Rachel Jones reports on education, social policy, and welfare reform issues at NPR. She has also covered children’s health and development, as well as well as racial disparities in health care.
Putting welfare recipients to work is at the heart of the federal welfare law passed 10 years ago. But while the original law allowed states to decide how best to meet federal goals, some officials fear that the Bush administration will remove some of the flexibility that they say has made the law a success.
One-third of poor Americans live in suburbs. In Holly, Mich., Joy and Chris Hardenburgh found their dreams derailed after an on-the-job accident forced Chris to take sick leave. Soon, the family of three found themselves overwhelmed with medical bills and struggling to provide themselves with basic necessities.