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Welfare system reform: Coordinating federal, state, and local public assistance programs
Book Reviews
359
Harris, K. M. (1993). Work and Welfare among Single Mothers in Poverty. American Journal of Sociology, 49,3 11-52. Himmelfarb, G. (1983). The idea of poverty. New York: Random House. Pavetti, L. A. (1993). The dynamics of welfare and work. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Welfare System Reform: Coordinating Federal, State, and Local Public Assistance Programs By Edward T. Jennings, Jr. and Neal S. Zank (editors). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993. xii. 249 pages. As an edited volume, Welfare System Reform does not suffer from the relative lack of coordination that allegedly plagues the $200 billion United States public assistance system. The sixteen chapters provide a coherent framework for describing different aspects of the coordination challenge endemic to a three-tiered system operating at the federal, state, and local levels. Most of the papers were prepared for a series of seminars sponsored by the National Commission for Employment Policy in 1991 and promoted under the title of “Improving Coordination in Government-Sponsored Public Assistance Programs.” In Jennings and Zank’s volume, the papers have been revised and three additional original works are included. The editors provide the introductory and concluding chapters, as well as summary overviews of the chapters dealing with each level of government intervention. In the first chapter, Jennings and Zank define coordination as “a way of reducing waste associated with unnecessary duplication of services and providing easier or more reasonable access to a streamlined, more comprehensive range of potential services” (p. 5). Consistent with that definition, the various authors provide a detailed account of the scope and magnitude of the coordination problem in the U.S. public assistance system. The editors are methodical in addressing first the problems of coordination at the federal level, including Kevin Hopkins’ discussion of presidential leadership, James Gimpel’s assessment of congressional oversight and the problems associated with advocacy-oriented committees, Lawrence Bailis’ discussion of the importance of federal officials in coordinating administrative agencies, and Christopher King’s recommendations for federal policy changes aimed at promoting greater state and local coordination. While the positions advanced are not especially noteworthy for their originality, the schematic presentation facilitates an in-depth understanding of the federal role in public assistance coordination. The next section, which deals with states’ contributions to resolving the coordination problem, offers more original research. Several important pieces of legislation and their implications receive considerable treatment, including the Family Support Act of 1988 (FSA), the Job Opportunities and
360
Book Reviews
Basic Skills Program (JOBS), and the Job Training and Partnership Act (JTPA). A chapter by Jennings examines the JTPA and the perceptions of state officials responsible for implementing employment and training programs. Jennings and Dale Krane provide an especially important discussion of the relationship between the FSA (which reformed the much-maligned Aid to Families with Dependent Children program) and the JOBS program. Roger Amsworth and Barbara Oakley analyze the effectiveness of the “8 percent set-aside” mandated by the JTPA to coordinate states’ education and training programs. William Tracy, Kathleen Wimer, and Jennings focus on strategic planning in New Jersey and Connecticut. The analysts conclude that the agencies affected must have their interests identified and have a sense of ownership in the plan in order to achieve an effective level of coordination. Finally, Dale Krane offers an inventory of different means by which states can influence national policy making, including an emphasis upon public-private partnerships. The chapters focusing on local responses to coordination problems provide the richest sources of information. Thomas Corbett outlines the conditions under which human resource delivery can be effective, drawing upon the local examples of Milwaukee and San Diego to provide grist for the analytical mill. David Farley and Barbara King Misechok consider the issue of collocation of services and case management in Pittsburgh and advocate a “Single Point of Contact” program as an effective strategy. Linda Harris’ study of the Lafayette Court Family Development Center in Baltimore presents an optimistic view of the possibilities for collaboration among multiple city agencies, service providers, and funding sources that concurrently stresses active community participation. Kathy Thomburg assesses the main factors that compromise well-being and development of the nation’s youth. Her study focuses on six communities in Missouri and the concrete steps taken that have contributed to coordination and more effective delivery of youth services, such as establishing community resource directories of youth services, developing interagency staffing teams to develop resources, and expanding the role of the school as a central community agency. Finally, Jennings and Krane interview managers and service delivery specialists in eight metropolitan locations to determine their views for improving coordination in the JOBS program. In the aggregate, then, these papers succeed in accomplishing several tasks. First and foremost, the collection examines in systematic fashion the problem of coordination at each level of government. The descriptive accounts of the coordination problem provide a solid, if not comprehensive, base for understanding the breadth and depth of the issues as these apply to public assistance and job training policies. The details of the key legislation, policy mandates, and administrative structures are identified clearly and without inundating the reader with overly technical language. Most of the
Book Reviews
361
