Continental Parlor 1 Hilton San Francisco and Towers Ballroom Level
Section on Poverty Law Susan R. Jones, The George Washington University, Chair
New Perspectives in Anti-Poverty Advocacy: Promoting Equal Justice in the Post-Welfare Era
Moderator:
Larry Cata Backer, The University of Tulsa
Speakers:
Peter Benjamin Edelman, Georgetown University Bob Erlenbusch, Executive Director, Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger & Homelessness, Los Angeles, California Marc Greenberg, Senior Staff Attorney, Center for Law and Social Policy, Washington, D.C. Susan R. Jones, The George Washington University Bernida M. Reagan, University of California at Berkeley
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1966 "ended welfare as we know it", closed the doors on six decades of anti-poverty policy and opened a new chapter in America's relationship with poor people. Researchers assert that the decline in welfare rolls is attributed to the welfare law, to the booming economy and to the fiscal environment in which states have more funds to spend per recipient than in the past. Researchers and scholars are also evaluating the challenges of compliance with the work requirements in the Information Age, studying whether work is really available for some people who are required to move "from welfare to work" and assessing the impact of welfare time limits on poor people- especially single parents and their children.
The next round of the national welfare debate has already begun. By the end of 2002 Congress must decide the future of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, the block grants to states enacted as part of the PRWORA. What is the reality of poor people in the post welfare era? What changes are needed in the reauthorization? And, what can anti-poverty advocates do now? This panel of law professors, policy experts and grassroots advocates will explore the realities of anti-poverty advocacy today. A goal of the program is to identify "useful ideas" and "action items" for scholarship, teaching and service as well as a range of participatory options for law professors, lawyers, law students and anti-poverty advocates.