101212: Private and Public Collaborations Improving the Lives of the Working Poor

About the Course:

The course contains two articles. Article 1. The intertwined relationship between poverty and violence, especially in the lives of women on welfare, has been receiving critical attention since welfare reform. The Family Violence Option (FVO), an amendment to the Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act of 1996, gives states the flexibility to offer more time for battered women to seek safety. Kansas created the Orientation, Assessment, Referral, and Safety (OARS) program, in which the state’s welfare system contracts services with advocacy organizations that provide on-site services for women who qualify to participate under the FVO. This study explored the interagency collaboration model used in Kansas by talking directly with domestic violence survivors about their experiences. The results from this study challenge practitioners to think differently about collaboration to meet the needs of domestic violence survivors on welfare. COURSE SYLLABUS I. Implementation of the Family Violence Option (FVO) II. Methods III. Results IV. Discussion V. Implications.

Article 2. This paper presents a conceptual approach to understanding how government and private employers shape the employment experiences of contemporary low-wage workers. After reviewing recent changes in employment conditions that have disproportionately affected poor working families, we present two perspectives on the structural vulnerability for low-wage workers: policy and organizational stratification. The stratification approach suggests that public policy and private workplace practices interact with workers’ personal and family circumstances to shape the outcomes of low-wage employment. Applying these lenses to restaurant workers, we examine why and how some workers may be uniquely disadvantaged by emerging proposals to change minimum wage laws. Promising directions for intervention are also discussed. COURSE SYLLABUS I. Structural Frameworks for Investigation Low-Wage Employment II. Bringing It All Together: Prospects for Reforming Low-Wage.

Journal/Publisher:

Families in Society

Publication Date:

2007/Vol. 88, No. 3

Authors

(Article 1) Judy L. Postmus, PhD, ACSW; (Article 1) Sur Ah Hahn, MA; (Article 2) Anna Haley-Lock, PhD; (Article 2) Melissa Ford Shah, MPP

About the Authors:

(Article 1) Assistant Professor and Director, Center on Violence Against Women & Children, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

(Article 1) PhD Student, University of Kansas

(Article 2) Assistant Professor, University of Washington

(Article 2) Senior Researcher, Washington State Department of Labor and Industries

Recommended For:

This course is recommended for social workers, counselors, psychologists, and other human services and behavioral health professionals who seek knowledge about agency and organization collaboration for the working poor. It is appropriate for participants with beginning and intermediate levels of knowledge about the topic.

Course Objectives:

1. 1. Identify the relationship between poverty and violence using the interagency collaboration model.

2. 2. Understand how government and private employers shape employment experiences for contemporary low-wage workers and what practice and policy changes can be implemented to improve the lives of poor working families.