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Studies of nearly a dozen welfare programs were reviewed to determine the effects of welfare policies on children and youth and to identify issues requiring consideration during reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The following were among the key findings: (1) the school achievement of elementary school-age children are improved by welfare programs that increase both parental employment and income by providing earnings supplements to welfare recipients when they go to work; (2) programs that mandate participation in employment-related services typically increase parental employment but not income and have few short- or long-term effects on elementary school-age children; (3) although time-limited welfare programs can be implemented in ways that avoid widespread harm for elementary school-age children, the combination of earnings supplements with short time limits on welfare may reduce the positive effects that such supplements bring to children; (4) adolescents' school achievement and progress have been negatively affected by their parents' participation in both voluntary and mandatory programs promoting work and programs with and without time limits on benefit receipt; and (5) some evidence suggests that the observed negative effects on adolescents result from "child care problems" associated with maternal employment. (Contains 11 endnotes and 6 references.) (MN)

A study examined effects of the Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP) Plus program. A small group of long-term income assistance (IA) recipients in New Brunswick was offered an earnings supplement and employment services (SSP Plus); a second group was offered the regular SSP earnings supplement only; and a third group was offered neither supplement nor services. A baseline survey was administered prior to random assignment; followup surveys were administered about 18 and 36 months after random assignment; 820 completed the 36-month survey and were the study sample--274 in the SSP Plus program group, 270 in the regular SSP program group, and 276 in the control group. Findings indicated about one-half of people offered the earnings supplement and employment-related services (SSP Plus group) found full-time work in the year after entering the program and qualified to receive the program's earning supplement; only about one-third of the group offered only the earnings supplement (regular SSP group) was able to find full-time work; more than twice as many people who were offered SSP Plus than were offered neither the supplement nor employment services (control group) worked full time; and far fewer of those offered the earnings supplement and services remained on IA than did those who were offered neither. Most effects of SSP Plus stemmed from the supplement offer. Adding services to the earnings supplement had small effects on employment, earnings, income, and welfare use. (Appendixes include supplementary impact tables.) (YLB)

This report previews the Self-Sufficiency Project's (SSP's) longer-term effects by looking at these four related issues: wage progression, job retention, marital status, and attitudes toward work. A companion report, available separately, examines SSP's effects on children. Chapter 1 discusses the SSP research and demonstration project that offered a temporary earnings supplement to selected long-term Income Assistance (IA) recipients in British Columbia and New Brunswick, Canada. Chapter 2 describes impacts of SSP on employment, income, and welfare receipt for about three years. It reports that SSP increased employment, full-time employment, earnings, and cash transfer payments and reduced use of IA and poverty. Chapter 3 discusses impacts of SSP on employment stability, wage growth, marital status, and attitudes. It reports that SSP increased stable full-time employment and generated a fair amount of wage growth; and more members of the program group felt they had greater control over their lives and had married. Chapter 4 presents a means of inferring characteristics of supplement recipients and estimates their wage growth. It reports that SSP's supplement offer encouraged work among people least likely to work on their own and that wage growth was similar both for people who went to work because of it and for those who would have worked without it. Appendixes contain supplemental data and 22 references. (YLB)

This report examines effects of the Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP) for three age groups of children (younger cohort aged 3-5, middle cohort aged 6-11, and older cohort aged 12-18) at the 36-month interview. A companion report on effects of the SSP on adults is available separately. Chapter 1 describes the SSP incentive, project design, and SSP impact on adult economic outcomes. Chapter 2 describes the sample and methods; describes the information used to assess the effects of SSP on families and children; and presents SSP adult impacts by child cohort. Chapter 3 reports that SSP had no effects on the younger cohort; had small positive effects on cognitive and school outcomes but no impacts on social behavior and emotional health for the middle cohort; and may have increased substance use and minor delinquent activity in the older cohort. Chapter 4 reports SSP had almost no effect on parenting behavior and parental functioning for families; increased child care participation for the younger cohort; increased child care and participation in after-school activities for the middle cohort; and had no impacts on child care or after-school activities but increased engagement in chores and employment for the older cohort. Appendixes include a report on assessing the effect of survey non-response on estimated impacts; measures of child and family functioning; program impacts by child gender and province; and differences in impacts across the age cohorts. (Contains 52 references.) (YLB)

