Search Results for: war on poverty

Orshansky, Mollie

Remembering Mollie Orshansky—The Developer of the Poverty Thresholds by Gordon M. Fisher Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 68 No. 3, 2008 Introduction: In a federal government career that lasted more than four decades, Mollie Orshansky worked for the Children’s…

American Public Welfare Association

By John E. Hansan, Ph.D. At the 1929 annual meeting of the National Conference of Social Work in San Francisco a delegation of public agency representatives voted to organize a national membership organization open to all levels of government…Initially, the organization was named the American Association of Public Welfare Officials and its mission was to help and improve the activities of public welfare organizations throughout the nation. The name was changed in May 1932 to the American Public Welfare Association (APWA).

American Social Policy in the 1960’s and 1970’s

As the decade of the 1960s began, the United States had the “highest mass standard of living” in world history.1 The strong American postwar economy of the late 1940s and 1950s continued into the 1960s.

Defining Community

Until the Civil War to be oriented to the community as a social reference was in conflict with Individualism which was the dominant American philosophy. The way these ideas played against each other illuminates an important part of the American experience, one that continues to be active today.

Aid To Dependent Children: The Legal History

For its first three decades, AFDC operated much like a private charity, with its case workers given discretion in investigating clients, cutting off benefits to those determined to be unsuitable, and reducing benefits to those found in violation of any of AFDC’s myriad regulations. Starting in the mid-1960s the National Welfare Rights Organization, built primarily by African American women and functionally a part of the civil rights movement, began organizing to defend welfare recipients’ rights.

Social Welfare Developments, 1951-2000

1955 National Association of Social Workers founded by a merger of seven social work membership groups. 1962 Michael Harrington’s The Other America is published, awakening the American public to the nation’s increasing level of poverty. 1963 March on Washington DC for Jobs and Freedom 1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed. Title II and Title…

Aid for Dependent Children

Aid To Dependent Children: The Legal History By Linda Gordon, Professor of History, New York University and Felice Batlan, Professor of Law, Chicago Kent School of Law Aid to Dependent Children or ADC (later renamed Aid to Families with Dependent Children, AFDC) was Title IV of the Social Security Act of 1935. At first it…

Eras

Eras in Social Welfare History Social welfare policy and programs in America have roots going back to early Colonial days. Some entries may appear in more than one time period, as historical periods overlap and events or issues may persist over multiple eras. Use the search bar (at upper right) to locate additional programs…