This desk reference is for state and local boards and staff and provides information on serving priority populations using WIOA Adult funds - recipients of public assistance, low-income individuals, individuals who are basic skills deficient, and veterans. (Author abstract)
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Journal Article This special issue contains articles that explore how disadvantaged young men are faring in the face of low educational achievement, joblessness, out-of-wedlock childbearing, incarceration, and in the face of the Great Recession. An introductory article reviews social and economic forces facing young fathers, and the following four articles outline the economic status of low-income men and fathers. The deteriorating labor market prospects for low-skilled men in the United States is discussed, as well as young disadvantaged men as fathers, the relationship contexts of young disadvantaged…
This fact sheet focuses on children in poverty in South Dakota. It begins by explaining federal poverty thresholds for 2014, poverty guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, South Dakota benefits that use poverty guidelines, and the Supplemental Poverty Measure. It concludes that poverty thresholds vary by family size and number of children, but not geographically, while guidelines vary by family size and geographically. The use of the Supplemental Poverty Measure to extend the Official Poverty Measure is discussed and key differences between poverty thresholds…
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Journal Article In this analysis, we explore how low-income African American fathers build understandings of successful manhood in the context of community-based responsible fatherhood programs. Drawing on life history interviews with 75 men in Illinois and Indiana, we explore men's attempts to fulfill normative expectations of fatherhood while living in communities with limited resources. We examine the efforts of community-based fatherhood programs to shape alternative African American masculinities through facilitation of personal turning points and "breaks with the past," use of social support and…
This fact sheet discusses findings from a KIDS COUNT report that highlights the ways in which parents are stretched thin working in low-paying jobs, the effects of inflexible employment on a parent’s ability to provide the emotional and physical care vital for early childhood development, and the detrimental effects of parental stress on children’s cognitive development. It then spotlights five two-generation polices to improve family mobility: home visiting programs, training health professionals to identify risk factors, streamline the process for accessing benefits, connect fathers to…
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Journal Article This article examines the result of a long-term disregard of the needs of fathers by public policy and social programs. Historically, federal and state laws and welfare regulations have created barriers and disincentives for the involvement of fathers in the lives of their children. Federal assistance for the poor often focused on children and custodial parents, elderly persons, and disabled persons. Able-bodied men, including noncustodial fathers, were not eligible for benefits such as public or subsidized housing, Medicare, or food stamps. These policies lead to situations in which…
Unpublished Paper
The success of welfare reform will depend on the existing capabilities of low-income parents, the stability of the parents' relationship and desire for father involvement, and the effects of local policies on parental relationships and child well being. These factors can be assessed with information from the current Fragile Families and Child Well-being study on unwed parents, which is following 3,675 children born to unmarried parents and 1,125 children born to married parents in 21 cities with different welfare policies and systems. The results of the study will demonstrate whether strict…
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Journal Article The Family Support Act of 1988 and the 1996 welfare reform act recognized the need to help low-income fathers stay involved with their families, financially as well as emotionally. The laws required states to offer AFDC assistance to two parent families in which the primary wage earner was not employed. They also encouraged states to establish education, employment, and training assistance to noncustodial fathers of low income children so that they could obtain the level of employment needed to fulfill child support obligations. Reform policies have also tried to amend state practices…
