Volume 8 – Issue 2 – 2004
Sandra S. Butler, Luisa S. Deprez, and Rebekah J. Smith
Beth Osborne Daponte, Amelia Haviland, and Joseph B. Kadane
John D. Abelll and Melissa L. Abell
“Education: ‘The One Factor That Can Keep Me from Sliding into Hopeless Poverty”
Sandra S. Butler
University of Maine
Luisa S. Deprez
University of Southern Maine
and
Rebekah J. Smith
U. S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
Abstract: The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act severely restricted access to post-secondary education for people receiving welfare. Through well-organized advocacy efforts, Maine was able to maintain access to higher education for families on welfare – one of only two states to do so in 1977 – through the Parents as Scholars (PaS) program. This paper reports on the second wave of data in a longitudinal study of PaS participants. Findings indicate many benefits for survey respondents, including increased earnings and enhanced self-esteem. We conclude with a discussion of how these findings have been used to support the reintegration of education into welfare programs through the reauthorization process.
“Head Start and School-to-Work Program Participation”
Richard K. Caputo
Yeshiva University
Abstract: Using logistic regression analysis, this study of 4,540 high school students in the U. S. shows that Head Starters have a greater likelihood of participating in School-to-Work programs when controlling for curriculum type, school auspices, sex, race/ethnicity, and academic class level. Head Start participation makes no difference in regard to type of training among STW program participants. Evidence is mixed in regard to whether or not STW programs might constitute a de facto tracking system for Head Start graduates. Tracking appears to occur, but with positive and negative consequences. On one hand, findings suggest that Head Starters who participate in STW programs are more likely to remain in high school longer than non-STW participants. On the other hand, due to lower participation rates by white males, STW fails to achieve the sexual and racial/ethnic diversity requisite to ensure greater levels of academic rigor than might be the case otherwise. The author concludes that government educational programs designed for all socioeconomic groups can benefit those from economically disadvantaged families.
“‘Every Peasant Girl Knows How to Sweep!’: Sweeping Women Workers in Hefei, China”
Deirdre Mary Smythe
Nanjing University
Abstract: This paper is a qualitative study investigating the working lives of twenty-six Chinese sweeping women workers in Hefei, Anhui Province, in the P. R. of China. Most participants were illiterate peasant women called nongmingong, migrants from the Chinese countryside. The study’s methodology was a project called reframing suggested by Tuhiwai-Smith (1999), used for researching indigenous populations. The sweeping workers suggested that illiteracy was at the root of their employment problems. Policy and taxation reform initiatives by the All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF), and the Ministry of Education in the Chinese Party of China Central Committee, addressing the formal and informal educational needs of poor women nongmingong are recommended.
“To What Degree Does Food Assistance Help Poor Households Acquire Enough Food? A Joint Examination of Public and Private Sources of Food Assistance”
Beth Osborne Daponte
Carnegie Mellon University
Amelia Haviland
Carnegie Mellon University
and
Joseph B. Kadane
Carnegie Mellon University
Abstract: We study the efficacy of public and private food assistance in alleviating food shortages among poor households by jointly considering the effects of all major forms of domestic food assistance – the Food Stamp Program, WIC, and food pantries. The analyses are based on detailed data collected in 1993 from 398 low-income households in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. We examine the effect each of the widely available forms of food assistance has on helping poor households acquire enough resources potentially to meet basic nutritional requirements. Research findings suggest that, compared with other forms of food assistance, the receipt of a significant amount in food stamps has a much greater impact on whether a household attains at least the Thrifty Food Plan than the receipt of food from a food pantry or through the WIC program.
“Poverty Reduction: Government Transfer Spending vs. Macroeconomic Change”
John D. Abell
Randolph-Macon Woman’s College
and
Melissa L. Abell
Virginia Commonwealth University
Abstract: This study uses a multivariate time series approach (Vector Autoregression) to compare the relative effects of government transfer spending versus macroeconomic change on poverty reduction. The analysis disaggregates transfer spending among federal budget subcategories and poverty rates among different demographic groups. The analysis also tested for the possibility that spending on government programs is adjusted in response to changes in poverty. The findings indicated that out of five separate transfer spending categories, only Income Security and Social Security spending had significant impacts, affecting White and elderly poverty only. Black, youth, and female head-of-house poverty rates were not significantly influenced by any spending category. Economic growth and lower unemployment rates were both observed to reduce poverty in all categories except the elderly, but the unemployment rate appeared to be the dominant effect. We found only a single instance in which transfer spending (Income Security) appeared to respond to changes in poverty (youth poverty).