In 1996, welfare as we knew it was overhauled, with reforms imposing new limits on per-family expenditures and the lifetime eligibility of families to receive aid. Critics argued that the old system had created a culture of dependence, with families accepting it as a way of life. A major goal of the 1996 reforms was to move families off the welfare rolls and into the workforce—the key, President Bush claims, to lifting Americans out of poverty and toward independence.

But is filling peoples’ pockets with more dollars enough? Low income often co-occurs with a number of other difficult circumstances, such as low educational attainment, substance abuse, and mental health problems. In May 2004, the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy launched a three-year conference series addressing whether these problems can be linked to a common cause or if low income itself is the root.

The series focuses on reform efforts in education, health, and welfare. These reforms were premised, at some level, on making the American Dream accessible to all. In education, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act was motivated largely by concerns about the persisting achievement gap between poor and middle-class students. Health related reforms pressed for optimizing participation in our nation’s institutions among the mentally ill and families coping with addiction. And welfare reforms emphasized the benefits of work to families’ overall well-being, including income and mental health stability. All of these reforms carry the promise of this nation: that we can each achieve the success we desire based on our own merit.

Arguably, however, individual merit can face many obstacles to actualization. Consider the fictional case (based on a factual composite) of Cara, a single mother of three school-age children. Cara struggles to maintain employment, manage her proneness to depression, and sustain her recovery from alcohol dependency. Like all parents, she hopes for a better future for her children. Under the NCLB act, Cara has the option to remove her children from the failing school in which they are enrolled and transfer them to a better performing school in the same district. To get her children to her “school of choice” and get herself to work on time, Cara gets up at 4 a.m. every morning, and takes two buses across town and then a train to her job as a dental hygienist downtown. A similar arrangement at the end of the day places Cara and her family at home around 7:30 each evening.

Cara works hard to make sure her family is okay. But in the absence of support—flexible work hours, reliable transportation, and access to treatment for her depressive symptoms and her battle with alcoholism—can she really make it?

Cases like Cara’s represent a small segment of the population, but it is families like hers for whom current policy reforms likely have the greatest impact. Often referred to as “vulnerable” or “hard-to-serve,” these families’ circumstances can impede their utilization of existing programs and services. Can income supplements help low-income families improve other areas of their lives, such as mental health and substance abuse issues? Or should policies focus more on coordinating services in education, health, and welfare?

These are the questions that the Center’s conference series seeks to address. By bringing together the most knowledgeable experts in research and policy to share, debate, and integrate their perspectives, hopefully answers can be found that will ultimately clear the way for vulnerable families to achieve their American Dream.

Visit harrisschool.uchicago.edu/centers/chppp for more information on this conference series.