In response to several proposed federal changes to safety net program requirements, the Urban Institute developed a Well Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS) and published a report on the status of individual and family health and well-being. The…

The Wilson Foundation released a report that summarizes findings from the Service and Housing Interventions for Families in Transition (SHIFT) Longitudinal Study. The SHIFT study examined the effectiveness of different housing and service models…

In the context of a public safety net focused on limiting dependency and encouraging participation in the labor market, policymakers and researchers are especially interested in individuals who face obstacles to finding and keeping jobs. The…

Social policy evaluations usually use classical statistical methods, which may, for example, compare outcomes for program and comparison groups and determine whether the estimated differences (or impacts) are statistically significant — meaning…

From the U.S. Census Bureau, this report offers the latest statistics on income, poverty, and health insurance in the United States. The real median household income in the United States fell 3.6 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $52,163 to $50…

Researchers at the Department of Human Development, California State University East Bay, conducted this study examining a model of income poverty, material hardship, parenting factors, and child health status to understand how material hardship…

Lack of employer-sponsored health insurance can affect the productivity of workers and the health of their families. This paper is from the Urban Institute and offers information on access to employer-sponsored health insurance. By evaluating low…

This paper considers four programs--Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), food stamps, child care subsidies, and the earned income tax credit (EITC)--that form the core work support system in the United States. It…