Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/KatherineLotspeich

The 2002 Farm Bill's legal immigrant eligibility restorations took place against a backdrop of high, steady levels of immigration. By the end of 2003, short-term targets for increased non-citizen participation in the Food Stamp Program had been met -- over 150,000 legal immigrants were added to the rolls across eight study states (well on schedule to meet the goal of enrolling 400,000 legal immigrants nationally by 2006). While the Farm Bill represents a significant policy success in terms of supplanting the legal immigrant restrictions of PRWORA, substantial barriers to immigrant food stamp participation remain.

The Urban Institute developed this profile of the foreign-born in Lowell, Massachusetts for members of the One Lowell Coalition: a regional coalition working on immigrant and refugee integration. The profile describes Lowell's immigrant population in terms of its growth, diversity, settlement patterns, English language ability, poverty, and citizenship trends.

The Urban Institute developed this profile of the foreign-born in Nashville, Tennessee for members of the Nashville New American Coalition: a regional coalition working on immigrant and refugee integration. The profile describes Nashville's immigrant population in terms of its growth, diversity, settlement patterns, English language ability, poverty, and citizenship trends.

The Urban Institute developed this profile of the foreign-born in Portland, Oregon for members of Project Interwoven Tapestry: a regional coalition working on immigrant and refugee integration. The profile describes Portland's immigrant population in terms of its growth, diversity, settlement patterns, English language ability, poverty, and citizenship trends.

The Urban Institute examined the Department of Labor's (DOL) web-based resources intended to increase information on Department rules and regulations. The report assesses firms' awareness of DOL's resources and reviews web-based compliance assistance in other regulatory agencies. The study represents one of the first explorations of the use of tools associated with e-government to achieve goals associated with regulatory reform. The authors find that 60 percent of contacted firms used DOL's website, often with private third-party sources (safety experts), and that DOL features more web-based tools than other federal agencies reviewed. The authors recommend research on the role of third parties delivering compliance assistance to determine whether assistance generates savings and who captures the savings--firms or third parties.

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