Research by Author & Topic

Publications by Nancy M. Pindus on Governance

This report examines the implementation of grants issued in 2004 under the American Red Cross September 11 Recovery Grants Program. Using telephone surveys of the grantees, site visits, and a telephone/online survey of clients, the study found that clients were very satisfied with the services and reported positive outcomes. However, more than half said that they needed additional service to continue their recovery. The report discusses six critical lessons that can inform planning for future long-term recovery programs: (1) the stigma attached to receiving mental health services, (2) the need for culturally appropriate services; (3) the importance of outreach efforts; (4) the special challenges of providing services to children; (5) mechanisms for minimizing staff burnout; and (6) establishing simple and effective reporting systems.

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 (P.L. 105-220) recognized the relationship between adult education and workforce development and the need for accountability in all literacy, training, and employment programs. Enacted as Title II of WIA, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) required substantial changes in the operations of state and local adult education programs, including allocation of funds, accountability and performance measurement, and the relationship between adult education and one-stop delivery systems. This report synthesizes information from a survey of all state directors of adult education and site visits to nine local programs in five states. Findings relate primarily to the first 18 months of AEFLA implementation.

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 (P.L. 105-220) recognized the relationship between adult education and workforce development and the need for accountability in all literacy, training, and employment programs. Enacted as Title II of WIA, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) required substantial changes in the operations of state and local adult education programs, including allocation of funds, accountability and performance measurement, and the relationship between adult education and one-stop delivery systems. This report synthesizes information from a survey of all state directors of adult education and site visits to nine local programs in five states. Findings relate primarily to the first 18 months of AEFLA implementation.

This report, prepared for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, reviews existing data sources and prior research on six programs operated by the Department that provide food assistance to American Indians living on or near reservations. The purpose of the review is to help identify future research needs and opportunities to exploit administrative data systems and recurring national surveys. The programs covered are the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), the Food Stamp Program (FSP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). Research topics of continuing importance include the impacts of reservation food assistance on health and nutrition, the characteristics that make nutrition education effective on reservations, the dynamics of program participation, and the contribution of tribal administration to program coordination.

This is one of several reports from the congressionally mandated national evaluation of the WtW grants program. The report presents findings from the process and implementation analysis component of the evaluation, and describes the service delivery operations of programs funded with WtW grants in eleven study sites. These findings are based on information collected through two rounds of site visits in 1999 and 2001, and management information system data maintained by the programs on participants and services. Topics covered include institutional arrangements, targeting and enrollment, service delivery models, and job placement.

The Health Passport Project (HPP) is an initiative sponsored by the Western Governors' Association (WGA) and conducted in Bismarck, North Dakota; Cheyenne, Wyoming; and Reno, Nevada. HPP is intended to demonstrate how a secure multipurpose electronic health and food benefits card can facilitate information-sharing and improve administrative efficiency among public and private health care providers, nutrition programs, and Head Start educators while placing individuals firmly in control of the information on the card. This evaluation of the HPP demonstration is intended to provide information that decisionmakers in the three participating states need before the states invest in statewide implementation, and to provide critical information to other states considering implementing HPP or related smart card technology.

The Health Passport Project (HPP) is an initiative sponsored by the Western Governors' Association (WGA) and conducted in Bismarck, North Dakota; Cheyenne, Wyoming; and Reno, Nevada. HPP is intended to demonstrate how a secure multipurpose electronic health and food benefits card can facilitate information-sharing and improve administrative efficiency among public and private health care providers, nutrition programs, and Head Start educators while placing individuals firmly in control of the information on the card. This evaluation of the HPP demonstration is intended to provide information that decisionmakers in the three participating states need before the states invest in statewide implementation, and to provide critical information to other states considering implementing HPP or related smart card technology.

New Jersey has streamlined many aspects of its social services and income support programs and successfully implemented Work First New Jersey (WFNJ), changing the emphasis of cash assistance from education and training to immediate employment and personal responsibility. The state continues to maintain a commitment to its low-income population through a relatively generous safety net for poor families including low-income singles and families without children. New Jersey continues to operate two separate child care systems for welfare and non-welfare families. New Jersey also retained the concept of transitional child care for families exiting welfare, and recently extended the transitional period from two to three years. While resources were unavailable in New Jersey to fund all non-welfare families who applied for child care in the years after welfare reform, in July of 1999 New Jersey transferred TANF funds to eliminate existing waiting lists for non-welfare families seeking child care subsidies.

The policy context for both welfare programs and employment and training programs operated by the workforce development system has changed dramatically in the past few years. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 requires welfare agencies to focus more than in the past on moving welfare recipients into employment. PRWORA provides funding to welfare agencies in the form of a block grant, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), to support efforts to achieve this objective. The need to move more TANF clients into work activities and jobs means that TANF agencies need to expand or develop structural and organizational arrangements that make this possible, including coordinating with the workforce development system.

There are two Highlights for each state. The income support and social services Highlights look at basic income support programs, employment and training programs, child care, child support enforcement, and the last-resort safety net. The Highlights capture policies in place and planned in 1996 and early 1997.