authors conclude their discussions with a cogent series of policy prescriptions or “action recommendations” that purport to resolve the coordination problems identified. Finally, these papers cohere on the basis of an integrated theoretical framework that, unfortunately, does not receive explicit attention anywhere in the book. An elaboration of that framework (which can be viewed positively in certain respects) provides the impetus for a substantive critique of the work. The analysts share in common a certain perspective toward the “welfare system,” i.e., that the system: 1.) should remain intact for the most part; 2.) should be viewed primarily in the context of a rational planning process; 3.) can be reformed through coordination: 4.) should link public assistance with job training and employment policies; and 5.) will be more responsive and effective with a “top-down” approach. Indeed, the framework does not deviate significantly from the 1960s liberal faith in the Great Society, which presumably could be engineered by social policy and planning experts, legislated by enlightened government officials, and administered rationally through government agencies. For example, Gimpel argues that much “can be accomplished without any changes in the formal relationships among the relevant federal agencies doing business with each other” (p. 52). King speaks of “designing a more rational, cohesive system of programs for the disadvantaged” (p. 65). Jennings, Tracy, and Wimer discuss the importance of states engaging “in a variety of planning activities to develop effective, coordinated human resource investment efforts” (p. 97). Thomburg reasons that the “reexamination of current policies, funding levels, and knowledge of prevention programs can lead toward successful solutions” (p. 208). In their concluding chapter, Zank and Jennings summarize the contents of the entire volume by suggesting that “There are many strategies for improving coordination, as well as streamlining and rationalizing the eligibility criteria... to assist the economically disadvantaged” (p. 232). In short, these are the types of comments one might expect from a group of commentators who generally are either directors of employment commissions or academicians in public administration, human resources and development. As a result, the volume does not offer much in the way of substantive critiques of the system or analytical commentaries that move beyond the level of pure description and mainstream recommendations for reform. The analytical deficiencies include the failure to discuss alternative theories of coordination, limited efforts to develop more general propositions about the nature of public assistance programs or the coordination problems with which these are confronted, and a general avoidance of hypothesis testing. Only Corbett’s chapter explicitly proposes the conditions under which coordination will more likely be effective (see pp. 169-170). The case examples of specific programs in certain states and localities are examined more from an advocacy-oriented rather than a more experimental or skeptical perspective.
362
Book Reviews
Another analytical weakness stems from the underdeveloped explanation of why the problem of coordination has acquired a sense of urgency. Jennings and Zank mention several factors-public pressure to reform the welfare system, the fiscal crisis confronting governments, the related demand for accountability, and global economic competition - but the discussion abruptly ends in the first chapter. These issues are almost completely ignored in the remainder of the volume, save perhaps for some limited treatment by Krane. The lack of a comparative focus has an especially egregious impact in that the globalization of economic development and international competitiveness (e.g., witness the NAFTA dispute) have profound implications for the future of human services (cf. Myles 1988). Furthermore, the failure to consider other nations’ approaches to coordinating public assistance and job training programs limits the scope of the work and impedes one’s ability to assess the effectiveness of their delivery in comparative perspective. The insights and innovations of other nations are completely excluded from consideration, almost as though nothing could be learned and applied to the U.S. situation. The unapologetic focus on the U.S. case magnifies the absence of critical analysis. For example, the paternalism implicit in many of the analyses (see the quotations above) remains completely unacknowledged. Nowhere does one find a discussion of the gendered nature of prevailing public policies or the unique issues confronting women (such as child-care, violence, and discrimination), despite the fact that these issues can affect dramatically the coordination of human services. Moreover, the book at least implicitly endorses the 1990s ideological sensibility that links welfare and workfare, without critically assessing the manner in which such a view can be reinforced through the proposals for greater coordination. One could argue, for instance, that the focus on the linkage between public assistance and job training obscures the issue of domestic labor as a legitimate form of productive activity. As a final consideration, government documents and congressional reports are the principal sources for much of the data. With the exception of some aspects of the works dealing with local influences, most of the contributors do not examine the responses of the recipients of public assistance themselves with respect to how their problems could best be solved. More generally, the volume devotes more attention to employment and job training policies than to the multiple forms of public assistance, the adequacy of current programs, or the plight of actual families attempting to maneuver through welfare system. The Aid to Families with Dependent Children program receives surprisingly little attention-a serious limitation in a volume promoting public assistance reform. Lastly, with the exception of Thomburg’s chapter, children’s issues are almost completely ignored, which would limit the utility of the book for many of those concerned with children and youth services.
