Families' experience with welfare reform on reservations in Arizona

This article documents the impact of the 1996 federal welfare legislation on American Indian families in the state of Arizona over a period of four years. The authors analyzed primary data obtained from interviews with 445 former or current welfare families with children from three Indian reservations: Navajo, San Carlos, and Salt River. Compared with national and regional levels, reservations experienced a slower rate of decline in welfare caseloads. Welfare recipients on reservations had lower levels of education than the national welfare population and lived in areas with a shortage of employment opportunities and support services. The article underscores the importance of job creation, job preparation, and support services for welfare recipients on reservations and the need for federal, state, and tribal governments to work together to help families exit welfare. Policy implications are discussed. Key words: American Indian reservations; Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act; welfare reform ********** Passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 (P.L. 104-193) coincided with the longest period of economic growth in the history of the United States. Data indicate that welfare caseloads have declined dramatically both nationally and at the state level (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 2000a). Many former welfare mothers, particularly urban and suburban women, have found jobs. Not much, however, is known about the employment experience of welfare recipients on reservations and their strategies for leaving welfare. Because economic conditions vary among urban, suburban, and rural areas, the labor market experiences of welfare recipients in these areas may be different also. Furthermore, the experiences of single mothers residing on rural Indian reservations may be different from those experienced by rural or urban populations not living on reservations. To understand how welfare reform and the nearly simultaneous economic up-turn affected families with children on Indian reservations, we launched a longitudinal study monitoring families living on reservations in Arizona. Primary data were collected between 1997 and 2001. We collected aggregate data for each reservation in Arizona between 1995 and 2002. We used the first wave of survey data collected between fall 1998 and 1999. We also used some of the aggregate data collected between 1995 and 2002. We addressed the following questions: Are welfare caseloads declining on American Indian reservations? What are the characteristics of either current or former adult welfare recipients on reservations? In particular, what characteristics are associated with welfare exit, sanction status, and labor force participation? CONTEXT Passage of the 1996 welfare legislation was a defining moment in our nation's approach to public assistance for poor families with children. PRWORA replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), emergency assistance, and the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) programs with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. However, JOBS funding will continue (under the Native Employment Works JOBS program) on reservations where JOBS programs were administered. According to PRWORA, adults can receive cash assistance for a maximum of five years in their lifetime (or less at state option) and must start working after two years of receiving assistance. In addition to allowing states to exempt up to 20% of their caseloads, the federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-33) exempted adults residing on reservations of any size with 50% or higher unemployment rates from the five-year lifetime limit. All states were required to begin implementation of the new law by July 1, 1997. The state of Arizona received a waiver from the federal government and began implementing its version of welfare reform, the EMPOWER (Employing and Moving People Off Welfare and Encouraging Responsibility) program as part of its TANF block grant on November 1, 1995. …