The Learning Enrichment Foundation (LEF) in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) offers 12 targeted training programs that have successfully helped "hard-to-serve" clients return to the workforce. Compared with traditional training, targeted training has a much narrower focus and adapts quickly to industry trends to meet employers' changing demands. LEF's targeted training programs fall into the following general categories: industrial skills, early childhood assistant, and computer training. Since their inception, LEF's programs have developed and adapted in response to local employers' changing needs and feedback. In addition, LEF integrates self-marketing training through the targeted skills training courses. The self-marketing training is delivered through 4-day workshops that build on the "hard skills" developed in targeted training by focusing on the "soft skills" and motivation necessary for a successful job search. In 1998, LEF began an Ontario Works Demonstration during which 501 social assistance recipients were able to access LEF's assessment, counseling, skills training, and job search programs. Of the 501 participants, 363 (72%) received skills training and 138 (28%) were placed directly in the program's job search component. Within 2 years, 242 participants had moved into employment and 129 of the 158 training graduates moved into jobs that were directly related to their training and paid starting hourly wages of $6.85-$25. (MN)

The 3-year Literacy, Welfare, and Work Longitudinal Research Project explored the complex relationship between literacy and employment within the context of welfare reform in Manitoba, in an attempt to identify the barriers to education and employment that adult learners experience, as well as the policies, programs, and support services that best enable them to move from welfare to work. This final report of the project is divided into three sections. In part 1, the life histories of adult learners in the study are collected, analyzed, and placed in chronological order according to theme. Part 2 then takes these experiences and perceptions and places them within a larger socioeconomic context, examining how welfare reform and the labor market affected students' lives. Part 3 contains conclusions and recommendations directed toward the following four main groups: learners, practitioners, social service agencies, and policy makers. Recommendations include the following: raising public awareness, support, and funding for literacy programs; enhancing resources and technology in literacy programs; revising welfare-to-work strategies; increasing student supports and access to programs; creating a wider variety of programming options to meet client needs; coordinating the links between literacy programming and other educational opportunities; improving communication and decision making among all stakeholders; and enhancing job creation and raising the minimum wage. (Contains a bibliography of 85 resources and a list of 8 organization's contact information.) (KC)

In 1992, Human Resources Development Canada launched the Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP), which was a research and demonstration effort involving long-term, single-parent Income Assistance (IA) recipients in New Brunswick and British Columbia. Under SSP, IA recipients who left IA and worked at least 30 hours per week were offered a generous but time-limited monthly earnings supplement. A short-term study of SSP established that nearly one-third of those offered the earnings supplement took full-time jobs and exited IA. In March 1995, a SSP was supplemented with a range of pre- and postemployment services. The new program was called SSP Plus. The impact of the SSP Plus program on employment patterns among IA recipients was examined in comparative analyses of regular SSP, SSP Plus, and control groups. The additional services in SSP Plus led to an increase in the percentage of persons taking advantage of the supplemental offer (52% after implementation of SSP Plus versus 35% before). The additional services in SSP Plus led to a small increase in full-time employment, decrease in receipt of IA, and modest increase in after-tax family income. (The document contains 16 references and 41 tables/figures. Appended are five additional tables of technical data.) (MN)

A four-phase longitudinal study was undertaken to examine the relationship between literacy education and employment. Phase 1 focused on trends in Canadian legislation and the labor market and student and teacher attitudes toward the legislative changes. In phase 2, an ethnographic approach was used to identify the educational and employment experiences of seven adult literacy students from Manitoba who were selected to represent a mix of ages, genders, literacy levels, family situations, and racial backgrounds. Life histories of the individuals were compiled that focused on the following: life goals, barriers to returning to school, work expectations, personal problems, and available supports. The study's overall conclusion at the end of year 2 was that, although literacy education offers personal, social, and economic benefits to individuals and society as a whole, literacy is not a "quick fix." There are also personal and structural barriers to learning and employment. The seven adults will be tracked further in phase 3, and the research findings and recommendations will be applied in phase 4. (Appended are demographic data about the case study participants and definitions of stage 1, 2, and 3 learners. The document contains 78 references. Addresses and phone numbers of seven Canadian literacy-related organizations conclude the document.) (MN)

The Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP) is a Canadian social demonstration and research project designed to test an employment alternative to welfare. The SSP makes work pay by offering generous earnings supplements to long-term, single-parent welfare recipients who find full-time jobs and leave Canada's Income Assistance (IA) welfare system. The SSP's effects (both intended and unintended) were examined in a special study called the SSP Entry Effects Demonstration, which was based on a classic experimental research design. New recipients were randomly assigned either to: (1) a program group that was informed of SSP's earnings supplement and told that they could receive it if they remained on IA for 1 year, or (2) to a control group that was not eligible for supplement payments. Thirteen months later, the delayed exit effect of the new earnings supplement remained small (only 3.1%). Moreover, its effects grew only slightly over time. Even among those who were most knowledgeable about SSP's future earnings supplement offer, impacts remained fairly small, and SSP's 1-year eligibility restriction proved to limit both delayed exits from IA and new applicant entry effects. (Contains 10 tables/figures and 29 references.) (MN)

