Public Safety Career Fair Success!

Over 700 visitors representing a wide range of ages and cultural diversity passed through the first-ever Public Safety Career Fair held on September 29th at the Anchorage Job Center - Muldoon. The event was presented by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The event drew recruiters from across the United States from as far away as Washington DC, Chicago, Kansas City to Juneau, AK.

National Welfare Rolls Fall Under Two Million

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced welfare caseloads dropped in the first quarter of 2004 to fewer than two million families for the first time since February 1970.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseloads dropped 1.3 percent for individuals and 0.8 percent for families between December 2003 and March 2004. As of March 2004, there were 4,798,986 individuals and 1,992,143 families receiving TANF cash benefits.

Study: Half of American Adults Will Use Food Stamps

To be worry-free about having enough food is not the norm in the United States, says a Cornell University sociologist.

"Rather, the need to use food stamps is a common American experience that at least half of all Americans between the ages of 20 and 65 will face," says Thomas A. Hirschl, professor of development sociology at Cornell who has completed a study of food stamp use.

Race and education, Hirschl says, have dramatic links to food stamp use: More than 85 percent of African Americans will use food stamps some time between the ages of 20 and 65, compared with 37 percent of white Americans; about 64 percent of adults with less than 12 years of education will use food stamps, compared with 38 percent of adults with 12 or more years of education.

My Turn: Healthy relationships help Alaska's children

Since I announced the creation of a healthy marriage initiative in Alaska, there has been considerable interest and discussion throughout the state. In an essay entitled, "Sharing our learning with the community," Jeanne Curran of California State University and professor Susan Takata of the University of Wisconsin maintain, "Responsible democracy, representational or otherwise, requires a citizenry able to hear validity claims in good faith and come to collective action." Alaska's Healthy Marriage Initiative is a "coming to action" of sorts as we work to promote and protect the health and well-being of Alaskans. It has been my experience that good social welfare policy is developed when we engage in public discourse, especially to the extent we endeavor to hear the valid claims of those with opposing views.