THE CARSEY INSTITUTE SEMINAR SERIES
FALL 2007
INTRODUCING THE CARSEY INSTITUTE’S RURAL FELLOWS
Thursday, Oct. 4
Livelihood Practices in the Shadow of Welfare Reform:
A Study of Poverty and Hardship in Rural Appalachia
Ann Tickamyer, Professor of Sociology, Ohio University
MUB 302
Even before the advent of welfare reform, studies of low-income women show that low-wage employed women are worse off than those who combine welfare with other income sources and that most use a wide variety of livelihood strategies. This is especially the case in poor rural settings where work is scarce and additional obstacles to employment such as lack of transportation and childcare are endemic. In this seminar, Tickamyer will discuss the results of her research about women in a distressed region of Appalachian Ohio who use human services programs. The research demonstrates the problems in making ends meet for both low-income workers and nonworkers. Overall, workers are better off than nonworkers, as they employ a wide variety of livelihood practices beyond work for wages. Nevertheless, they remain poor and vulnerable to numerous hardships.
Thursday, Nov. 1
Race and Changing Neighborhood Concentrations of America’s Rural Poor Population
Daniel Lichter, Director, Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center and Ferris Family Professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University
MUB 332
The 1990s brought large reductions in geographically concentrated poverty in the United States. The past decade ushered in large reductions in the neighborhood concentration of poverty within the nation’s largest cities. In rural areas, the number of high-poverty counties declined as well as the share of population – including the poor people – living in them. But declines in concentrated county-level poverty may mask increasingly concentrated poverty within rural counties. In this seminar, Lichter will discuss whether poverty has become a defining factor segregating rural communities, what social and economic factors are impacting these trends, and how these trends have been shaped by changing settlement patterns of rural minorities, especially by blacks.
Presentations are held in the UNH Memorial Union Building from 12:40 – 2 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Please bring your lunch. All are welcome to attend.