Front Page
Welfare reform is the most significant change in American social welfare policy affecting children and families in 60 years. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 will have an impact on millions of low-income families and children. It is imperative that local collaboratives--whose role is governance and whose concern is the well-being of children and families--involve themselves in state and county government plans to implement new welfare policies.
This will be no easy task. Most local collaboratives had little contact with the old Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Many have focused more on social services than on job and income support issues. Collaboratives, for the most part, are only in the early stages of linking up with local business leaders. Welfare reform demands that collaboratives build new alliances, master new information, and put renewed emphasis on the goal of helping parents secure stable employment at a living wage.
State and local welfare agencies, too, must be willing to "do business differently." Welfare reform cannot succeed unless many segments of local communities invest in helping people prepare for, find, and keep jobs. State and county officials need strong local partners as they try to expand employment opportunities. Collaboratives can help them forge these partnerships.
There is no one "model" of how local collaboratives, state agencies, business partners, and local residents should work together to advance the goal of employment for low-income families. But one thing is clear. DOING NOTHING IS NOT AN OPTION.
If a collaborative wants a hand in shaping the opportunities and support systems a community provides for families over the long term, it must play an active role in the welfare reform arena. We strongly believe every community collaborative operating as a governance entity should be active in the design, implementation, and/or oversight of welfare reform in its community. This policy brief highlights how collaboratives can fulfill that role by
- providing general information about the federal law
- detailing the kinds of questions collaboratives should be asking about state and local implementation of welfare reform
- suggesting alternative strategies community collaboratives can use to help shape the implementation of welfare reform
- sharing examples of what some collaboratives are already doing.
