Description

Work First and Forget About Education: New York City’s Personal Responsibility Act and the Creation of a Working Underclass.

By making gaining employment a primary focus, the developers and administrators of New York City’s Personal Responsibility Act (PRA) ignored important, well-established avenues to true independent living. The design, through intention or inadvertence, effectively diminishes the possibility of sustained meaningful employment or long-term economic stability for a substantial portion of TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) recipients.

child care; hunger — United States; New York [City] — politics and government; United States — homelessness; welfare reform — United States; work — welfare work programs

Citation: Social Justice Vol. 28, No. 4 (2001): 33-48