Kornbluh, Mink – Welfare as We Know It

Writings on Welfare and Poverty

Felicia Kornbluh, PhD, is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Vermont. She is author of the book The Battle for Welfare Rights.

Gwendolyn Mink, PhD, has taught U.S. equality law, poverty policy, gender issues, and American politics for twenty nine years. She is currently an independent scholar based in Washington DC. She has written several articles and books, including, Welfare’s End, and The Wages of Motherhood.

Kornbluh and Mink co-wrote a piece titled, “Time to End ‘Welfare as We Know It’.” The piece offers a reflection on a 1996 act, stating the following:

“Today, August 22, 2016, is the twentieth anniversary of the day President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which replaced the income safety net for poor single mothers and their children with temporary, disciplinary, punitive relief. While this so-called reform of welfare did reduce the welfare rolls, it did not stanch the poverty of single mothers or improve the well-being of their children. The failure of 1990s welfare reform to enhance economic security and opportunity is reason to dedicate this anniversary to rethinking and revising our national approach to poverty.”

“It is time to end this version of ‘welfare as we know it’ by creating a system of income support that makes the dignity and equality of low income mothers a preeminent policy value, while respecting and supporting the role of care-giving in family well-being.

The two scholars are also co-authoring a study titled, Ensuring Poverty: The History and Politics of Welfare Reform. The research will look at the origins and effects of the welfare reform law passed in the United States in 1996. As of 7/25/2017, the study has not yet been released.

Talking with Kornbluh and Mink

Both authors can be reached through the following email addresses:
Felicia Kornbluh fkornbluh@gmail.com
Gwendolyn Mink wendymink@gmail.com

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini | (202) 347-0020
David Zupan | (541) 484-9167