Gender-Specific Barriers to Self-Sufficiency Among Former Supplemental Security Income Drug Addiction and Alcoholism Beneficiaries: Implications for Welfare-To-Work Programs and Services

This study examined the criminogenic effects of terminating the Supplemental Security Income program for drug addiction and alcoholism. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze self-reported crime, economic, and drug-use data collected as part of a two-year multisite study with five interview waves from 1,640 former DA&As. The primary independent variables examined included subjects’ replacement of lost SSI benefits legally or through re qualification under another disability category and their weekly use of heroin and/or cocaine. The study found that failure to replace lost cash benefits resulted in a moderate increase in crime, particularly drug and property crime, that peaked two years after loss of benefits. Heroin and cocaine use were also related to criminality, though the magnitude of this effect was greatest at six months after loss of benefits. The study also found a relationship between drug use and loss of benefits, suggesting that the federal legislation has created a crime-prone residual population of drug users with limited treatment access.

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An Assessment of the Representativeness of the SSI DA&A Study Panels

Contemporary Drug Problems ◽

10.1177/00914509030301-205 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 30 (1-2) ◽

pp. 123-136 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

David Wittenburg ◽

David Stapleton ◽

Adam Tucker ◽

Rick Harwood

Keyword(s):

Drug Addiction ◽

Supplemental Security Income ◽

Study Data ◽

Administrative Records ◽

National Population ◽

Target Populations ◽

Drugs And Alcohol ◽

Catchment Areas ◽

Study Sites ◽

Age Range

In this study, we used data derived from SSA administrative records to compare the composition of study panels, study samples, and the national population of former recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for drug addiction and alcoholism (DA&A). We found that the panels represented the selected samples in the nine-study sites in terms of demographics, SSI program status, and medical eligibility. However, the selected samples varied in how well they represented their target populations. Additionally, compared with the national DA&A population, SSI Study respondents were more likely to be black, to abuse both drugs and alcohol, to be more concentrated in the 30-49 age range, and to have been medically eligible for SSI in January and June 1997. Thus while the SSI Study data can be used to draw inferences about former DA&A SSI-only recipients in the study catchment areas, results should not be assumed to apply to the national population of such recipients.

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Drug Treatment Participation and Retention Rates among Former Recipients of Supplemental Security Income for Drug Addiction and Alcoholism

Contemporary Drug Problems ◽

10.1177/00914509030301-213 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 30 (1-2) ◽

pp. 335-364 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

James A. Swartz ◽

Kevin Campbell ◽

Jim Baumohl ◽

Peggy Tonkin

Keyword(s):

Drug Treatment ◽

Drug Addiction ◽

Total Sample ◽

Supplemental Security Income ◽

Treatment Retention ◽

Retention Rates ◽

Federal Legislation ◽

Survival Analyses ◽

Formal Treatment ◽

Treatment Participation

This study examined drug treatment participation and retention rates for a multisite sample of 1,586 former recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for drug addiction and alcoholism (DA&A). Fewer than half of the sample were complying with the DA&A program treatment mandate at the time the program was terminated by federal legislation in January 1997. For all forms of treatment, both participation and retention rates declined steadily thereafter until fewer than 10% of the total sample reported being in a formal treatment two years after termination of the mandate. Survival analyses comparing treatment retention rates for DA&A beneficiaries with non-DA&A SSI beneficiaries revealed that most of the decline in treatment retention could be attributed to ending the mandate. The findings suggest that although the mandate was often not well enforced, it did bring into drug treatment many individuals who would not otherwise have participated.

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Assessment of JOBLINKS Demonstration Projects: Connecting People to the Workplace and Implications for Welfare Reform

Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board ◽

10.3141/1618-01 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 1618 (1) ◽

pp. 3-13

Author(s):

Leslie Goldenberg ◽

Jane Zhang ◽

Charles Dickson

Keyword(s):

Educational Institutions ◽

Full Time ◽

Welfare To Work ◽

Key Factors ◽

Transportation Services ◽

Human Services Agencies ◽

Self Sufficiency ◽

Job Preparation ◽

Time Basis ◽

Welfare Agencies

JOBLINKS demonstration projects tested the means of providing transportation services to disadvantaged individuals, particularly welfare recipients trying to make the transition to employment and self-sufficiency. In 1995–1996, 10 demonstration projects were funded in 6 states. After each project an independent assessment yielded the following findings: ( a) Transportation made a difference in enabling disadvantaged people to obtain work. In several demonstration projects, the transportation services provided through JOBLINKS enabled individuals to get a job or to increase work to a full-time basis. ( b) Transportation solutions were most effective in the presence of three key factors: availability of jobs in the local labor market at shift times that could be served by available drivers and vehicles, access to job-ready workers with transportation barriers who would be suited for these jobs, and coordination among transportation providers, human services agencies, and employers. In the absence of these factors, transportation linkages played an important role in getting disadvantaged populations to job preparation services. Many of the JOBLINKS projects concentrated on and were very successful at carrying those who were not job ready to educational institutions, job-training providers, and job club sites. ( c) Transportation is a necessary component in the package of services needed to implement welfare-to-work programs. Welfare-to-work policy emphasizes getting people into work environments. There are serious implications of this policy for both welfare agencies and transportation providers. Future efforts to meet the transportation needs of people who are struggling to become independent of welfare should focus on innovative ways to get them to workplaces.

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