Book Reviews
363
In summation, Werfare System Reform represents a tidy compilation of mainstream policy-oriented analyses that outline in detail the interagency coordination problems confronting job training and public assistance in the United States. The recommendations are both practical and consistent with current government structures-factors that the more rigorous welfare state research have shown to be important with respect to implementation (cf. Skocpol & Amenta, 1986). Indeed, perhaps the greatest weakness of the volume concerns the failure to draw upon the relevant theoretical and researchbased literature that might have informed several of the analysts’ discussions. In addition, the absence of dissenting or critical voices dampens the enthusiasm one might have for innovations in coordination that are proposed. Hence while the overview of the different dimensions of the system and the many programs and policies outlined are informative, the relative absence of analytical or critical commentary weakens the case for the “coordination solution” proposed in the final chapter. Joseph H. Michalski University of Toronto
Myles, J. (1988). Decline or impasse? The current state of the welfare state. Studies in Political Economy, 26, 73-102. Skocpol, T., & Edwin A. (1986). States and social policies. Annual Review of Sociology, 12, 131-157.
Lives on the Edge: Single Mothers and their Children in the Other America. by Valerie Polakow. University of Chicago Press, 1993. Hard cover, $22.50
Valerie Polakow offers a useful addition to the fields of early childhood education, poverty, and AFDC in her book, Lives on the edge: Single mothers and their children in the other America. Polakow attempts to grapple with a variety of topics through this book; her greatest skill lies in communicating the appalling state of early childhood education for many children across America. In chapter 1, Polakow offers a historical description of childhood. In particular, she chronicles the development of the modem notion of childhood as a distinct developmental phase in human lives. This historical piece is useful for those who are unaware of the cruel treatment and harsh circumstances that punctured many young children’s lives. The chronicle of events is flawed, however, as Polakow shifts from the Colonial period, to the period
359
Harris, K. M. (1993). Work and Welfare among Single Mothers in Poverty. American Journal of Sociology, 49,3 11-52. Himmelfarb, G. (1983). The idea of poverty. New York: Random House. Pavetti, L. A. (1993). The dynamics of welfare and work. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Welfare System Reform: Coordinating Federal, State, and Local Public Assistance Programs By Edward T. Jennings, Jr. and Neal S. Zank (editors). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993. xii. 249 pages. As an edited volume, Welfare System Reform does not suffer from the relative lack of coordination that allegedly plagues the $200 billion United States public assistance system. The sixteen chapters provide a coherent framework for describing different aspects of the coordination challenge endemic to a three-tiered system operating at the federal, state, and local levels. Most of the papers were prepared for a series of seminars sponsored by the National Commission for Employment Policy in 1991 and promoted under the title of “Improving Coordination in Government-Sponsored Public Assistance Programs.” In Jennings and Zank’s volume, the papers have been revised and three additional original works are included. The editors provide the introductory and concluding chapters, as well as summary overviews of the chapters dealing with each level of government intervention. In the first chapter, Jennings and Zank define coordination as “a way of reducing waste associated with unnecessary duplication of services and providing easier or more reasonable access to a streamlined, more comprehensive range of potential services” (p. 5). Consistent with that definition, the various authors provide a detailed account of the scope and magnitude of the coordination problem in the U.S. public assistance system. The editors are methodical in addressing first the problems of coordination at the federal level, including Kevin Hopkins’ discussion of presidential leadership, James Gimpel’s assessment of congressional oversight and the problems associated with advocacy-oriented committees, Lawrence Bailis’ discussion of the importance of federal officials in coordinating administrative agencies, and Christopher King’s recommendations for federal policy changes aimed at promoting greater state and local coordination. While the positions advanced are not especially noteworthy for their originality, the schematic presentation facilitates an in-depth understanding of the federal role in public assistance coordination. The next section, which deals with states’ contributions to resolving the coordination problem, offers more original research. Several important pieces of legislation and their implications receive considerable treatment, including the Family Support Act of 1988 (FSA), the Job Opportunities and
360
Book Reviews
