Introduction

How do society and our communities assist low-income populations? Typically, welfare cash assistance, food stamps, Medicaid, and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) are identified as primary sources of support for poor populations. These prominent antipoverty programs, however, are only a part of how society and communities help low-income populations. Social services that promote work activity and greater personal well-being (e.g., job training, adult education, child care, substance abuse or mental health services, temporary emergency assistance) have become primary methods for assisting low-income families. Whereas annual governmental spending on welfare cash assistance totals about $11 billion, government expenditures for just a limited number of job training and social service programs are about $34 billion each year (in $2006). If we include a host of mental health, substance abuse, emergency assistance, and housing programs, social service programs receive more than $100 billion in public funding each year—a far greater share of governmental safety net expenditures than many scholars and policymakers recognize (Allard 2009; Congressional Research Services 2003).

Social service programs have steadily expanded in the past several decades to address low-income workers' struggles with persistent human capital, physical health, mental health, child care, or transportation barriers to employment. For example, about 40 percent of the women receiving welfare in 2002 experienced multiple barriers to employment including low educational attainment, physical health problems, a child with a disability, and mental health problems (Zedlewski 2003).