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How welfare has changed since 1996, in three charts

Jul 23, 2018
Check out the national data and then use our tool to run the numbers on your state.
President Bill Clinton discusses welfare reform, 1993.
J.DAVID AKE/AFP/Getty Images

Do work requirements for welfare recipients work?

The president seems to think so, but not all experts agree.
President Donald Trump pushes a shopping cart as he tours the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' food distribution center at LDS Welfare Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, De. 4, 2017, alongside LDS President Henry B. Eyring (L).
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

The legacy of welfare reform, 20 years later

Aug 22, 2016
We follow the money. How is it spent and to what impact?
Then-President Bill Clinton clinches his fist during a 1996 speech on welfare reform at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Two decades ago, Clinton signed welfare reform.
PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

Larry Townsend: The Reformer

Aug 22, 2016
How the director of a country welfare department changed the national model.
Larry Townsend, former director of the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services.
Gina Delvac/Marketplace

Welfare reform, through the eyes of two women

Aug 15, 2016
The "work first" approach made pursuing a college degree much harder.
Patricia Edwards, 49, attended Baltimore City Community College and Elana Gamble, 53, was a community college student in Maryland.
Amy Scott/Marketplace

20 years after welfare reform, one couple's story

Jul 11, 2016
A free training program prepares people in Baltimore for auto repair jobs.
Danielle Slater, 30, and her husband Alexander Slater, 31, are students in a new automotive technician training program in Baltimore.
Amy Scott/Marketplace

How welfare money funds college scholarships

According to the state of Michigan, it's a way to prevent out-of-wedlock pregnancy.
Students at a college in Michigan play soccer while cocooned in plastic bubbles.
Caitlin Esch/Marketplace

For public good, not for profit.

Why do welfare funds go to marriage counseling?

May 31, 2016
Our new podcast, "The Uncertain Hour" looks at the sometimes surprising places welfare cash ends up.
Instructors Cynthia Rayford and Scott Roby conduct a marriage counseling class in Oklahoma. 
Krissy Clark

Twenty years after welfare reform, we return to West Virginia

Josephine Moore faced the "end of welfare as we knew it." Now, she's treading water.
Josephine Moore (right) at home in Kermit, West Virginia, with her daughter, Carolina, and grandson, Latham. 
Krissy Clark/Marketplace

The taxpayer-funded pop album all about welfare

Apr 29, 2016
The motivational CD helped people in Riverside County find jobs — for a while.
Keith Rogers worked at the DPSS mail room when he was tapped to help make Larry Townsend's CD "Work Makes the Difference."
Krissy Clark/Marketplace