Low-income mothers in an Israeli welfare-to-work program: Symbolic violence and its limitations

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anat Herbst-Debby ◽  
Orly Benjamin
Keyword(s):  
Single Mothers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Role Modeling ◽  
Symbolic Violence ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Work Program ◽  
Paid Employment ◽  
The Common ◽  
Low Income Mothers

Welfare-to-work (WTW) programs use role modeling rhetoric to re-educate mothers to prioritize paid employment over presence-based childcare. Research has shown that mothers may resist this rhetoric if, historically, policies in their countries shaped their sense of entitlement to be supported as mothers. But under what conditions does such resistance build a critical voice? What other voices emerge in the encounter with the WTW rhetoric? This article uses three ‘voices’ that emerge in the ideological environment of WTW to criticize the common usage of ‘voice’ in discussions of working with those who live in poverty. Based on semi-structured interviews of 62 single mothers participating in a WTW program in Israel, the study shows how participants’ voices convey disentitlement to childcare services. By considering how low-income single mothers experience themselves as respectable individuals when suitable childcare is scarce, the article discusses the conditions under which an emerging ‘voice’ can be considered critical.

Welfare Reform and the Delivery of Welfare-to-Work Programs to AAPIs: What Works?

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Chow ◽  
Grace Yoo ◽  
Catherine Vu
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Work Program ◽  
What Works ◽  
One Stop ◽  
The Impact

The passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA) of 1996 has major implications for low-income Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) populations. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the research currently examining the impact of welfare reform on AAPI recipients and the welfare-to-work services available to this population. This article highlights AAPI participation and their timing-out rates in California’s CalWORKs program and their barriers to transitioning to work. Four welfare-to-work program models and recommendations are presented to illustrate strategies that can be used to address the unique needs of AAPI in order to alleviate their high risk for timing-out: one-stop-shops, transitional jobs programs, providing comprehensive and family focused services, and additional research and evaluation of programs specific to assisting the AAPI population on CalWORKs.

scholarly journals Anti-Poverty Policy for Families in the Next Century: From Welfare to Work—and Worries

2000 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
David T Ellwood
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Single Mothers ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Single Parents ◽  
Work Incentives ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Working Families

This paper reveals that recent changes in social policy have included both sharp cutbacks in welfare for non-working families and dramatic increases in supports for low income working families. It explores the reasons for these changes, and documents how they have radically changed work incentives for some persons, notable single mothers. The result has been a large increase in work by low wage single parents. The paper concludes by examining several potential dangers of this new direction and explores the challenges that remain for the next century.

scholarly journals Use of social media for cancer prevention through neighborhood social cohesion: feasibility study protocol (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Oakley-Girvan ◽  
Lauren C Houghton ◽  
Cheryl Jones ◽  
Jessica L Watterson ◽  
Marley P. Gibbons ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Disease ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Free Time ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Low Income Mothers

UNSTRUCTURED Social cohesion is associated with healthier behaviors and better health outcomes, and therefore may offer a mechanism for promoting better health. Low socioeconomic status communities face higher rates of chronic disease, due to both community and individual level factors. Therefore, this study aims to leverage social cohesion to promote healthier behaviors and prevent chronic disease in a low SES community. This protocol outlines the study methodology for a pilot study to assess the feasibility of an intervention (Free Time For Wellness, or FT4W) using a social networking platform (NextDoor) with mothers living in an urban, low-income community to improve social cohesion and to promote healthy behaviors. The study will involve three phases: I) co-designing the intervention with mothers in the neighborhoods of interest, II) implementing the intervention with community leaders through the social networking platform, and III) evaluating the intervention’s feasibility. Phase I of the study will include qualitative data collection and analysis from in-depth, semi-structured interviews and a co-design group session with mothers. Phases II and III of the study include a pre- and post-intervention survey of participating mothers. Neighborhood-level data on social cohesion will also be collected to enable comparison of outcomes between neighborhoods with higher and lower baseline social cohesion. Ultimately, this study aims to: 1) determine barriers and facilitators to finding free time for wellness among a population of low-income mothers in order to inform the co-design process, and 2) implement and study the feasibility of an intervention that leverages social cohesion to promote physical activity in a community of low-income mothers. The results of this study will provide preliminary feasibility evidence to inform a larger effectiveness trial, and will further our understanding of how social cohesion might influence wellbeing.

Palestinian mothers in Israel: Can a welfare-to-work program enhance their social capital?

2020 ◽  
pp. 001139212092774
Author(s):  
Anat Herbst-Debby ◽  
Maha Sabbah-Karkabi ◽  
Tal Meler
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Work Program ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Work First ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Meaningful Role

This study analyzes the experience of Palestinian mothers in Israel participating in a non-mandatory welfare-to-work program. The goal is to explore the perceptions of these women and their trainers about the ways the program helps enhance the mothers’ social capital. The study is based on in-depth interviews of 30 mothers and three trainers who participated in the program. The findings expose a range of mothers’ voices. The three main ones are: encouraging empowerment more than Work First; encouraging ‘maternal’ jobs; and encouraging partnership and group cohesion. The combined voices of participants and trainers deepen the significance of these findings, as the latter play a meaningful role in enhancing the social capital and networking capabilities of the former, who suffer from multiple sources of exclusion, including a vulnerable ethno-national status, poverty, low income and gender.

scholarly journals “Sometimes I feel like I’m counting crackers”: The household foodwork of low-income mothers, and how community food initiatives can support them

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-132
Author(s):  
Mary Anne Martin
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Low Incomes ◽  
Food Programs ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
Low Income Mothers ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Community Supports ◽  
Good Food

For women parenting on low incomes, there is a significant disparity between household foodwork standards and the resources with which to meet them. This study centres on the everyday foodwork experiences of low-income mothers and their engagement with community supports such as community food initiatives (CFIs). It helps address a research gap concerning the relationship between CFI participation and maternal household foodwork. The study employs multiple methods including semi-structured interviews, graphic elicitation and tours of local community food programs. By identifying a range of factors, strategies, and challenges in mothers’ foodwork, the study elucidates some of the contradictory pressures that low-income mothers experience around foodwork. Some of these pressures are associated with meeting individualizing standards around being "good" mothers, "good" consumers and "good" food program participants. Efforts to meet these standards were seen through mothers’ attempts to feed their children healthy and preferred food, exercise agency through market choices, and moderate their demands of community food programs. While more research is required regarding both mothers’ actual participation in CFIs and CFI strategies to support them, the findings suggest that CFIs should incorporate low-income mothers’ subjectivities into food programming. 

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