The Race/Gendered Effects of Hurricane Katrina
IWPR has been actively disseminating and expanding upon our research on the interaction of gender, race, family structure, and poverty in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. To supplement this work, we are also undertaking a series of in-depth, in-person interviews and focus groups with those impacted by the storm in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. Through this work, IWPR seeks to shed light on the distinct short and long-term challenges faced by women in recovering from the storm and to make policy recommendations that will inform the recovery process.
Research in this area:
Women in the Wake of the Storm: Examining the Post-Katrina Realities of the Women of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast
The Executive Summary written by Dr. Avis Jones-De-Weever, IWPR Affiliated Scholar.
View | View Executive Summary | Press Release | June 2007
The Women of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast: Multiple Disadvantages and Key Assets for Recovery
Part I, Poverty, Race, Gender and Class October 2005 | Part II, Gender, Race, and Class in the Labor Market August 2006 |
Additional Resources for Katrina Information
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Access to Higher Education for Low-Income Women
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) has been selected to be a part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s new initiative to improve postsecondary education access and completion. IWPR will apply its expertise to provide the Gates Foundation with a policy review, promising practices analysis, and child care needs assessment aimed at improving educational outcomes for low- income, young-adult single parents--most of whom are women and disproportionately of color. Read More
In 2006, IWPR released a report on how higher education changes the lives of low-income women and their families. Our findings were based on interviews and surveys with more than 100 current and former welfare participants, primarily women, in California who work with the group Low-Income Families Empowerment Through Education (LIFETIME), an Oakland-based non-profit dedicated to supporting the needs of welfare participants pursuing higher education, as well as higher education and welfare program administrators.
Resilient & Reaching for More: Challenges and Benefits of Higher Education for Welfare Participants and Their Children
Report by Avis Jones-DeWeever and Barbara Gault
View | Order Online | Press Release | April 2006
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Women and Social Security
IWPR has become a leading national resource on the possible effects of social security privatization on women. Given the complexity of the Social Security system and a widespread unfamiliarity with its characteristics, the Social Security research team is devoting significant time to conducting public education, engaging policymakers in discussions of reform possibilities, producing and disseminating accessible resources and conducting media outreach.
IWPR is also making significant strides toward educating policy makers about women's stake in Social Security. For example, because of the work of IWPR, the National Council of Women's Organizations and other advocacy organizations, former Presidential Candidate Al Gore put forward proposals to improve Social Security benefits for widows (and widowers) and for mothers (or fathers) who take time out of the work force to care for children.
IWPR has made presentations at forums, debates, and conferences around the country, including presentations at the National Organization for Women's Annual Convention, the Annual Meeting of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, and at the Social Security Administration's Office of Research, Evaluation and Statistics.
IWPR produced resources designed for a popular audience including "Why Privatizing Social Security is a Bad Idea for Everyone, and a Particularly Bad Idea for Women," in Dollars and Sense Magazine (November 2000). Former IWPR Study Director Dr. Catherine Hill also created the Real Privatizer's Social Security Calculator, an interactive Java-based tool that shows users the real costs of privatizing Social Security. This tool is available on IWPR's website (http://www.iwpr.org/sscalc4/calculator.html) This interactive calculator quickly demonstrates how privatization could result in lower monthly benefits for nearly everyone now working. IWPR's reports and fact sheets on Social Security reform are available on our website (www.iwpr.org/pdf.html) at no cost.
The Institute's work on Social Security has been widely cited in resources such as the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and Business Week, The Portsmouth Herald, New York Newsday and NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. IWPR staff have also been cited in magazine articles ranging from Annette Fuentes' "Social Security is a Women's Issue" in The Progressive to Ellen Hoffman's "Social Security for Singles," in Reader's Digest New Choices magazine.
Resources on older women's economics available on the IWPR website include:
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Women's Access to Pensions
IWPR completed a report on the gender gap in pension income funded by the U.S. Department of Labor. This report was released in conjunction with the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER).
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Resources on Poverty and Welfare
The Welfare Monitoring Listserv, with more than 900 participants, continues to help diverse constituencies across the states stay updated, connect with one another, and keep informed about welfare. The Listserv serves as a critical source of practical information for policymakers, program administrators, researchers, and advocates around the country. Click here for more information about the Listserv.
For more information, please contact Erica Williams, at williams@iwpr.org.
IWPR continues to serve as a source for networking, analysis, and technical assistance for advocates, researchers, and policymakers concerned with welfare reform's impact on women. Elements of this effort include the production of briefing papers, newsletters, fact sheets and technical assistance materials addressing the effects of welfare reform on women, IWPR's Welfare Monitoring Listserv, topical strategy forums for linking state researchers and advocates, a database of researchers and advocates interested in welfare reform, and ongoing technical assistance. IWPR staff are also developing materials concerning a variety of poverty issues for advocates at the national and local levels.
IWPR reports relevant to the welfare debate include:
You may also want to view NCWO TANF Statement of Principles for facts on TANF Reauthorization.
On February 25, 2010, IWPR Co-Sponsored a briefing on TANF Reauthorization entitled "Ending Poverty, Not Welfare: A Grassroots Congressional Briefing on TANF Reauthorization. An audio recording of this briefing is available here.
Attendees heard from the most important stakeholders in this process – low-income mothers and their children - about how we can strengthen our nation’s safety net, while creating pathways out of poverty for low-income women and their families.
Speakers from the Center for Law and Social Policy, the Applied Research Center, Legal Momentum and the National Council for Negro Women, shared the latest research on how low-income mothers and their families have fared under welfare reform.
Hosted by Women for Economic Justice (WEJ)
A national network of grassroots, low-income women-led organizations
working to end poverty under TANF reauthorization and to achieve
economic justice for low-income women, their families, and communities.
Community Voices Heard (NY)
Georgia Citizens’ Coalition on Hunger
LIFETIME: Low-Income Families’ Empowerment through Education (CA)
9to5 National Association for Working Women (WI/CA/CO)
Ohio Empowerment Coalition / Contact Center
POWER: Parents Organizing for Welfare and Economic Rights (WA)
WEEL: Working for Equality and Economic Liberation (MT)
Sponsors
The Honorable Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
The Honorable Jim McDermott (D-WA)
The Honorable Barbara Lee (D-CA)
The Honorable Pete Stark (D-CA)
The Honorable Judy Chu (D-CA)
The Honorable Gwen Moore (D-WI)
The Honorable Edolphus Town (D-NY)
American Association of University Women
Applied Research Center
Center for Community Change
Center for Law and Social Policy
Coalition on Human Needs
Insight Center for Community Economic Development
Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Legal Momentum
National Council for Negro Women
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