IN JEOPARDY: The Impact of Welfare Reform on Nonprofit Human Service Agencies in New York City
by Mimi Abramovitz, D.S.W.
Hunter College School of Social Work

In May 1999, the NASW Task Force on Welfare Reform brought together social workers from a variety of agencies in New York City for a “Speak Out.” Social workers from around the city testified to the effects of welfare reform on the ability of their agencies to serve people on welfare and other members of the low-income community. Social workers described how the city’s implementation of welfare policies wreaked havoc with people’s lives. But they also told stories of hope and progress, describing how their programs helped people to hold their families together.

With the support of United Way of New York City, the NASW Welfare Reform Task Force launched a more systematic investigation into the relationship between welfare policies and agency-based social services. By describing the experience of workers from more than 100 agencies, IN JEOPARDY expands, deepens, and confirms what social workers said at the “Speak Out.”

(Published February, 2002)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword
I. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

II. GATHERING THE INFORMATION

The Selection of Agencies
The Participant Agencies
The Workers Interviewed

III. THE NEW WELFARE ENVIRONMENT

The Federal Law
State and City Implementation
Impact of Welfare Reform on Welfare Recipients

IV. DEMAND SHIFT: SIGNIFICANT TIME AND RESOURCES SHIFTED FROM SOCIAL SERVICE TO WELFARE DEPARTMENT MANDATES

Providing Basic Information about Welfare's Eligibility Rules
Helping Clients Contend with Welfare's Penalties: Sanctions, Case Closings, and Fair Hearings
Helping Clients Cope with Welfare's Work Mandates
Providing or Arranging For Emergency Aid When Access to Cash, Food, Housing, Medical, or Care is      Reduced or Eliminated

V. A HEAVIER LIFT: RUNNING UP HILL TO FIX THE PROBLEMS CREATED BY WELFARE REFORM

Doing More with Less
Handling More Welfare-Related Emotional Stress and Family Crises
Managing with Less Cooperation from the Local Welfare Office
Facing Morally and Professionally Troublesome Ethical Dilemmas
Feeling Less Effective
Having Less Control Over the Work
Coping With Stress and Burnout
Still Making a Difference

VI. MISSION DRIFT: MODIFYING -- OR ELIMINATING -- OPERATIONS, SERVICES, AND PRIORITIES IN THE WAKE OF WELFARE'S CHANGING RULES

Modification of Agency Operations
Curtailment of Services
Privatization

VII. RISING TO THE CHALLENGE: ADVOCACY RENEWED

VIII. RECOMMENDATIONS

At the Federal Level
At the State Level
At the City Level
At the Agency Level

IX. Conclusion
Appendix -- Tables 1-19
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