Case Study Analysis-Toyota

Outline

Topic: Tackling Poverty and Dependency: Restructuring the Federal Public Assistance System to achieve a more substantial outcome

I. Introduction. How can the historical perspective on welfare reform provide insight concerning the problems of poverty and welfare dependency?

a. We can use the historical perspective of the welfare state to seek understanding in combating poverty and exclusion, asking ourselves “How do we implement more effective policies in reducing poverty, and give them the priority they need?”

b. Poverty is viewed as both a negative personal and social conditionвЂ"labeling the poor as “deserving” and “non-deserving.”

c. The policy Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) was created for widowed, white women with dependentsвЂ"“deserving”

d. The policy changed to the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and the demographics shifted to predominately women of color, inner-city residents, and a substantial portion of them were never married.

e. Growth in poverty, increased welfare enrollment, public conflict, racism sparked a change in policy

II. What are the implications and problems of the new welfare reformвЂ"Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program?

a. What is the focus of the new welfare policy?

i. Changes in social policy: time limits, transitional benefits, state flexibility to create programs

ii. Welfare-to-work. Activate the initial transition into employment, leaving individual initiative and market forces to drive subsequent market mobility; 2 problems: This concept

1. Implies that skills training to sustain employment is not of value

2. Either remove the administrator from the “problem,” and/or places the “problem” in an unstable environment

3. Primary policy goal: self-sufficiency

a. What is self-sufficiency and how is it viewed in a free-market economic society?

b. A Better Way. How do we equip low-resource families with the necessary tools to make a smooth transition into the work, be successful at their jobs, and balance work and family? Thesis: Delivering a complete framework of service to better equip these families with the necessary tools to make a smooth transition into work, be successful at their jobs, balance work and family life, while moving toward a self-sufficient lifestyle.

III. Changing the Perspective of Self-Sufficiency.

a. This economic view of personhood implies that economic self-sufficiency is a relative and easy condition for human beings; and one is considered inadequate and frowned upon if this condition is not fulfilled

b. The concept of self-sufficiency should be redefined with an ecology-of-work perspectiveвЂ"the relationship between human beings and their total environmentвЂ"which will shift self-sufficiency and the problem of work life to the point of view of the worker.

IV. A More Active Approach

a. Needs of the People. More focus is needed in equipping participants with the necessary tools to survive and make the transition into the labor market.

i. Welfare families have more barriers and/or challenges to employment than non-recipients

b. Integrating Services

i. Understanding the initial needs and abilities of single parents who are making the welfare-to-work transition is a critical step in the development of community supports that will aid in the transition.

ii. Possible partnerships could be formed with non-profit and for-profit organizations, faith-based groups, and other government agencies to provide training seminars.

iii. The federal government should restructure TANF’s policy by utilizing the previous educational and training components within the current “welfare-to-work” model.

iv. Each county should be required to research poverty and economic status in their area; and should design programs accordingly.

v. The labor market needs to be included in the restructuring ensuring jobs are available for all skill levels (especially low to moderate).

vi. Every participant (excluding special needs) should be required to obtain a GED/diploma after qualifying for public assistance.

vii. Types of seminars/programs: Life skills, Parenting, Teenage Pregnancy prevention, Leadership training, Financial literacy, Home Ownership, Career Counseling, Educational assessment, Job skills, Team/interactive skills, Quality/action skills. These services should be required and counted as educational training.

V. Conclusion

a. In order to provide low-resource families with a complete framework of service, the structure of the welfare delivery system will need substantial overhaul.

b. Change will involve more than the reformulation of rules and regulations; it will require that these programs restructure their organizational culture to reflect a perspective of self-sufficiency and ecology-of-work rather than one of welfare provision.

c. From a worker’s point of view, extensive training and education coupled with the active measures of the work-first model would mark a beginning for dealing with poverty at its roots.

In the past, governments have tried to silence the consequences of poverty by treating the symptoms with income support. Although this helped erase some of the worst symptoms of this problem, it failed to sustain personal ambition and work effort and thus played a part in keeping poverty alive. Scholars of poverty and the welfare state examine the past but also anticipate a possible future. By learning from the history they hope that a way will be found to restore an affirmative welfare state.

America has a long history of limiting re-distributive policies to the morally deserving, and history suggests that past visions of the welfare state may also be a trap (Munger, 2003). Dating back to the Reformation period, policy makers and the American public have attempted to label the poor as “deserving” and “undeserving”