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poverty

TANF didn’t fight poverty. Full employment did.

Posted on August 21, 2016 in Online Symposia
Experts: Virginia Rutter

A briefing paper prepared for Council on Contemporary Families by Alan Barber, Director of Domestic Policy, Center for Economic and Policy Research, and Virginia Rutter, Professor of Sociology, Framingham State University. August 22, 2016 Welfare reform hits 20 this month. The Center for Economic and Policy Research has done much work examining how full employment […]

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Topics of Expertise: Labor & Workforce / TANF & Public Assistance / Work & Family
Full Employment, poverty, TANF Read More

CCF Civil Rights Symposium: Are African Americans Living the Dream 50 Years After Passage of the Civil Rights Act?

Posted on February 5, 2014 in Brief Reports


By Velma McBride Murry and Na Liu Vanderbilt University In 1963, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington, the momentous demonstration that helped spur passage of the Civil Rights Act the following year. He described African Americans as living “on a lonely island […]

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Topics of Expertise: African American Families / Economic Inequality / Race, Ethnicity & Culture
African Americans, civil rights, education, income, poverty Read More

Red states, blue states, and divorce: Understanding the impact of conservative protestantism on regional variation in divorce rates

Posted on January 16, 2014 in Press Releases
Experts: Jennifer Glass

Why are divorce rates higher in religiously conservative “red” states and lower in less religiously conservative “blue” states? After all, most conservatives frown upon divorce, and religious commitment is believed to strengthen marriage, not erode it. Even so, religiously conservative states Alabama and Arkansas have the second and third highest divorce rates in the U.S., at 13 per 1000 people per year while New Jersey and Massachusetts, more liberal states, are two of the lowest at 6 and 7 per 1000 people per year.

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Topics of Expertise: Couples Conflict, Separation & Divorce / Economic Inequality
divorce, marriage, poverty, religion Read More

Promoting marriage among single mothers: An ineffective weapon in the war on poverty?

Posted on January 6, 2014 in Brief Reports
Experts: Kristi Williams

This month marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s declaration of an “unconditional war on poverty.” Yet this month also marks over a quarter century since President Ronald Reagan’s 1988 announcement that the war on poverty was over, and that poverty had won. Many politicians blame the resurgence of poverty on the spread of unwed motherhood and conclude that promoting marriage among low-income individuals would do more to reduce poverty than government investments. In this report, Ohio State University sociologist Kristi Williams examines how efforts to get impoverished single mothers to marry are unlikely to make much of a dent in poverty rates and may even have some harmful outcomes for mothers and children alike.

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Topics of Expertise: Child Welfare / Economic Inequality / TANF & Public Assistance
children and parenting, marriage, policy, poverty, social safety net Read More

50th Anniversary of the War on Poverty: Have we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory?

Posted on January 6, 2014 in Online Symposia, Press Releases


This month marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s declaration of an “unconditional war on poverty.” Yet this month also marks over a quarter century since President Ronald Reagan’s 1988 announcement that the war on poverty was over, and that poverty had won. To mark the anniversaries of these very different points in the government’s role in poverty reduction, two researchers from the Council on Contemporary Families assess where we have come from and where we stand today.

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Topics of Expertise: Child Welfare / Economic Inequality / Marriage & Divorce / TANF & Public Assistance
children and parenting, marriage, policy, poverty, social safety net Read More

Poverty, Hardship and Families: How Many People Are Poor, and What Does Being Poor in America Really Mean?

Posted on December 5, 2011 in Brief Reports


MEDIA CONTACT: Virginia Rutter Associate Professor of Sociology Framingham State University Board Member, Council on Contemporary Families Email: vrutter@gmail.com Phone: 206-375-4139 Retailers report that this year’s post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend broke all previous records, raising predictions of “the best holiday shopping season ever.” Yet the number of people living in poverty has also broken all previous […]

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Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality
families, foreclosure, poverty, unemployment Read More

New Way to Tally Poor Recasts View of Poverty

Posted on November 15, 2011 in Opinion Pieces


The Census Bureau on Monday released what it says is a more accurate measure of poverty in America. The new measure shows more poverty among the elderly, but less among children and African-Americans. It also shows a slightly higher poverty rate for the nation last year — 16 percent compared with 15.2 percent under the official measure — but lower rates among groups who benefit from noncash government programs the official count leaves out, including food stamps and the earned-income tax credit.

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Marriage, Poverty & Public Policy

Posted on April 28, 2002 in Press Releases


According to recent census figures, 6 percent of married couple families with children live in poverty, compared to 33 percent of families headed by single moms. To many, the conclusion seems obvious. Marry off those single moms and they reduce their risk of poverty by a factor of more than 5, right? Plus, their children […]

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Topics of Expertise: TANF & Public Assistance
marriage, poverty, single mothers Read More

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Elizabeth Gershoff

Professor, University of Texas at Austin

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