families. The report provides an overview and history of each fallacy used to support welfare reform as well as the actual result of the policies. To download this report in PDF format, complete the form on this page. |
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This report looks at model welfare policies being promoted by various advocacy groups. Many of the policies are a direct result of actions taken due to the adverse affects that TANF and the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act had on families. To download this report in PDF format, complete the form on this page. |
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This report attempts to address questions of quality of life for welfare leavers who were forced into TANF that are often ignored by welfare researchers. The report also suggests important questions welfare researchers could ask to uncover the realities of welfare reform. To download this report in PDF format, complete the form on this page. |
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...Welfare Rights and Improvements in Welfare and Related Programs. This report discusses the opportunities and challenges that legal advocates and low income groups would confront in considering litigation to challenge welfare reform policies and practices after 1996. The report examines the role of the courts, issues that arose from key income support programs, access and privatization of welfare, and developing legal resources for litigation. To download this report in PDF format, complete the form on this page. |
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This report is the result of a survey that included 1500 people in 13 states who had contact with the welfare system in the four years after 1996 welfare reform. The report details discrimination in the operation of the new welfare programs based on four factors: race, gender, language, and national origin. To download this report in PDF format, complete the form on this page. |
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By Rebecca Gordon. Executive Summary. Women are subject to sexual inquisitions in welfare offices. |
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