ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the major government policies and programs designed to reduce poverty, as well as some of the approaches and investments that may prevent the perpetuation of poverty. It focuses primarily on those policies and programs that provide cash to clients. The chapter analyzes policies and programs that directly help ameliorate the effects of poverty, such as food stamps and housing subsidies. It covers employment policy in the context of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). The chapter also covers other policies and programs that address the needs of people in poverty—notably Medicaid, which provides access to health care for many children and poor adults in the US It analyzes official definitions of poverty, contrast universal with selective programs, and examines in greater detail some major asset-based policies that social workers advocate. The chapter concentrates on income because this is the criterion many anti-poverty, health, and social service policies and programs in the US use to determine eligibility.
