Welfare-to-Work: A Work in Progress

Moving off welfare proves to be a complex, erratic process, but an increasing number of employers have discovered business advantages in providing training, flexible work arrangements and other assistance to such employees. The New Hope Project was open to adults 18 or older in Milwaukee's poorest neighborhoods. Following the program model that continues today, participants were required to work 30 or more hours each week; New Hope subsidized temporary community-service jobs for those unable to find work on their own after eight weeks. Project Match matches employers and employees and has helped many of Chicago's poorest people find jobs since 1985. The nonprofit organization began operations in the notorious Cabrini-Green neighborhood, a public housing complex where drugs and gangs flourished. Many former Temporary Assistance to Needy Families recipients have moved off welfare and into the ranks of the working poor whose incomes remain below the poverty level.