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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By Nicole Davis. By making good on his promise to "end the welfare system as we know it," President Clinton set off a resurgence of welfare rights organizing that this country has not seen since the 1960s. Full article available on ColorLines here. |
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By Mark Toney. From 1966 until 1975, the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) made history by organizing tens of thousands of welfare recipients to demand income, clothing, food, and justice for their families. Full article available on ColorLines here. |
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By Gary Delgado. According to the National Partnership for Women & Families and the Welfare Law Center, people in the welfare-to-work pipeline can look to a whole range of federal laws for protection against various forms of employment discrimination. Full article available on ColorLines here. |
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By Gordon Hurd, ColorLines Senior Writer. Welfare reform during recession: Discrimination and poor access to education and job training make the hard times harder. Full article available on ColorLines here. |
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How Welfare Reform Punishes the Poor. HOT OFF THE PRESS! Contributions by Leading Experts on Welfare Reform. |
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