New Book Synthesizes 6 Years of Research on Welfare Reform

Provides Foundation for Current TANF Reauthorization Debate

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 14, 2002—As reauthorization of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) moves through Congress, a new book, Welfare Reform: The Next Act, offers the most comprehensive synthesis of research on post-1996 welfare policy.

It presents in one volume key findings from six years of the Urban Institute's Assessing the New Federalism project, an ongoing effort to analyze the devolution of responsibility for social programs from the federal government to the states. The book informs current debate over issues such as: work requirements; TANF and child care funding levels; benefit restoration to immigrants; marriage promotion and discouragement of out-of-wedlock childbirth; safety net program access; welfare caseload changes; state budget choices; work; and poverty.

"Today's policymakers, unlike those in 1996, now have a strong research foundation on which to build the next phase of welfare policy and programs," says Kenneth Finegold, an editor of the book and Urban Institute researcher. The book was released today at a national conference of policymakers, service providers, advocates, and researchers from across the country.

Welfare Reform: The Next Act, edited by Urban Institute researchers Alan Weil and Kenneth Finegold and published by the Urban Institute Press, examines all facets of the new welfare system created since passage of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

Book's Chapters Cover:

• Work and the Safety Net — income and employment patterns among welfare recipients and those who leave welfare; access to safety net supports-such as food stamps, the Earned Income Tax Credit, job training, child care, and health care-that help ease the transition to work; and implications of time limits, work activity requirements, and employment and training programs for "hard to employ" people.
• Immigrants and Minorities — the widening divide among states in both the generosity of benefits and immigrants' participation levels in safety net programs and evidence that disproves the "welfare magnet" theory; effects of welfare reform on racial and ethnic minorities.
• Families and Children — changes in family structure and composition; changes in the well-being of children since the enactment of welfare reform; state actions to promote marriage.

Lessons for the Future:

"The first act of welfare reform demonstrated recipients' capacity for work and the value of supporting all low-income working families, irrespective of welfare receipt," concludes editor Alan Weil, director of Assessing the New Federalism. "Our findings to date show that the challenge of the next act will be to make this new, work-based welfare system adequate to meet the needs of a diverse group of vulnerable families through all phases of the economic cycle."

Welfare Reform: The Next Act, edited by Alan Weil and Kenneth Finegold, is available from the Urban Institute Press. To order the book (272 pages, 6" x 9," ISBN 0-87766-710-1, $26.50 paperback), call toll-free, 1.877.847.7377. The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and education organization that examines the social, economic, and governance challenges facing the nation.

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