Poverty, Work, and Community: A Research Agenda for an Era of Diminishing Federal Responsibility.

The article discusses the relationship among poverty, welfare, and work, and the factors that allow communities to foster employment opportunities, enhance accumulation of wealth and provide a safety net for families, in an era of diminishing federal government's role in social services. In addition, this article outlines the research needed to raise the understanding of how communities and labor markets affect work and poverty and the process through which communities can change to meet the challenges of devolution. The agenda set forth is not exhaustive but focuses on the contexts in which low-income people, whether working or on welfare, try to raise and support their families. The agenda assumes that social workers have an important role to play in helping create community and opportunity structures that allow all families to thrive. Welfare time limits and strong work requirements will leave large numbers of families in extremely precarious economic circumstances unless many of the barriers to employment for men and women currently in the low-skill labor force and moving on and off welfare are reduced. This problem cannot be approached piecemeal or with an individual focus; it requires a comprehensive approach to rebuilding the opportunities and supports for work in low-income communities.