Basic Skills Program (JOBS), and the Job Training and Partnership Act (JTPA). A chapter by Jennings examines the JTPA and the perceptions of state officials responsible for implementing employment and training programs. Jennings and Dale Krane provide an especially important discussion of the relationship between the FSA (which reformed the much-maligned Aid to Families with Dependent Children program) and the JOBS program. Roger Amsworth and Barbara Oakley analyze the effectiveness of the “8 percent set-aside” mandated by the JTPA to coordinate states’ education and training programs. William Tracy, Kathleen Wimer, and Jennings focus on strategic planning in New Jersey and Connecticut. The analysts conclude that the agencies affected must have their interests identified and have a sense of ownership in the plan in order to achieve an effective level of coordination. Finally, Dale Krane offers an inventory of different means by which states can influence national policy making, including an emphasis upon public-private partnerships. The chapters focusing on local responses to coordination problems provide the richest sources of information. Thomas Corbett outlines the conditions under which human resource delivery can be effective, drawing upon the local examples of Milwaukee and San Diego to provide grist for the analytical mill. David Farley and Barbara King Misechok consider the issue of collocation of services and case management in Pittsburgh and advocate a “Single Point of Contact” program as an effective strategy. Linda Harris’ study of the Lafayette Court Family Development Center in Baltimore presents an optimistic view of the possibilities for collaboration among multiple city agencies, service providers, and funding sources that concurrently stresses active community participation. Kathy Thomburg assesses the main factors that compromise well-being and development of the nation’s youth. Her study focuses on six communities in Missouri and the concrete steps taken that have contributed to coordination and more effective delivery of youth services, such as establishing community resource directories of youth services, developing interagency staffing teams to develop resources, and expanding the role of the school as a central community agency. Finally, Jennings and Krane interview managers and service delivery specialists in eight metropolitan locations to determine their views for improving coordination in the JOBS program. In the aggregate, then, these papers succeed in accomplishing several tasks. First and foremost, the collection examines in systematic fashion the problem of coordination at each level of government. The descriptive accounts of the coordination problem provide a solid, if not comprehensive, base for understanding the breadth and depth of the issues as these apply to public assistance and job training policies. The details of the key legislation, policy mandates, and administrative structures are identified clearly and without inundating the reader with overly technical language. Most of the
Book Reviews
361
authors conclude their discussions with a cogent series of policy prescriptions or “action recommendations” that purport to resolve the coordination problems identified. Finally, these papers cohere on the basis of an integrated theoretical framework that, unfortunately, does not receive explicit attention anywhere in the book. An elaboration of that framework (which can be viewed positively in certain respects) provides the impetus for a substantive critique of the work. The analysts share in common a certain perspective toward the “welfare system,” i.e., that the system: 1.) should remain intact for the most part; 2.) should be viewed primarily in the context of a rational planning process; 3.) can be reformed through coordination: 4.) should link public assistance with job training and employment policies; and 5.) will be more responsive and effective with a “top-down” approach. Indeed, the framework does not deviate significantly from the 1960s liberal faith in the Great Society, which presumably could be engineered by social policy and planning experts, legislated by enlightened government officials, and administered rationally through government agencies. For example, Gimpel argues that much “can be accomplished without any changes in the formal relationships among the relevant federal agencies doing business with each other” (p. 52). King speaks of “designing a more rational, cohesive system of programs for the disadvantaged” (p. 65). Jennings, Tracy, and Wimer discuss the importance of states engaging “in a variety of planning activities to develop effective, coordinated human resource investment efforts” (p. 97). Thomburg reasons that the “reexamination of current policies, funding levels, and knowledge of prevention programs can lead toward successful solutions” (p. 208). In their concluding chapter, Zank and Jennings summarize the contents of the entire volume by suggesting that “There are many strategies for improving coordination, as well as streamlining and rationalizing the eligibility criteria... to assist the economically disadvantaged” (p. 232). In short, these are the types of comments one might expect from a group of commentators who generally are either directors of employment commissions or academicians in public administration, human resources and development. As a result, the volume does not offer much in the way of substantive critiques of the system or analytical commentaries that move beyond the level of pure description and mainstream recommendations for reform. The analytical deficiencies include the failure to discuss alternative theories of coordination, limited efforts to develop more general propositions about the nature of public assistance programs or the coordination problems with which these are confronted, and a general avoidance of hypothesis testing. Only Corbett’s chapter explicitly proposes the conditions under which coordination will more likely be effective (see pp. 169-170). The case examples of specific programs in certain states and localities are examined more from an advocacy-oriented rather than a more experimental or skeptical perspective.
