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Learning Cluster Members
In 1998, 10 microenterprise organizations were selected by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to receive grants as part of a multi-year demonstration project designed to determine whether and how self-employment could be a viable option for welfare recipients under the then-new TANF program. A learning cluster was created that included those grantees, plus the Detroit Entrepreneurship Institute, a longtime Mott grantee with a history of serving welfare recipients.
In 1999, one of the original grantees in the Mott demonstration, Project INVEST of the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments, left the learning cluster because the program was focusing on disadvantaged individuals and dislocated workers, rather than TANF recipients.
The 10 final participants in the learning cluster were:
Detroit Entrepreneurship Institute, Inc. (DEI)
Detroit, Mich.
DEI offered a comprehensive program of assistance – including training, case management, one-on-one counseling and access to a library and graphic design services – to welfare recipients.
Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED)
Iowa City, Iowa
For the demonstration, ISED augmented its long-term program for welfare recipients across Iowa with strong outreach to caseworkers, revised training, access to employment services to those seeking to "income patch," and efforts to further improve the state's policy environment.
Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Services
Dorchester, Mass.
This project, a collaboration with the Women's Institute for Housing and Economic Development and the Transition to Work Collaborative, sought to enhance the viability and sustainability of family day care services provided by TANF recipients, and to offer new, high-quality day care to welfare recipients pursuing employment.
MiCasaResourceCenter for Women
Denver, Colo.
MiCasa sought to expand its successful program called Project SUCCESS, which provided entrepreneurial training, life-skills curriculum, individualized assessment, case management, access to capital and other assistance to women receiving public assistance.
Southern Oregon Women's Access to Credit, Inc. (SOWAC)
Medford, Ore.
This project provided business training, counseling, networking and financial services to single-parent females who were either receiving welfare or leaving the system.
West Company
Ukiah, Calif.
West Company collaborated with the Mendocino County Department of Social Services/Job Alliance, offering participants both employment training and microenterprise development services, with the goal of increasing income-generating options for women transitioning off welfare.
Women's Initiative for Self Employment (Women's Initiative)
San Francisco, Calif.
This project provided a comprehensive program of microenterprise services to welfare recipients, with a strong focus on assessment and case management as critical factors for women seeking to pursue self-employment within a time-limited welfare system.
Women's Self-Employment Project (WSEP)
Chicago, Ill.
This project sought to develop a microenterprise assistance model for public assistance recipients that combined entrepreneurial training, mentoring and on-the-job training to maximize the potential for self-sufficiency.
WomenVenture
St. Paul, Minn.
In its BRIDGE project, WomenVenture offered a combination of short-term microenterprise training, other microenterprise services, job readiness training and job placement to assist welfare recipients to pursue an "income patching" strategy.
WorkerOwnershipResourceCenter (WORC)
Geneva, NY
This project developed a self-employment program for welfare recipients in a five-county area in central New York. As part of this effort, WORC sought to expand the state's innovative Child Assistance Program to four counties, in order to enable more favorable treatment of welfare recipients pursuing self-employment.
