“They Never Did Me Any Good”: Welfare-to-Work Programs from the Vantage Point of Poor Women

Abstract

Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with poor women living in Philadelphia, I explore welfare recipients' experiences with and assessments of welfare-to-work programs provided by labor market intermediaries. Overall, the women argued that the programs often failed to offer meaningful skills that could result in good paying jobs, complicated their already difficult lives, and forced them to interact with sometimes disrespectful, hypocritical, and indifferent staff. The women also felt they were under-compensated for the work that they did in transitional jobs programs. While the women had problems with many of the programs they entered, they especially disliked those that focused on soft skills training. These findings suggest that such programs act as mechanisms of social reproduction, as from the vantage point of poor women, they typically fail to enhance and may actually restrict their labor market opportunities. PERSONAL REFLEXIVE STATEMENTI developed a deep concern regarding issues of poverty after several years of volunteer work at a soup kitchen in Philadelphia. Through weekly contact with poor families and those trying to serve them, I was struck by the degree of inequality in our society and our nation's inadequate response to the plight of the poor. My experiences as a volunteer led not only to my academic commitment to understand how policy directives affect poor families and community-based institutions, but to my desire to give poor women and those that serve them the opportunity to voice their views and describe their experiences. Through listening to those that welfare reform directly impacts, I hope we can empower poor women and improve welfare policy and practice.

Poverty and the American Family: A Decade in Review

“…Given the immensity of the shift in welfare policy and the daunting economic trends of the post‐2000 bust period, it is no surprise that researchers increasingly turned their attention to understanding the challenges and opportunities facing welfare recipients, welfare leavers, and the “working poor” more generally. They explored how individuals experienced the transition from welfare to employment, including their knowledge and managing of the welfare rules (e.g., Harris & Parisi, 2008) and their experiences with job training and work readiness programs (e.g., Kissane, 2008). Scholars detailed the implementation of the reforms on the state level, in local welfare offices, and in nonprofit organizations, including the attitudes and behavior of directors and frontline workers (Hays, 2003; Kissane, 2010; Schram, Soss, Fording, & Houser, 2009; Watkins‐Hayes, 2009).…”

Making Over Poor Women: Gender, Race, Class & Body Size in a Welfare-to-Work Nonprofit Organization

“…For example, participants in Katz's (2013) study of women in a WTW program viewed soft skills, such as interview etiquette, as a waste of time, preferring instead to complete their GEDs, earn higher education certificates or degrees, or develop job-specific skills. Similarly, clients in Kissane's (2008) WTW study were "perplexed" when program staff instructed them to dress professionally in the absence of "the types of jobs that matched professional attire," (356; see also Cummins & Blum 2015). In their study of WTW programs, Anderson and Van Hoy (2006) again argued that advice on how to dress for interviews "was irrelevant given the types of jobs for which [clients] were presently qualified,"…”

Nonprofit organizations and government: Implications for policy and practice

“…Though many poor women loathe receiving public assistance and agree that the pre-PRWORA welfare system was flawed, they also do not embrace receiving services from private entities and experience many of the same obstacles in gaining access to them, as well as many of the undesirable accompaniments of service use (for example, the stigma and bureaucratic hassles). Additionally, many of those who do make it though the doors of social service agencies may not leave feeling that they received what they needed, gained the tools necessary for them to become selfsufficient, or received much for their "trouble" (Kissane, 2008). These issues, combined with the uncertainty of receiving assistance at all, suggest that neoliberal ideologies that promote "private" over "public" solutions may not resonate for the actual consumers of social safety net programs.…”