Flip Side of Welfare-To-Work Dilemma: As Congress Considers Welfare Reform How Do We Get Fathers With Children On Welfare to Work?

6/6/2002

From: Kimberly Ross, 703-683-7757 Nikki Mitchell, 202-829-3418 both for Extending Opportunities Project

News Advisory:

New research by the Extending Opportunities Project (EOP), a consortium of policy analysts, academic researchers and economists, finds that the economic boom of the 1990s was not powerful enough to overcome stronger underlying trends that reduced work and looking for work among young, less-educated black men, often the fathers of children on welfare.

As Congress considers welfare reform with Responsible Fatherhood provisions, it should look at what interventions are necessary to require and support work for these fathers so that mothers and fathers can work together to reduce child poverty and dependency. The group will be releasing the new report and their policy recommendations at a news conference and Hill briefing.

WHEN: June 13, 2002 10 a.m.

WHERE: 1116 Longworth House Office Building

WHO: Ronald Mincy, Economist and Maurice V. Russell Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice, Columbia University

Elaine Sorenson, The Urban Institute

Harry Holzer, Economist and Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown University

Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), House Ways and Means Committee and a welfare reform leader

------ EOP is a project of the National Center for Strategic Nonprofit Planning and Community Leadership (NPCL) and Columbia University. The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the U.S. Department of Labor fund EOP.

Immediately following the press conference is a policy briefing for Hill staff by the Strengthening Fragile Families Initiative (SFFI).