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The nation's $200 billion public assistance system is a fragmented array of policies, programs, and organizations that often serves its clients poorly. In this book, experts from universities and think tanks and practitioners from all levels of government analyze serious coordination problems in the system. Cutting through the plethora of agency programs and regulations, these authorities offer practical reforms to make the system more effective, accountable, and efficient. They provide widely sought recommendations that will be useful to managers, students, scholars, experts, policymakers, and activists concerned with welfare reform and the future of public assistance programs.
The essays in the book address the coordination problem for all types of public assistance programs for all age groups and types of problems. The book provides specific analyses of the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills program under the Family Support Act, job training and employment programs under the Job Training Partnership Act, programs for youth-at-risk, and particular efforts to integrate the delivery of services to public assistance recipients. The authors provide essential information about institutions, processes, and policies at the federal, state, and local levels. They define critical issues and formulate policy and administrative recommendations to improve such critical features as executive leadership, Congressional decision-making, agency management, state government planning and policy development, and local service delivery operations.
List of contents
Foreword by John A. Gartland
Preface
IntroductionThe Coordination Challenge by Edward T. Jennings, Jr. and Neal S. Zank
The Federal RoleThe Presidency and the Coordination of Public Assistance by Kevin R. Hopkins
Congress and the Coordination of Public Assistance by James Gimpel
Coordination Among Administrative Agencies by Lawrence Neil Bailis
Federal Policy Changes to Enhance State and Local Coordination by Christopher T. King
The State RolePatterns and Perceptions of Employment and Training Coordination in the States by Edward T. Jennings, Jr.
Planning and Organizing to Coordinate Human Service Delivery in the States by Edward T. Jennings, Jr., William Tracy, and Kathleen Wimer
The Eight Percent Set-Aside as a Coordination Incentive by Robert G. Ainsworth and Barbara B. Oakley
State Government Coordination of the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Program by Edward T. Jennings, Jr. and Dale Krane
State Efforts to Influence Federal Policy by Dale Krane
The Local RoleStrategies for Coordination at the Local Level by Tom Corbett
JOBS and JTPA: Single Point of Contact in Pennsylvania by Dave Farley and Barbara King Misechok
Lafayette Court Family Development Center: Bringing Social Services and Housing Programs Together by Linda A. Harris
Youth-at-Risk: Making A Difference at the Local Level by Kathy R. Thornburg
Community Level Coordination of the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Program by Edward T. Jennings, Jr. and Dale Krane
ConclusionCoordinating Public Assistance in the United States by Neal S. Zank and Edward T. Jennings, Jr.
About the author
NEAL S. ZANK is a consultant and Research Associate at the Center for Global Management and Research at the George Washington University. He is co-author of Reforming Financial Systems: Policy Changes and Privatization (Greenwood, 1991) and Welfare System Reform: Coordinating Federal, State, and Local Public Assistance Programs (Greenwood, 1993), and has written numerous articles on job training, foreign aid, and international economic issues. Mr. Zank was Associate Director of the National Commission for Employment Policy (1990-1993), and a staff member for two Presidential commissions and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
