February 22, 2007

Book presents anti-poverty policy model

By Wendy Leopold

In 1994, Milwaukee community activists and city business leaders launched an experimental anti-poverty program called New Hope that aimed to make employment truly “work” for its participants and their families. Now the researchers who rigorously evaluated New Hope say the project can serve as a model for anti-poverty policies at the national and state levels.

“New Hope was all about supporting efforts to sustain full time work,” says Greg J. Duncan, professor of education and social policy. “Although no elements of the program were directly targeted at the children of its participants, we found that they, too, benefited significantly from New Hope.”

Duncan is co-author, with Aletha C. Huston and Thomas S. Weisner, of “Higher Ground: New Hope for the Working Poor and their Children.” Their book goes beyond statistical reports and surveys to tell the stories of some of New Hope’s participants and how New Hope affected them and their families.

“If you work, you should not be poor” was New Hope’s guiding tenet. In essence it was a social contract and not a welfare program. In exchange for working a minimum of 30 hours a week, participants were eligible for subsidized health and child care and for earnings supplements that would bring their incomes above the poverty line. 

“New Hope offers some of the strongest evidence to date that work supports make a difference in the lives of people in low-wage jobs,” says Duncan. What’s more, the program not only increased income and employment but also improved the school achievement and behavior of children in New Hope families.

“Few social policies — even those directly aimed at children — are able to match the benefits New Hope children experienced, particularly among boys,” Duncan says.