Food stamp participation rates plummeted from 75 percent in 1994 to 59 percent in 2000 (Cunnyngham 2002, p. 3).1 In response to plummeting participation rates, and with the new flexibility brought about by the 1996 federal welfare reforms, many states are re-engineering their programs to improve...

Poverty rates in the United States fell from a 25-year high of 15.1 percent in 1993 to near record lows of 11.3 percent in 2000 and have since increased steadily to 12.7 percent in 2004 (U.S. Census Bureau 2004a). The poverty rates for children and for people in single female-headed families...

This paper uses monthly SIPP data from 1996 through 2003 and state-level policy data to measure the effects of specific food stamp and welfare policies, as well as the minimum wage and EITC, on the food stamp receipt of the low-income population. We find strong evidence that more lenient vehicle...

Nearly 15 percent of all households and 39 percent of near-poor households were food insecure in 2008. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called the Food Stamp Program) is the cornerstone of federal food assistance programs and serves as the first line of defense...

One in six newborns were born poor over the past 40 years, and nearly half remained poor half their childhoods. These persistently poor children are nearly 90 percent more likely than never-poor children to enter their 20s without completing high school and are four times more likely to give...

This report looks closely at what happened to assets, debts and home equity for families living in low-income neighborhoods during the Great Recession, using data from the longitudinal Making Connections Survey. We find that both average savings and debt amounts increased between 2005/06 and...

Based on our review and synthesis of the individual development account (IDA) literature, findings in this this report include that IDA accounts (in the short-term, five years after program entry) help low-income families become homeowners, start or expand a business, or pursue secondary...

Changes in social policies in the mid-1990s increased the penalties for not working and raised the rewards for working. These policies played a major role in stimulating employment among single mothers and the gains were approximately as high in nonmetro areas as in metro areas

Micro-credit programs provide a two-tiered approach to poverty alleviation: credit for the purchase of capital inputs to promote self-employment and non-credit services and incentives. These non-credit aspects may be an important component of the success of micro-credit programs. This paper uses...