Wisconsin’s W-2 Program: Welfare as We Might Come to Know It

Wisconsin’s welfare reform program, Wisconsin Works (W-2), is among the most ambitious and comprehensive state reforms supported by the U.S. government’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. This paper describes the W-2 program in Wisconsin, compares distinctive features of the program to TANF programs in selected other states, discusses how Wisconsin came to offer such a program, and describes early trends in W-2 program implementation. The paper also makes suggestions for evaluating distinctive features of W-2.