Description
Book SynopsisWelfare Reform in Persistent Rural Poverty examines welfare participants who live in chronically poor rural areas of the United States where there are few job opportunities and poor systems of education, transportation, and child care. Pickering looks at welfare reform in four rural and impoverished regions of the United States.
Trade Review“Rural poverty has been seriously neglected by scholars, making this book particularly welcome. It is balanced, well written, and focused on a timely issue. It should be of interest to social workers and a broad array of social scientists.”
—S. Pressman Choice
“The authors successfully make the case that there is more to the story of welfare reform than simply declining caseloads, and there are many lessons to be learned for researchers and policymakers. If you are interested in a broad treatment of the effects of welfare reform in persistently poor rural counties, this book is not for you. However, if you are interested in an analysis, rich in local context, of how welfare reform worked in some of the poorest rural counties in the United States, then it will be a great addition to your library.”
—Alexander Marré Journal of Regional Science
“Welfare Reform in Persistent Rural Poverty is a welcome addition to the literature on welfare reform and required reading for anyone seeking to decipher the local consequences of the 1997 legislation.”
—Julie Zimmerman American Journal of Sociology
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
List of Tables and Figures
Introduction
1. Rural Places, State Welfare Policies, and Theoretical Bases
Part I: What the Numbers Tell Us
2. Welfare Caseloads: Changes in Public Assistance Program Use
3. Labor Markets: From TANF to Low-Wage Part-Time Jobs
4. Poverty: Family and Community Well-Being
Part II: What the People Told Us
5. Welfare Reform on the Reservation, South Dakota
6. Welfare Reform in Appalachia, Kentucky
7. Welfare Reform in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas
8. Welfare Reform in the Mississippi Delta, Mississippi
9. Welfare Reform in Persistent Rural Poverty
Appendix A: TANF Participant Respondent Characteristics
Appendix B: Cluster Counties and Reservations
References
Index
