In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Because of the culturally and historically distinct nature of American Indian reservation communities, the homogenizing pressures of welfare reform have been tempered by realistic social and economic alternatives to the nineto -five capitalism envisioned by prwora’s policymakers. While working is good, sitting around in an artificial community-service setting is not. While many households are ready and eager to make a greater transition toward the mainstream view of economic activity, the labor markets, physical infrastructure, and educational and training opportunities are completely inadequate to support this transition. Furthermore, differences among local administrative offices and tribal governments indicate that the opportunities for tanf participants are influenced by the degree of rigidity and monitoring or flexibility and cooperation built into program implementation, and that individual personality, administrative philosophy, local history, and physical logistics all have an impact on the relative success of welfare reform. At the same time, the development resources required to build up these local economies to the point of genuine and complete market integration are not only seriously inadequate but also declining rather than increasing. As a result, women in these communities, already in need of greater support, are facing increasing burdens on their time and resources. Administrative pressure to spend less time with their children and their extended family networks ends up isolating these women from the cultural core of how the uncertainty of the collective futures might be reduced. This chapter represents the results of a series of interviews conducted on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations between February and May 1999, and between April 2002 and October 2003. Directors and personnel within tribal, county, state, and federal government agencies, private businesses, and nonprofit organizations were interviewed about their involvement with, FIVE Welform Reform on the Reservation, South Dakota On the reservation, there is no such [job] market. I mean, we’re still dealing— this is Third World, let’s just put it that way. —Rosebud tecro director observations of, and responses to tanf. In addition, a total of 65 current and former recipients of tanf were interviewed about their experiences with and reactions to the requirements of tanf, 13 in 1999 and 22 in 2002 on Pine Ridge, 10 in 1999 and 20 in 2002 on Rosebud (for general characteristics of participants, see Appendix A, Tables 1–4). Working for tanf For many tanf participants, finding a real job through some form of training or community service for tanf is consistent with their own expressed goals for the future. When asked about their aspirations, participants mentioned wanting “to be self-sufficient with a paid job,” “to get more education and get a good paying job,” and “to hopefully find a job and better myself.” Despite the dominant stereotype of lazy welfare recipients shirking gainful employment, most tanf participants agreed with the concept of working to receive money, and seriously wanted jobs. As one Pine Ridge woman put it, “I think it’s okay, because at first, when I wasn’t working, I get up early no matter what, but there’s nothing to do. Sit around all day, clean your house, whatever. But you’re required to work twenty hours a week, and you get to go do something for four hours. So I don’t know. John [my employment specialist] makes it sound like I don’t want to do it, but it’s okay.” The same sentiments were expressed by Rosebud participants. “I think it’s good. I really do. I think it’s good because it gives them experience, you know, and it also makes you feel better about yourself instead of just staying at home and get one check and then you run out of money, and then for the rest of the month you sit around and wait for the next check to come around. You know, it’s just better that they work. I guess with me, it’s got a lot to do with self-esteem. It just makes me feel better to be able to work.” Others were encouraged by the promise of a tanf placement giving them skills and experience to move toward real employment in the future. As one Pine Ridge participant explained, “I think it’s a good idea, because it helps them to learn about jobs and have a job and maybe one of these days if some of them gets a steady job, they’ll continue.” A Rosebud participant agreed. “I think it’s good. They’re teaching us how to work...

Share