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Home & Family: Welfare Reform

A Citizens Guide to Moving from Welfare to Well-Being

Putting People First
From Welfare to Well-Being Through Education

Passage of the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 changed 61 years of "welfare" programs as we've known them. A driver for this change was the belief that better decisions about financing and providing support services could be made by states and counties.

Betters decisions can only be made if people making the decisions respond knowledgeably to the opportunity before Mississippians -- the opportunity to move beyond welfare for poor families to the well-being of all members of our communities.

Wise decision making now, when communities have increased say in designing and shaping assistance programs, will pay dividends into the 21st century as children and their parents increase their ability to be personally responsible and self sufficient.

What can a citizen do to become involved and contribute to wise decision making so the focus moves from welfare to well-being?

1. Understand the situation.
   • The legislation
   • The community values regarding well-being
   • The need among children and families
   • The capacity to provide assistance
   • The costs and benefits of these alternatives
2. Consider the costs and benefits of becoming involved.
3. Act on your reflective thinking!!

The following outline of actions is offered to further help you get organized:

1. Become knowledgeable through the "Five I's": Learn about the federal and state welfare legislation using the components:
   • Information
     Gather the facts about the situation
   • Issues
     Identify the issues involved in the situation
   • Impacts
     Analyze the likely consequences for people
   • Implications
     Consider the possible effects on people and organizations
   • Imperative
     Ponder the call for action presented by the situation

2. Agree on a set of principles for making decisions.

3. Consider the use of "well-being" as a framework as a way of picturing the conditions in which children, youth, families live and work in your community. Using the best available research-based data, put together a "picture" of the situation in your community by placing numbers in the following categories:
   • In Crisis
     Many basic needs unmet -- extensive assistance needed.
   • At-Risk
     In danger -- additional assistance needed to prevent crisis.
   • Safe
     Basic needs met -- some assistance.
   • Thriving
     Needs and some wants met -- basically self sufficient.

4. Using the same well-being framework, identify the sources of assistance available to your community from the following categories:
   • Public sector
     Federal government, State government, Local government
   • Private sector
     For-profit business, Not-for-profit business and organizations, Families and individuals

5. Explore all possible alternative courses of action while thinking about the extent to which they represent the community's values as reflected in the stated principles.

6. Select the alternative that best fits the needs in your community in keeping with the principles you've identified and the capacity available to make the alternatives happen.

7. Work with other citizens -- youth and adults, men and women of diverse backgrounds from all sectors of your community -- to make the wisest public policy decisions.

8. Continue to stay involved as the policies are implemented. Continually revisit the situation, the principles, the need and alternatives to make changes as appropriate!

NOTE: The Mississippi State University Extension Service has Extension Educators in all counties, and faculty at Mississippi State University and Alcorn State University who are willing and able to help citizens with this important public work. Contact your local county office today!