This report was completed by the Program Review and Investigations Committee on Connecticut’s Welfare Reform Initiative. Authors describe the Jobs First program in detail as well as provide caseload trends, recipient demographics, and funding trends. Connecticut has utilized the earned income tax credit as a anti-poverty strategy, and authors also provide recommendations for improving work participation among the caseload.

This report, from MDRC, provides an update on welfare reform in the cities of Cleveland and Philadelphia. This study specifically reviews the policies implemented through 2005, caseload and employment trends through 2003, and neighborhood indicators describing the conditions of low-income communities in 2003.

This document provides a three step process for estimating the cost of implementing a refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit. Authors from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities offer information for States considering establishing an EITC program.

This document shows that outdated minimum wages and the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit alone do not suffice in the struggle to help low-income families build assets. Instead, it is important for states to set a state minimum wage and establish a state EITC program in order to help low-income families come out of poverty.

MDRC authored this report on poverty trends -- since 1973, the poverty rate has remained relatively constant in the U.S. Authors assert that this is due to falling wages and the increase in single parenthood. This article provides information on poverty reduction initiatives such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.

This article gives information for Community Action Agencies to implement effective IDA programs. It provides advice from best practices around the country and future suggestions for state policy on IDAs.

This article reviews the benefits of Individual Development Accounts to help low-income people save money and build assets for the future and toward self-sufficiency.

From the Center for Social Development, this policy brief offers ideas on how IDAs and WIA can collaborate in increase access to education and training. Adults with a high school education earn on average $26,332, compared to $32,154 for Associate degrees and $42,116 for Bachelor degrees. Therefore, expanded IDA programs can improve access to education for the low-income population.

The Brookings Institution released a report that reviewed the spatial distribution of the Earned Income Tax Credit in places that participated in the National Tax Assistance for Working Families Campaign. Findings include that across the sites, around 2 million families obtained more than $3.4 billion in EITC refunds in 2000. On average, the income of working families were increased by $1,700, or 13 percent. Additionally, in 1999, an estimated $212 million of EITC money was spent on paid tax preparers and refund anticipation loans across 27 of the sites.

This resource is a Brookings Institution report on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). It concludes that State governments should consider building on the federal EITC through State tax codes; ensuring that more eligible families get the credit for free or pay a reasonable amount to do so; and revisiting policies that may discourage low-income families from saving refund dollars.