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WCPC Publications

The West Coast Poverty Center produces several publications intended to increase awareness and understanding of poverty issues. These aim to inform the research community of new poverty research and to bring poverty-relevant knowledge to policymakers and practitioners, serving as a bridge between the academic and policy communities. We hope these publications will help to create an informed and energized community that unites poverty researchers and practitioners.

Poverty Research Flash

The West Coast Poverty Center’s Poverty Research Flash alerts the research community to new research by Center faculty affiliates on causes, consequences, and effective policy responses to poverty. The one-page Poverty Flash highlights data sources and methods as well as results.

Poverty Research Flash January 2010

Frontline Worker Responses to Domestic Violence Disclosure in Public Welfare Offices

This issue highlights new findings by West Coast Poverty Center Faculty Affiliates Taryn Lindhorst and Marcia K. Meyers and their colleague Erin Casey, forthcoming in Social Work.

Key Findings:

    Although prior research suggests that up to one-quarter of TANF recipients have suffered domestic violence in the previous year, only three percent (22 cases) of a sample of 782 interviews between welfare case workers and clients included a disclosure of domestic violence by a client. In general, caseworkers did not provide mandated services for domestic violence victims. Of the clients who disclosed domestic violence to their caseworkers, only half received concrete information about services or available waivers of welfare program rules. In five of the 22 cases, caseworkers effectively ignored clients’ disclosures of domestic violence. Caseworkers employed “best practices” after domestic violence disclosure –i.e., providing emotional support, asking follow-up questions, giving information about potential waivers, and providing clients with referrals to outside sources of support such as shelters – in only three cases. The authors conclude that problems with implementation of the domestic violence policies reflect a systemic reluctance to address issues of violence with women rather than problems of individual workers.


Previous Poverty Research Flashes

2009

    Issue 10 Enumerating Inequality: The Constitution, the Census Bureau, and the Criminal Justice
    by Becky Pettit

    Issue 09 Building Economies from the Bottom Up: (Mis)representations of Poverty in the Rural American Northwest
    by Vicki Lawson, Lucy Jarosz and Anne Bonds

    Issue 07-08 Old Assumptions, New Realities: Economic Security for Working Families in the 21st Century
    by Jacob Hacker, Paul Osterman, Jodi Sandfort, Michael Sherraden, and Michael Stoll

    Issue 06 Waiting Tables in Two Chains and States: Investigating Front-Line Job Quality across Organizations and Policy Contexts
    by Anna Haley-Lock and Stephanie Ewert

    Issue 05 The Effects of University Affirmative Action Policies on the Human Capital Development of Minority Children: Do Expectations Matter?
    by Ronald Caldwell

    Issue 04 Food Insufficiency, Food Stamp Participation, and Mental Health

    Issue 03 Influences of Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Social Capital on the Subjective Health of Adolescents
    by Gunnar Almgren

    Issue 02 Poverty, Legal Status, and Pay Basis in U.S. Agriculture
    by Anita Alves Pena

    Issue 01 Subsidized Housing and Household Hardship Among Low-Income Single-Mother Households
    by Lawrence M. Berger, Theresa Heintze, Wendy B. Naidich, and Marcia K. Meyers

2008

2007

Poverty Brief

Our Poverty Briefs offer policy makers and practitioners an accessible discussion of the latest poverty research, focusing on findings with particular relevance for policy and practice. Generally about six pages in length, including useful charts and graphs, Poverty Briefs draw from the recent work of West Coast Poverty Center faculty affiliates and others.