Welfare and Low Income Issues

Minnesota Information

• House Research: Health & Human Services - Information on Minnesota's family assistance programs and Minnesota Family Assistance: A Guide to Public Programs Providing Assistance to Minnesota Families from the Minnesota House of Representatives Research Department.
• Hunger Solutions Minnesota - A state-wide partnership of organizations dedicated to eliminating the root causes of hunger. Their site includes news and information about hunger and its effects in Minnesota.
• Institute of Metropolitan Opportunity - This University of Minnesota based institute investigates the ways that policies and practices disproportionately affect people of color and the disadvantaged.
• JOBS NOW Coalition - Contains information on issues including labor markets, minimum wage, cost of living, and workforce development.
• Legal Services Advocacy Project (LSAP) - LSAP engages in legislative and administrative advocacy, conducts research and policy analysis, and provides community education and training.
• Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020 - A commission established by the legislature in 2006 to issue guidelines and recommendations to end poverty by 2020, including this legislative report.
• MDRC - This social policy research organization offers research evaluations of policies and programs targeted to low-income people.
• Minnesota Department of Human Services - Includes information about the Department, its major programs, and publications (program manuals, reports, and fact sheets). There is information about the Minnesota Family Investment Program and access to the Rules Conversion Table.
• MinnesotaHelp.info - A directory of Minnesota community services.
• United Way 2-1-1 - An information and referral service, 2-1-1 is an easy to remember telephone number that connects callers to information about critical health and human services available in their community.
• Welfare-to-Work: What Have We Learned? - A report from the Joyce Foundation which presents research on the welfare to work transition in seven Midwestern states, including Minnesota.

Federal Information

• Administration for Children and Families - Background on TANF, and links to a number of ACYF programs and services.
• Census Bureau - Extensive data on all aspects of poverty and income, including Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2011 and poverty thresholds.
• Green Book - Provides background and statistics on major entitlement programs. This is a House Ways and Means Committee Print.
• Indicators of Welfare Dependency, Annual Report to Congress - Annual compilation from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human services, which tracks and predicts dependence on welfare programs.
• Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 - The full text of the 1996 Act.
• Poverty Guidelines - The official federal poverty guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service used in determining eligibility for various federal and state programs. Prior guidelines include Federal Register citations.

Public Policy Organizations

• Amherst H. Wilder Foundation - A nonprofit health and human services organization serving the greater St. Paul, Minnesota area providing research on welfare reform, poverty, homelessness, and violence. Their report The Issues Behind the Outcomes for Somali, Hmong, American Indian, and African American Welfare Participants in Minnesota is available here.
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities - A nonpartisan research organization focusing on policies affecting low- and moderate-income people. Includes information on welfare in the states.
• Children's Defense Fund - Features state-by-state data on children's health and welfare issues.
• CLASP: The Center for Law and Social Policy - A national public interest law firm with expertise in law and policy affecting the poor. This site includes materials on Minnesota.
• Institute for Research on Poverty - Located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• National Center for Children in Poverty - This site contains information on children and welfare reform, child poverty facts, state and local information.
• Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law - A legal advocacy and public policy organization which seeks to identify, develop, and support approaches to achieve social and economic justice for low-income people.
• National Conference of State Legislatures: Welfare and Poverty - Key federal issues, state plans, and other topical information. Login required.
• Public Agenda Online: Poverty and Welfare - This source for public opinion and policy analysis offers background, poll data, a digest of recent news stories, and much more on the topic of welfare.
• The Urban Institute - This site includes many reports on various aspects of poverty.
• Social Policy - One of the issues followed by Stateline.org, a project of the Pew Center on the States and an excellent source of current information.

The sites listed on this page are not created, maintained, or endorsed by the Minnesota Legislature.