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May 02, 2003
Issue Focus
Building a New Network of Services to Support Work in Low-Income Communities
Since the enactment of federal welfare reform in 1996 and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) in 1998, the public systems that once provided welfare and workforce development services to low-income people — most of them unemployed — have been challenged to serve overlapping groups of low-income working Americans. The welfare system — long a provider of public assistance, food stamps, Medicaid, and welfare-to-work services — has had to assume an expanded role as a provider of postemployment services and supports to unprecedented numbers of welfare recipients who work. On the workforce development side, policymakers and program administrators are beginning to focus on job retention and career advancement services, even as they strive to ensure that low-wage workers who do not receive welfare benefits nevertheless partake of the work supports for which they are eligible. With both landmark laws now facing reauthorization, federal and state policymakers are rethinking how best to colocate, coordinate, and integrate services, benefits, and delivery mechanisms in ways that promote employment, job stability, and economic self-reliance for the welfare and nonwelfare populations alike.
Raising the labor market chances of low-income people, who typically hold low-paying jobs that offer few benefits and little opportunity for advancement, is especially challenging in today’s environment of weak economic growth, budget crises, and institutional change. The expansion of financial work supports — particularly the Earned Income Tax Credit, medical insurance, and child care subsidies — during the 1990s made low-wage work more viable. But many eligible workers do not take advantage of them, and work support programs are being cut back. New programs that aim to help people keep and advance in their jobs are only in very early stages of development, with little known about what works.
Several recently launched MDRC projects are wrestling with these changes in institutional roles, seeking better ways to reach target populations, developing new types of services, and trying to build a knowledge base about what strategies promote job retention and advancement. One such innovative and extensive effort is the National Work Advancement and Support Center Demonstration. Work Advancement and Support Centers are designed to overcome obstacles — such as inadequate knowledge about programs, complicated application procedures, onerous documentation requirements, and, for many, fear of stigmatization — that may discourage people from seeking out services and supports for which they are eligible. The umbrella institution for the demonstration is WIA One-Stop Centers, a network of local service providers in communities across the country. Created by the Workforce Investment Act, One-Stops are designed to serve individuals’ need for employment training while meeting employers’ need for qualified workers. Through another project, Employment Retention and Advancement, MDRC is studying a variety of approaches adopted by local welfare and workforce development agencies to increase job retention and upward career mobility among low-income workers. The goals of the two initiatives are complementary. One focuses on institutional change, bringing workforce development and welfare agency staff together to support low-wage workers; the other aims to identify effective postemployment services operated by both systems.
A third MDRC project focuses on community colleges as a route to career advancement. Like job training, a postsecondary degree or certificate can pave the way to higher pay and greater job stability. But most low-income workers find it difficult to attend or complete college for reasons ranging from a lack of child care to the financial strain of giving up paid work hours to attend school. Working with a group of community colleges across the nation, Opening Doors to Earning Credentials aims to help low-income people persevere in degree- and credential-granting programs by offering new types of financial aid, enhanced student services, and curricular and instructional innovations.
Finally, in its fieldwork, MDRC has observed — and helped develop — effective methods for raising awareness of and participation in programs that offer work supports among a variety of low-income populations. The insights and experiences of practitioners engaged in this work have been gathered and synthesized in two how-to guides, Making Work Pay and Steady Work and Better Jobs. By studying what program strategies and administrative practices work best to deliver services that improve low-income workers’ career and economic prospects, MDRC is helping to chart a new course into the post-welfare reform era.
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