ABSTRACT
America Works offers employment services to state and local welfare agencies with the aim of placing welfare recipients in jobs quickly, with a minimal amount of time spent on training. America Works staked its survival on the proposition that welfare clients, properly motivated and helped with a limited amount of technical assistance alongside tons of support, could be successful at finding and holding jobs. One of the first political leaders who supported America Works was New York Governor and Democrat Mario Cuomo. Whenever he was asked to speak to a group of welfare recipients, he would throw away his speech and speak from the heart about how his parents emigrated from Italy and found themselves on welfare. Rudy Giuliani was initially skeptical that it was possible to move long-term welfare clients so quickly into employment and that there were so many companies willing—even eager—to hire them.
