Research by Author & Topic

Publications by Olivia Golden on Economic Well-being

In this commentary for The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.), Olivia Golden and Sheila Zedlewski advise states to grab the federal dollars offered by the economic stimulus package to help pay for recession-driven increases in the demand for welfare.

This chapter was part of an online effort by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and New Democracy Project to offer expert advice to the new administration as part of its Change for America book project (http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/changeforamerica/additionalcontributions.html). Washington’s new leadership, its authors say, should build on the Administration for Children and Families’ assets and focus on the interrelated goals of promoting family economic security and promoting healthy child and youth development. These twin goals can best be achieved through new strate­gic investments, capacity building and innovative partnerships, coordination across offices and departments, and collaboration with states and the private sector.

This paper for the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation conceptualizes a framework for a new safety net for low-income working families that is rooted in their most essential needs. It is organized around five key goals:(1) enabling parents to meet their family’s needs while working in lower-wage jobs, (2) helping families weather gaps in parental employment, (3) supporting parents’ job advancement, (4) helping parents combine work and child-rearing, and (5) improving children’s well-being and development. The paper describes these families’ circumstances, discusses gaps in current safety-net programs, and explores possible alternative approaches to meeting families’ most pressing needs.

Olivia Golden, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and a former assistant secretary for children and families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, explains, in a New Orleans Times-Picayune commentary, how cost-effective programs like Early Head Start and Head Start can help heal the trauma suffered by babies, toddlers and older children affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Babies, toddlers, and preschoolers were doing badly in New Orleans before Katrina and are vulnerable to emotional and developmental damage afterwards. To heal the damage and narrow the gap in school readiness, these youngsters need high quality early childhood programs that blend health, mental health, and learning, along with support for parents. An ambitious plan to bring back families with young children and give them what they need should be a cornerstone of New Orleans' redevelopment, building on the proven model and national infrastructure offered by Head Start/Early Head Start and drawing in additional local partners and federal funding.