New York’s “Work-Not-Welfare” Program

Governor Cuomo caught the attention of the social welfare world last year with the announcement of a jobs program he called “Work-not-Welfare.” (Welfare here refers to Aid to Families With Dependent Children, AFDC, 94 percent of whose recipients in New York are single mothers and their children.) Cuomo’s phrase was taken up quickly by state legislators and welfare professionals uncomfortable with “workfare,” the term coined by
William Safire for Richard Nixon and scorned for that reason by Democrats even when they’ve embraced a version of the idea through WIN (Work Incentive Program), the federally mandated program to help recipients become “self-supporting.”

News of “Wor...