A new book by the Ford School's Kristin S. Seefeldt was featured in a recent edition of Dome magazine, an online publication that covers politics and policy in the State of Michigan.
Seefeldt (MPP '96) is a Research Investigator at the Ford School and Assistant Director of the National Poverty Center. Her book, Working After Welfare, was published in December, 2008 by the W.E. Upjohn Institute. In it, Kristin incorporates analysis of survey data as well as in-depth qualitative interviews with former welfare recipients to explore the long-term impacts of the 1996 welfare reform legislation.
Seefeldt explores policy options that could increase the financial well-being of single mothers as well as support the role that motherhood plays in their lives. She argues that the policy discourse around making the workplace more "friendly" to parents needs to move beyond white collar jobs, often held by married mothers, to include the labor market as a whole, acknowledging the special challenges faced by low-income single parents while also granting them the same status as other parents.
Seefeldt presented her work at a public lecture on February 11, 2009.
[Read Dome Magazine article]