A key element of British welfare reforms is a program of linking social assistance for working-age persons with efforts to work by collocating welfare and employment services in a single agency, called “Jobcentre Plus.” The Jobcentre Plus idea originated with visits by British policymakers to similar facilities in Wisconsin, and the program is similar in some respects to the “One-Stop” employment services centers fostered in the United States by the Workforce Investment Act. This project explores these transatlantic connections.

The European Union has adopted procedures for identifying common member state goals for social welfare policy, monitoring progress toward attaining these ends, and sharing information on best practice and successful innovation. The system is known as the “Open Method of Coordination.” This project is intended to bring OMC ideas to the attention of American policy makers and to investigate possible application to issues of coordination of state Food Stamp, TANF, and Workforce Investment policies.

Since April, 2002 the Office of Family Assistance of the Administration for Children and Families has contracted with GWIPP for consultative services on a range of issues related to design, operation, and evaluation of state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs. Topics investigated include the TANF “High Performance Bonus,” requirements for state program descriptions, strategies for improving management, and results of various program evaluations. This work has involved TSPPPA students, and is ongoing

This project involved work on a variety of issues of concern to the Social Security Administration, including policy related to support for persons with disabilities, creating a “safety net” for the elderly after Social Security reform, and international policy comparison under auspices of the International Social Security Association.

Since 1997 Britain’s “New Labour” government has introduced the world’s most wide-ranging reform of social assistance. This project assembled a review of the Labour program by British authorities. The result is a book, The Welfare We Want? The British Challenge for American Reform (Policy Press) published in 2003 and various papers.

This project focuses on various aspects of welfare reforms introduced in New York City by the administration of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani between 1997 and 2002, including conversion of welfare offices into “Job Centers,” development of the JobStat performance assessment system, and organization of special services tracks for persons with exceptional social services needs. The project produced various papers now under revision or submitted for publication.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act of 1996 substantially increased the latitude granted states in the design of social assistance programs for families with children. This project critically examined aspects of the changes the states adopted.