The relationship between literacy, welfare, and work was examined in an exploratory study that included a literature review and focus group interviews with a total of 17 literacy instructors and 10 literacy students from two locations in Manitoba: Winnipeg and Brandon with the rural area surrounding it. Particular attention was paid to the connection between illiteracy and unemployment, poverty and other barriers to education and employment, the lack of "real jobs," and the impact of welfare reforms on the literacy community. The study underscored the importance of literacy education in achieving employment and alleviating poverty and the numerous barriers faced by students moving from welfare to work. The relationship between education and work was determined to be very complex. It was concluded that literacy students and instructors need more information on welfare legislation and the labor market and better support services and that the current climate of welfare reform requires more dialogue, flexibility, and student input in decision making. (Appended are 22 recommended resources for teaching literacy and employability and the focus group discussion guides used with the literacy instructors and students. The report contains 53 references. Addresses and phone numbers of six Canadian literacy-related organizations conclude the document.) (MN)

The Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP) entry effect experiment was designed to measure the effect of the future availability of an earnings supplement on the behavior of newly enrolled income assistance (IA) recipients. It used a classical randomized design. From a sample of 3,315 single parents who recently started a new period of IA, one-half were assigned to the program group and were informed that if they remained on IA for the next 12 months they would be eligible for the SSP supplement; the other half were assigned to the control group. SSP group members were asked questions and attended focus-group interviews to verify they understood the nature of the SSP supplement offer. Results indicated between one-half and three-fourths of them had relatively precise knowledge. The primary focus of the experiment was to determine whether some individuals would prolong their stay on IA to gain SSP eligibility. Analysis of the delayed exit effect suggested it was fairly small, on the order of 3 percentage points, i.e. 3 percent of all new applicants for IA. (Appendixes include additional data tables and list of 21 references.) (YLB)

This report recounts experiences of 99 single parents in British Columbia and New Brunswick who were offered the opportunity to receive cash payments in addition to their earnings if they left the income assistance (IA) rolls and took full-time jobs. The experiences are from participants of focus groups who were mostly female single parents, about one-half of whom had taken advantage of the supplement offer and were working. Chapter 2 looks at what it is like to be an IA recipient from the single parent's point of view. It reveals emotional associations with IA and reports more reasoned evaluations that include the trade-offs between working and being on IA. Chapter 3 addresses the feelings, experiences, and issues associated with deciding whether to take the supplement offer. It analyzes factors contributing to acceptance, such as potential for improved self-image and better life; obstacles from welfare to work such as child care, getting a job, poor health, transportation; and major barriers for non-takers, including poor health, bad timing, effect on children, and discouraging job prospects. Chapter 4 focuses on takers, including logistical problems in finding a job and making child-care arrangements; characteristics of takers and circumstances in their lives that facilitated supplement take-up; how they handled potential barriers to taking up the supplement; attitudes that played a role in their behavior; and what their lives were like with the supplement. Chapter 5 reports where participants would like to be in five years. Chapter 6 draws conclusions. (YLB)

This article describes how microsimulation analysis was used to help design a social experiment in two Canadian provinces. The microsimulation was used to choose among alternative program models, to refine the selected model, and to project costs for the Canadian government's program of financial incentives for leaving welfare. (SLD)

Winnipeg Boys and Girls Clubs Inc. is a private, voluntary, non-profit, human service group which provides disadvantaged children and youth of diverse social and cultural backgrounds with a safe and challenging environment and the experiences to acquire the skills which will enable them to become responsible and participating adults. Special projects funding has been used to develop a wide range of employment and pre-employment programs to address the need of young people who are functioning at well below an employment level. The Winnipeg group was chosen to develop and deliver the Preparation and Access to Continuing Employment Program (PACE) for youth under the Social Assistance Recipients Diversion Fund Program. The target group for the program are social assistance recipients ages 18 to 24. Participants are referred from social assistance case workers and screened for eligibility, training/employment history, and potential for benefit. The PACE program was designed to be competency-based, learner-centered and structured to provide as much flexibility as possible to meet individual needs. A high staff/participant ratio was used. Of the participants in the first program, 38 percent were employed full-time. With approximately 3 months left in the second program, 18 percent had been placed with employers, and 12 percent were seeking placements. (ABL)