362
Book Reviews
Another analytical weakness stems from the underdeveloped explanation of why the problem of coordination has acquired a sense of urgency. Jennings and Zank mention several factors-public pressure to reform the welfare system, the fiscal crisis confronting governments, the related demand for accountability, and global economic competition - but the discussion abruptly ends in the first chapter. These issues are almost completely ignored in the remainder of the volume, save perhaps for some limited treatment by Krane. The lack of a comparative focus has an especially egregious impact in that the globalization of economic development and international competitiveness (e.g., witness the NAFTA dispute) have profound implications for the future of human services (cf. Myles 1988). Furthermore, the failure to consider other nations’ approaches to coordinating public assistance and job training programs limits the scope of the work and impedes one’s ability to assess the effectiveness of their delivery in comparative perspective. The insights and innovations of other nations are completely excluded from consideration, almost as though nothing could be learned and applied to the U.S. situation. The unapologetic focus on the U.S. case magnifies the absence of critical analysis. For example, the paternalism implicit in many of the analyses (see the quotations above) remains completely unacknowledged. Nowhere does one find a discussion of the gendered nature of prevailing public policies or the unique issues confronting women (such as child-care, violence, and discrimination), despite the fact that these issues can affect dramatically the coordination of human services. Moreover, the book at least implicitly endorses the 1990s ideological sensibility that links welfare and workfare, without critically assessing the manner in which such a view can be reinforced through the proposals for greater coordination. One could argue, for instance, that the focus on the linkage between public assistance and job training obscures the issue of domestic labor as a legitimate form of productive activity. As a final consideration, government documents and congressional reports are the principal sources for much of the data. With the exception of some aspects of the works dealing with local influences, most of the contributors do not examine the responses of the recipients of public assistance themselves with respect to how their problems could best be solved. More generally, the volume devotes more attention to employment and job training policies than to the multiple forms of public assistance, the adequacy of current programs, or the plight of actual families attempting to maneuver through welfare system. The Aid to Families with Dependent Children program receives surprisingly little attention-a serious limitation in a volume promoting public assistance reform. Lastly, with the exception of Thomburg’s chapter, children’s issues are almost completely ignored, which would limit the utility of the book for many of those concerned with children and youth services.
Book Reviews
363
In summation, Werfare System Reform represents a tidy compilation of mainstream policy-oriented analyses that outline in detail the interagency coordination problems confronting job training and public assistance in the United States. The recommendations are both practical and consistent with current government structures-factors that the more rigorous welfare state research have shown to be important with respect to implementation (cf. Skocpol & Amenta, 1986). Indeed, perhaps the greatest weakness of the volume concerns the failure to draw upon the relevant theoretical and researchbased literature that might have informed several of the analysts’ discussions. In addition, the absence of dissenting or critical voices dampens the enthusiasm one might have for innovations in coordination that are proposed. Hence while the overview of the different dimensions of the system and the many programs and policies outlined are informative, the relative absence of analytical or critical commentary weakens the case for the “coordination solution” proposed in the final chapter. Joseph H. Michalski University of Toronto
Myles, J. (1988). Decline or impasse? The current state of the welfare state. Studies in Political Economy, 26, 73-102. Skocpol, T., & Edwin A. (1986). States and social policies. Annual Review of Sociology, 12, 131-157.
Lives on the Edge: Single Mothers and their Children in the Other America. by Valerie Polakow. University of Chicago Press, 1993. Hard cover, $22.50
Valerie Polakow offers a useful addition to the fields of early childhood education, poverty, and AFDC in her book, Lives on the edge: Single mothers and their children in the other America. Polakow attempts to grapple with a variety of topics through this book; her greatest skill lies in communicating the appalling state of early childhood education for many children across America. In chapter 1, Polakow offers a historical description of childhood. In particular, she chronicles the development of the modem notion of childhood as a distinct developmental phase in human lives. This historical piece is useful for those who are unaware of the cruel treatment and harsh circumstances that punctured many young children’s lives. The chronicle of events is flawed, however, as Polakow shifts from the Colonial period, to the period