Community
Agenda
Vol. 1, No. 1

Even if it is not able (or permitted) to play a role in shaping welfare reform, a collaborative can help influence implementation over the long term by periodically assessing its impact and making these results known to the public.

A possible product
Collaboratives can monitor implementation on a modest scale, or they can conduct more in-depth assessments, depending on their resources. For example:

• Collaboratives can track community-wide data on the impact of welfare reform over time, highlighting both positive and negative outcomes. Key indicators may include:
  • Number of people receiving public assistance (trends over time)
  • Number and status of people leaving public assistance who are working full-time, part-time, or not at all
  • Income levels of people who have moved into employment
  • Numbers of children living with parents no longer receiving public assistance and not working
  • Adequacy of subsidized child-care slots for TANF participants
  • Subsidized child-care slots available for low-income working families
  • People receiving food assistance from soup kitchens and pantries (trends over time)
  • Trends in the incidence of "rotten outcomes" for families and children that may be affected by welfare reform, (e.g., teens getting pregnant, giving birth, or choosing to have abortions; pregnant or parenting teens completing high school; homeless adults and children; children in the child welfare system; juvenile crimes; etc.).
• Collaboratives might consider tracking a small number of individual families who exemplify the diversity of the welfare population. By "putting a face" on the numbers, a collaborative can help demonstrate the impact of welfare reform to the public and policymakers in a more human and compelling way.