NC1011: Rural Low-Income Families: Tracking their Well-being and Function in an Era of Welfare Reform (NC223)
Statement of Issues and Justification
Rural communities and families have unique issues and needs compared to their urban counterparts. While poverty rates dropped in rural areas during the 1990s, they were consistently higher than those for urban areas (U.S. Census, 2001b), and persistent, long-term poverty is much more common for rural families than urban families (Deavers & Hoppe, 1992; Imig, Bokemeier, Keefe, Struthers, & Imig, 1997). Furthermore, although rural areas experienced employment gains during the economic boom of the late 1990s, unemployment rates remained higher than in metropolitan areas.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is recognizing the uniqueness of rural America as evidenced through the Rural Task Force Report to the Secretary, released in July 2002. This report noted that assumptions behind the 1996 Welfare Reform legislation did not take into consideration conditions in rural areas. Poor families in rural areas are not able to easily move off of federal assistance into the labor force. Low wages in rural areas mean that rural workers are less able to become economically self-sufficient through employment. Most rural poor families have workers who are employed at either low wages or at less-than-full-time, if not both. Those who leave welfare for work in rural areas are unlikely to find jobs that allow them to adequately support their families. Finally, states provision of supplemental services, such as childcare and transportation, is complicated by the geographic dispersion of people, jobs, and services in rural America, resulting in employment supports that are difficult to find, if available at all (HHS Rural Task Force, 2002; Dolan, Braun, Prochaska-Cue & Varcoe, forthcoming; Duncan, Whitener, & Weber, 2002). Health concerns are distinct, also. Nationally, death rates are higher in rural counties for children and young adults. Rural residents have a higher incidence of certain types of heart disease, have more activity limitations due to chronic health problems, and a higher suicide rate. The paucity of health care providers, especially dentists and mental health providers, and lower incidence of health insurance coverage, result in poorer health outcomes for rural residents (Eberhardt, Ingram, & Makuc, et al., 2001; HHS Rural Task Force, 2002).
In rural areas, family life is at the core of the rural community. The functioning of the family is important not only to the immediate family, but also to the well-being and viability of the rural community. Tracking changes in rural families across time is vital in the face of changing economic conditions and federal and state policies related to public assistance. The dearth of data on rural families post-welfare-reform well-being continues with regard to food security and use of support systems. This proposed project will add to the multidimensional understanding of rural low-income families over time.
NC223 team of researchers has built primary longitudinal data on the context and functioning of rural low-income families related to changes in policy. The team is poised to look at families in the changing economic environment in rural areas. The data from the 2000 Census are becoming available for rural counties at the very time that the team is ready to match them with the primary family data. The data on the adjustments families have made in response to their changing economic environments is very rich. Data from two waves of interviews from 14 of the original participating states encompassing 27 counties are ready to use for longitudinal analyses. The third wave of interview data should be available by the end of next year. The analyses of these data will advance the knowledge about rural low-income family functioning in the context of changing welfare policies and within the circumstances of their communities. Advantages of working as a multistate team
The multidisciplinary team has already forged a large multi-state effort in the NC223 project with five years of experience working together. The team, made possible by the multi-state alliance, consists of family scientists, family economists, nutritional scientists, psychologists, and sociologists. Furthermore, a number of extension specialists are project leaders or co-project leaders in many of the states. Extension specialists are key players in translating the findings of this research into content programs that will enhance the lives of rural families in underserved and underrepresented communities. The multi-state, multidisciplinary approach allows us to better understand the many facets and complexities faced by rural low-income families within the context of their communities. The majority of the team is poised to continue with some minor personnel changes and additions.
The ethnic diversity of rural families and the resource diversity of our states and regions have been captured in our primary data, a perspective that could not have been possible without the multi-state alliance. The multi-state project allows us to see the commonalities across states, as well as the individual characteristics and great variety among the rural communities. We have data to address both.
The planned research project will bring to fruition the significant investment by many states Agricultural Experiment Stations (AES). The large primary data set has been collected and analyses have just begun. Participating families have given their time and insight, and researchers have invested their time and resources collecting the data. The payoff for state and national policy makers, local practitioners and program planners is just beginning. The consequence of not having this project go forward is a lost opportunity to highlight AES-sponsored work to policy makers. Another, and even more significant, result of not continuing the work is the ongoing reliance by policy makers on an urban model of social welfare, employment and economic self-sufficiency for all families to the detriment of rural families and communities.
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