Racial Equity in the TANF Service Delivery Path to Family Stability and Self-Sufficiency
Yu-Ling Chang, Professor
Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
Applications for Spring 2025 are closed for this project.
The California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) is a welfare-to-work (WTW) program that provides cash aid and services to needy families with children in California. In order to receive cash aid, adult enrollees are required to participate in work-related activities. Non-compliance will cause a sanction status with benefit termination or reduction. Prior research has shown that people of color and people having barriers to employment are more likely to receive welfare sanctions and less likely to receive cash aid and services. This research project examines racial equity issues in the CalWORKs service delivery system. Using mixed methods research design, we are collecting state and county-level administrative data to analyze the patterns of welfare exemptions, welfare sanctions, and welfare-to-work activities in the contexts of state reforms of the work-first approach and the COVID-19 pandemic. We are also collecting cross-state administrative and policy data for an extended project on policy responses of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are recruiting 1-2 undergrad students to assist in data processing, data analysis, and literature review/management tasks. This opportunity is ideal for students who are interested in racial equity and welfare-to-work programs.
Role: 1. CITI program Human Research Basic Course
2. Data processing: administrative data and document collection
3. Data analysis: governmental documents, descriptive statistics, data visualization
4. Literature search, summary, and management
Qualifications: Required qualifications:
1.Relevant experience in data processing and analysis.
2.Familiarity with employment, social equity, and social welfare and service delivery issues.
3.Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Preferred qualifications:
1. Knowledge or experience of CalWORKs or welfare-to-work programs.
2. Excellent Microsoft Excel skills.
3. Prior experience using R, Tableau, STATA, or MAXQDA.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Christopher Taylor Brown
Hours: 3-5 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: Students will be primarily performing research activities and attending project meetings remotely in the 2024 Fall semester.
Social Sciences