Regulations, Forms & Other Useful Documents
Concentrated Rural Poverty and the Geography of Exclusion
Author(s): Daniel Lichter, Domenico Parisi
Sponsoring organization: Carsey Institute
Reports that social exclusion and isolation in poor communities often reinforce racial and class inequality.
Date: 2008
Coping with Rural Poverty: Economic Survival and Moral Capital in Rural America
Author(s): Jennifer Sherman
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center
Identifies a range of coping strategies among
poor rural families in a northern California economy
that has seen male logging jobs decline.
Journal citation: Volume 4 Issue 1 Pages: 7-10
Date: 2007
Earn it, Keep it, Save it: A Guide to a Successful Tax Credit Campaign in Your Community
Author(s): Amanda Fernandez
Sponsoring organization: National Tax Assistance for Working Families Campaign
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) campaigns bring communities, organizations, the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS), cities, states and private industry together to make sure that qualified families file for and receive the tax credits they are due under the law. This guide discusses how to run a successful tax credit campaign and includes discussion of rural EITC campaigns.
Date: 10 / 2002
Effects of Social Networks among Rural Single Mothers on Welfare and Employment
Author(s): Sally Ward, Heather Turner
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center
Examines how informal and formal social networks affect the likelihood that low-income single mothers in rural areas will work or rely on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
Journal citation: Perspectives: On Poverty, Policy, and Place Volume 3 Issue 4 Pages: 5-7
Date: 2006
Effects of Welfare Reform on Employment and Poverty in Rural and Urban Counties
Author(s): Hema Swaminathan, Jill Findeis
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center
Discusses the interaction between employment
growth, welfare reform policies, and poverty, with discussion of how welfare reform has impacted poverty levels in rural areas.
Journal citation: Volume 2 Issue 4 Pages: 4-7
Date: 2005
Employment Experiences and Challenges Among Urban and Rural Welfare Clients in Nebraska
Author(s): Michael Ponza, Alicia Mechstroth, Jennifer Faerber
Sponsoring organization: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Report on how recent Nebraska welfare clients and their families are faring under the welfare reform initiative, Employment First. Focuses on single mothers with children, examines clients'
welfare and employment experiences, obstacles to work, program participation and service
usage, and overall quality of life. Discusses TANF clients' characteristics, circumstances, and needs differences in urban versus rural parts of the state.
Date: 08 / 2002
Escaping Poverty and Becoming Poor in Thirteen Communities in Rural North Carolina
Author(s): Anirudh Krishna, Christina Gibson-Davis, Liz Clasen, Milissa Markiewicz, Nicolas Perez
Sponsoring organization: MDC
Preliminary report of a study on how families in 13 rural North Carolina communities moved into and out of poverty over the time period 1995-2005.
Date: 11 / 2005
Former Welfare Recipients Affect Economic Growth and Wages
Author(s): Kenneth Hanson, Karen S. Hamrick
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service
Describes the impact of former welfare recipients entry into the workplace on wages for low-skill occupations.
Date: 04 / 2005
High Cost of Being Poor: What it Takes for Low-income Families to Get By and Get Ahead in Rural America
Sponsoring organization: Annie E. Casey Foundation
Part of a series on rural Family Economic Success. Outlines the challenges families face in meeting their daily needs affordably and accessing fair and appropriate financial services.
Date: 2004
High Cost or High Opportunity Cost? Transportation and Family Economic Success
Author(s): Margy Waller
Sponsoring organization: Brookings Institution
Discusses the benefits and costs of car ownership for low-income families.
Date: 12 / 2005
How Rural Working Families Use the Earned Income Tax Credit: A Mixed Method Analysis
Sponsoring organization: Rural Families Speak Project
Describes how rural low-income families filed for and received the Earned Income Tax
Credit (EITC) used the money.
Date: 2007
Impact of Welfare Reform on Health Insurance Coverage in Rural Areas
Author(s): Timothy D. McBride, Courtney Andrews
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
Discusses the impact that welfare reform had on health insurance coverage for rural and urban areas. Includes information on employment status and health insurance coverage.
Date: 12 / 2005
Implementing the TANF Changes in the Deficit Reduction Act: Win-Win Solutions for Families and States
Sponsoring organization: Center for Law and Social Policy
Provides information to state policymakers, human service agency staff, policy analysts, and others about strategies that can help states as they consider their policy options for the
next phase of welfare reform.
Date: 02 / 2007
Importance of Place in Welfare Reform: Common Challenges for Central Cities and Remote-Rural Areas
Author(s): Monica Fisher, Bruce Webber
Sponsoring organization: Brookings Institution
Discusses how welfare and economic outcomes vary across the geographic continuum for single-mother families. Discusses common challenges for central cities and remote-rural areas. Includes literature review.
