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34 Clearinghouse Rev. 34 (2000-2001)
Meeting Needs, Measuring Outcomes: The Self-Sufficiency Standard as a Tool for Policy-Making, Evaluation, and Client Counseling

handle is hein.journals/clear34 and id is 36 raw text is: Meeting Needs, Measuring Outcomes: The Self-Sufficiency Standard as a Tool for Policy- Making, Evaluation, and Client Counseling By Jennifer Brooks and Diana Pearce How much income do families need to cover their costs? How do we know if public policies help or hurt families' chances of meeting their basic needs? Which jobs pay high enough wages to cover work-related expenses such as child care, transportation and taxes along with other basic needs? These critical questions can be answered by using an innovative tool called the self-sufficiency standard. The standard measures how much income is needed for a family of a given composition, in a given place, to meet its basic needs adequately-without public or private assistance. This tool has many uses in the current climate that largely ignores the needs of the poor. The self-sufficiency stan- dard can be used as a benchmark to mea- sure welfare and work-force development policy outcomes. Using the standard, advo- cates can demonstrate the impact of pub- lic policy alternatives, challenge the work first philosophy of the 1996 welfare law, and fight for education and training for their clients. It can be used to target high- er-wage sectors of the economy. And it can be used to change the way frontline welfare and work-force development case- workers counsel clients regarding careers. In this article we discuss what the self-sufficiency standard is; why it was developed; how it differs from other mea- sures of income adequacy; how costs of living vary across the United States; and how the standard has been used. I. Self-Sufficiency Standard Defined The self-sufficiency standard calculates how much money working adults need to meet their basic needs without subsi- dies of any kind. Unlike the federal poverty standard, the self-sufficiency stan- dard accounts for the costs of living and working as they vary by family size and composition and by geographic location. The standard defines the amount of income necessary to meet basic needs (including paying taxes) in the regular marketplace without public subsidies (such as public housing, food stamps, Medicaid, or child care) or private or informal subsidies (such as free babysit- ting by a relative or friend, food provid- ed by churches or local food banks, or shared housing). The standard estimates the level of income necessary for a given family type-whether working now or making the transition to work-to be independent of welfare or other public and private subsidies or both. Making the standard as standardized and accurate as possible, yet reflecting geographic and age variations, requires meeting several different criteria. Given data limitations, to the extent possible, the figures used are CLEARINGHOUSE REVIEW MAY-JUNE 2000 Jennifer Brooks is director of public policy, Wider Opportunities for Women, 815 15th St. NW, Suite 916, Washington, DC 20005; 202.638.3143. Diana M. Pearce is assistant professor in the School of Social Work, University of Washington, 4101 15th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98105; 206.616.2850.

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