The intersection of gender, race, and place in welfare participation: A comparative analysis of welfare-to-work programs in Ohio and North Carolina counties

Welfare participation has been a longstanding issue of public debate for over the past 50 years, however participation remains largely understudied in welfare literature. Various public policies, racial discrimination, the war on poverty, fictitious political depictions of the "welfare queen", and a call for more stringent eligibility requirements all led up to the passage of welfare reform in the 1990s creating the new Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) program. Under the new welfare program, work requirements and time limits narrowed the field of eligibility. The purpose of this research is to examine the factors that influence US welfare participation rates among the eligible poor in 2010. By analyzing demographic data in all 100 counties in North Carolina and 88 counties in Ohio, I examine a number of factors associated with Welfare-to-work participation rates among those financially eligible. I include additional specified examinations focusing on predominantly White counties (OH n=24; NC n=10) in chapter 4, versus the more racially diverse counties (OH n=64; NC n=90) in chapter 3. I find that in each state (Ohio and North Carolina) there are different factors associated with participation rates among the eligible poor. The spatial inequalities between counties within states, and between states, vary in association with welfare-to-work participation. These findings have implications at the federal, state, and county level in regards to welfare policies that would be beneficial to truly providing aid to those in need at the local level.