Date: 06 / 2002
Improving the Safety Net for Single Mothers Who Face Serious Barriers to Work
Author(s): Rebecca M. Blank
Examines the issues faced by women who have multiple barriers to work and for whom substantial work, at least in the short run, is difficult.
Date: 2007
Laboring Towards Economic Self-Sufficiency: A Public Policy Perspective
Author(s): Bonnie Braun, Catherine Huddleston-Casas
Sponsoring organization: Rural Families Speak Project
Discusses policy implications from the findings of the Rural Families Speak project, which looks at low-income, rural families and the impact of welfare reform.
Date: 05 / 2006
Laboring Towards Economic Self-Sufficiency: A Research Perspective
Author(s): Catherine Huddleston-Casas, Bonnie Braun
Sponsoring organization: Rural Families Speak Project
Discusses the research findings to-date of the Rural Families Speak project's, which looks at low-income, rural families and the impact of welfare reform.
Date: 05 / 2006
Leaving and Losing Jobs: The Plight of Rural Low-Income Mothers
Author(s): E. Brooke Kelly
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center
Documents the lives of 12 low-income working
mothers in the rural Midwest. Discusses the impact that inflexible and low-paid workplaces can have on rural families.
Journal citation: Perspectives: On Poverty, Policy, and Place Volume 4 Issue 1 Pages: 4-7
Date: 2007
Paths to Work in Rural Places: Key Findings and Lessons from the Impact Evaluation of the Future Steps Rural Welfare-to-Work Program
Author(s): Alicia Meckstroth, Andrew Burwick, Michael Ponza, Shawn Marsh, Tim Novak, Shannon Phillips, Nuria Diaz-Tena, Judy Ng
Sponsoring organization: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Reports on Future Steps, a program promoting self-sufficiency among low-income people in rural, Southern Illinois. Examines the program's impact on the employment, earnings, welfare dependence, and well-being.
Date: 03 / 2006
Plastic Safety Net: The Reality Behind Debt in America
Sponsoring organization: Demos
Provides findings from a national survey of credit card debt among low-and middle-income households. Twenty-five percent of respondents live in rural areas.
Regional Welfare Programs and Labor Force Participation
Author(s): Sonya Kostova Huffman, Maureen Kilkenny
Sponsoring organization: Center for Agricultural and Rural Development
Investigates household welfare program and labor
force participation behavior.
Date: 05 / 2003
Rethinking Human Services: Renewing the Quest to End Poverty in America
Author(s): Tom Corbett
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Editorial discussing recent changes in public attitudes about helping the poor and the potential for new legislation to address poverty.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 2007
Rewarding Work Through the Tax Code: The Power and Potential of the Earned Income Tax Credit in 27 Cities and Rural Areas
Author(s): Alan Berube
Sponsoring organization: Brookings Institution
Reports on a study of the year-2000 spatial distribution of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in 27 places participating in the National Tax Assistance for Working Families
Campaign.
Date: 01 / 2003
Rural Prosperity: A Longitudinal Study of Rural Communities and Rural Low-Income Families
Author(s): Jean W. Bauer, Mary Jo Katras
Sponsoring organization: Rural Families Speak Project
Overview of the Rural Families Speak project, a multi-state study examining rural low-income families. Provides a summary of the findings from three topical areas: labor force, health, and social support.
Date: 08 / 2007
Rural Research Needs and Data Sources for Selected Human Services Topics, Volume 1- Research Needs
Author(s): Debra A. Strong, Patricia Del Grosso, Andrew Burwick, Venita Jethwani, Michael Ponza
Sponsoring organization: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Overviews research on human services issues in rural areas. Includes sections addressing research on work supports for low-income families, substance abuse, and child welfare. Also discusses gaps in the rural health research.
Date: 05 / 2005
Rural Residence: Cause or Effect of Poverty?
Author(s): Monica Fisher
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center
Examines whether poor people are more likely to choose to live in rural areas.
Journal citation: Perspectives: On Poverty, Policy, and Place Volume 4 Issue 2 Pages: 3-4
Date: 06 / 2007
Rural Welfare Reform: Lessons Learned
Author(s): Leslie A. Whitener, Robert Gibbs, Lorin Kusmin
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service
Discusses the impact of welfare reform on rural areas.
Journal citation: Amber Waves
Date: 06 / 2003
Seventy-eight Percent of Working Rural Families to Receive Full Making Work Pay Tax Credit
Author(s): Marybeth J. Mattingly
Sponsoring organization: Carsey Institute
Presents information on the Making Work Pay tax credit, which is designed to assist low-income and middle-income working families, including rural working families.
Date: 2009
Social Support among Rural Low-Income Mothers: Evidence from the Rural Families Speak Project
Author(s): Sharon B. Seiling,
Sponsoring organization: Rural Families Speak Project
Describes social networks and resource sharing among rural, low-income families and how this can impact food security, mental health and other aspects of their lives.
