The report's findings makes it less certain that the new system will be an adequate basis for fulfilling the three conditions listed above. Most welfare recipients are children living in female-headed families. No matter what else the welfare system does, it must protect children and their families from the potentially catastrophic effects of federal time limits. The state's program will need to provide income support for families who exhaust their benefits. It must also provide adequate child care to support women who are now required to hold down a job as well as shoulder the responsibility of single parenthood.
Poverty overwhelmingly resides in the city's Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
Policy must address the continued effects of discrimination on the life chances of New York's minority majority. Affirmative action programs will have to be strengthened to open more job opportunities to those who have been shut out for far too long. A successful effort to move recipients from welfare to work will have to remedy their poor educational background and uneven work experience. Education and training programs to prepare recipients for work will need to be rethought and revamped. That task, though essential, is merely a short-run challenge compared to the commitment of time, talent, and funding needed to make the city's school system work for minority youth.