Student Study Finds Prevention is Key to Welfare Reform

Contact: Diane Zucker
Phone: 914-437-7404
E-mail: [email protected]

COLLEGE CONSORTIUM STUDY FINDS PREVENTION IS KEY TO WELFARE REFORM POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (February 20, 1998)-- Prevention works. It is financially and socially advantageous to foster policies that prevent people from becoming welfare recipients, according to a report to be released by the Poughkeepsie Institute on Thursday, March 5. The student report, "The Implementation of Welfare Reform," includes both a text and a video presentation.

The Institute is a collaboration of Bard, Dutchess Community, Marist, and Vassar colleges, the State University of New York at New Paltz, and the City of Poughkeepsie -- the only such collaboration of its kind in the country dedicated to social research and social action. "These non-partisan recommendations come from the structure and excitement of the 14-week course, but are not intended to be definitive. Instead their success is intended to be measured by the amount of community discussion these ideas generate," said Peter Leonard, institute president and Vassar's director of field work.

The report is the result of a 14-week course conducted last fall which focused on the effects of new welfare laws on Dutchess and Ulster counties, with special emphasis on Poughkeepsie and Kingston. It describes the effects of the emerging legislation on welfare recipients, social service agencies, labor unions, and political structures.

The research team for the project consisted of 16 students and five faculty members representing all Institute schools. The faculty included a lawyer, a political scientist, an economist, a social worker, and a sociologist.

"I'm grateful to the students and the institute for tackling this sensitive issue. They brought a variety of perspectives to the project, put in a lot of hard work, and I look forward to reviewing their full report, " said Poughkeepsie Mayor Colette LaFuente. LaFuente was among the institute's guest lecturers, which also included State Senator Stephen Saland, Dutchess County Legislator Kristen Jemiolo, Dutchess County Social Service Commissioner Robert Allers, and Ulster County Social Service Commissioner Glen Decker. Welfare advocates like Brian Riddell as well as welfare recipients also addressed the students.

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