Date: 04 / 2006
Strengthening State Policies for Working Families: The Working Poor Families Project
Author(s): Deborah Povich, Brandon Roberts, Tom Waldron
Sponsoring organization: Annie E. Casey Foundation
This report summarizes and highlights some of the public policy issues that have been addressed
by the state groups in the first five years of the Working Poor Families Project (WPFP). The WPFP has provided data, technical assistance and financial support in more than 20 states including Arkansas, North Carolina and Mississippi. These state efforts strengthened policies involving community colleges and adult education systems,
skills training programs, economic development investments, and income and work supports.
Date: 2006
Support Systems Crucial to Rural Welfare Reform
Author(s): Thomas D. Rowley
Sponsoring organization: Rural Assistance Center
Discusses the role of support systems such as transportation, child care and health care in helping former welfare recipients succeed at work. Includes examples from Pennsylvania and North Carolina. North Carolina's Work Central uses case management software and geographic information system (GIS) to support rural clients.
Journal citation: Rural Monitor Volume 10 Issue 1
Date: 2003
Tax Code as Social Policy in Rural America
Author(s): Alan Berube
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center
Describes the role that the federal tax code plays in providing support to rural communities, especially their lower-income residents. Includes discussion of working family tax credits. Compares tax credits to farm subsidies in Montana and South Carolina.
Date: 12 / 2005
Transitional Jobs: Helping TANF Recipients with Barriers to Employment Succeed in the Labor Market
Author(s): Allegra Baider, Abbey Frank
Sponsoring organization: Center for Law and Social Policy
Highlights transitional jobs that provide temporary employment and a program funded by TANF, as a strategy to help low-skill workers transition to gainful private-sector employment.
Transitional jobs work as a promising strategy to help TANF recipients with barriers succeed in the labor market while simultaneously helping states engage more participants in work activities.
Date: 05 / 2006
Wait is Over, the Work Begins: Implementing the New TANF Legislation
Sponsoring organization: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices
Discusses new provisions in the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) and the impact these provisions will have on states' welfare programs.
Date: 06 / 2006
Wealth Building in Rural America: Programs, Policies, Research (Draft Report)
Sponsoring organization: Center for Social Development
Explores research on existing wealth building policies and programs in rural America and
identifies approaches that are working well in some regions that might provide models for other
regions.
Date: 2006
Welfare Limits Mean Increased Hardship for Rural Ohio Families
Author(s): Paola Scommegna
Sponsoring organization: Population Reference Bureau
Study of low-income rural Appalachian Ohio families finds that time limits on cash welfare benefits have coincided with gains in employment and a distressing rise in their levels of hunger and homelessness.
Date: 01 / 2005
Welfare Reform in Rural Communities
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
Chapter from the 2005 Report to the Secretary: Rural Health and Human Services Issues. Overview of the impact of welfare reform in rural communities. Discusses barriers including transportation, child care, and the rural labor market. Includes policy recommendations to help address the challenges specific to rural communities.
Date: 04 / 2005
Welfare Reform: More Information Needed to Assess Promising Strategies to Increase Parents' Incomes
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
Discusses strategies intended to increase incomes for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) including training, post-secondary education, self-employment, and financial asset building.
Date: 12 / 2005
Welfare Reform: Rural TANF Programs Have Developed Many Strategies to Address Rural Challenges
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
Describes the rural caseload for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and how the caseload has changed over time. Includes data on rural-urban TANF cases for each state. Describes challenges facing rural TANF programs and strategies used to address these challenges.
Date: 09 / 2004
Work and Welfare Strategies Among Single Mothers in Rural New England: The Role of Social Networks and Social Support
Author(s): Sally K. Ward, Heather Turner
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center
Analyzes the role of social networks and
social support as key factors in the reliance on work or welfare among rural single mothers.
Date: 02 / 2006
Work, Welfare, and the Informal Economy: An Examination of Family Livelihood Strategies in Rural Pennsylvania
Author(s): Tim Slack
Sponsoring organization: Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development
Examines how rural families in Pennsylvania combine formal employment, participation in assistance programs, and participation in the informal economy to make ends meet.
Date: 05 / 2005
Work-Welfare Calculation in Rural and Urban Households
Author(s): Maureen Kilkenny, Sonya Kostova Huffman
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center
Discusses differences in work and welfare choices between urban and rural poor families and describes how rural and urban household differences may impact work-welfare decisions.
Journal citation: Perspectives: On Poverty, Policy, and Place Volume 2 Issue 2 Pages: 12-13
Date: 2004
Working More but Staying Poor
Author(s): Bradford Mills, Brian Whitacre, Christiana Hilmer
Sponsoring organization: Southern Rural Development Center
Highlights research results from a comprehensive portrait of working families living in poverty, both nationally and in the rural south, using data from the Annual Demographic Files of the Current Population Survey.
Date: 10 / 2005
