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IU professor studies new "welfare to workfare" strategy
Feb. 17, 2000
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Dr. Kenneth N. Bickers, associate professor of political science at Indiana University, is undertaking a study of the efficiency of the state of Indiana's new "welfare to workfare" strategy.
The three-year project will scrutinize the new community-based systems approach to workforce investment, which differs greatly from the traditional approach.
Under the new plan, the state will integrate both public and private investments to better serve its welfare recipients. Instead of treating each federal program as a separate entity, the state will coordinate the different programs. The new approach will lend itself to the creation of central locations or "service malls" that will allow recipients to receive all necessary services at one location, such as childcare, healthcare and job training.
"Clients will be able to come into these malls to access information about what sorts of assistance they may be eligible to receive and to obtain that assistance from service providers that have set up retail outlets for that purpose in the mall," Bickers said.
As the study progresses, Bickers will report to the directors of the state's 16 Workforce Investment Boards on the factors that appear to contribute to the successful implementation of the community-based approach. Bickers also will report data on workforce participation and preparedness for their local economic areas.
"These reports will permit these policy professionals to learn from the experiences of others across the state, and to adopt performance-enhancing changes in the workforce investment systems in their own communities," Bickers said.
(Kevin Gray, 812-855-3911, keagray@indiana.edu)