Abstract
As welfare reform unfolds, nonprofit social service agencies will increasingly be called upon to help fill the gap between what unskilled and semiskilled mothers can earn in the low-wage labor market and what they need to meet their monthly expenses. This article draws on in-depth interviews with low-income single mothers and multiyear observational studies of two nonprofit social service agencies. Using these data, the authors show what kinds of resources these agencies provide low-income single mothers, how mothers mobilize the resources available, to what degree agencies actually contribute to mothers' cash and in-kind resources, how agencies distribute their resources, and what effect agencies' distribution practices have on these women. The analysis shows that although nonprofit social service agencies are a crucial part of many low-income mothers' economic survival strategies, they cannot come close to substituting for the eroding public safety net.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 541-573 |
Number of pages | 33 |
Journal | Housing Policy Debate |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 1998 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Development
- Urban Studies
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Keywords
- Neighborhood
- Nonprofit sector
- Welfare