UMass Boston: Center for Social Policy: Bridging The Gaps

Noteworthy:

11/28/2008
Boston Globe Op-Ed
The macho stimulus plan

Fits & Starts Presentation
Final Review
Q+A Final
Fact Sheet Final
Fits & Starts Coverage:
METRO BOSTON
UPI.COM
MARKET WATCH online
NEIGHBORHOOD NETWORK NEWS
GLOUCESTER TIMES
STATE HOUSE
LOWELL SUN

Center for Social Policy,
McCormack Graduate School, University of Massachusetts Boston

100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393

Phone: (617) 287 5550
Fax: (617) 287 5544

Bridging The Gaps

About the Project

Policymakers talk a great deal about "making work pay", but we know that most low-wage workers go without employment-based health insurance and retirement plans, and often have no paid time off. The Bridging The Gaps project examines the extent to which public work supports fill in the gaps for workers and their families.

The Bridging the Gaps project is led by the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston, in collaboration with organizations in nine states and the District of Columbia. Our partners are based in Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Washington and the District of Columbia. These partners contributed to both the research and outreach phases of this project.

Our findings present a detailed, comparative picture of how well work supports work for families across the country. This picture is essential to understanding the potential and limitations of our current patchwork of work supports. Our economy has changed dramatically over the past thirty years. We know many families—even those with one or two workers—now go without basics, like health insurance and safe, enriching child care, but we have not established nationwide policies to change this. We already have an example of what works – the Earned Income Tax Credit. Fully-funded programs with simple applications that have been designed to support working families make a big difference for those who are employed, but not getting ahead. In the interest of hard working families and a competitive workforce, it is time for policymakers to build on what we know works to bridge the gaps between earnings and needs.

As our economy faces some its hardest times ever, let’s turn up the volume and amplify the call to restructure government programs and employment benefits to help today’s working families bridge the gaps.

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