Ideal Theory after Auschwitz? The Practical Uses and Ideological Abuses of Political Theory as Reconciliation

Contemporary debates about ideal and nonideal theory rest on an underlying consensus that the primary practical task of political theory is directing action. This overlooks other urgent practical work that theory can do, including showing how injustice can be made bearable and how resisting it can be meaningful. I illustrate this important possibility by revisiting the purpose for which John Rawls originally developed the concept of ideal theory: reconciling a democratic public to living in a flawed world that may otherwise seem more of a home for catastrophe than justice. However, Rawls’s account of reconciliation is flawed; because of his methodology, the realistic utopia he constructs as a source of hope can be used to defend an unjust status quo. By drawing lessons from Theodor Adorno’s contrasting view of reconciliation after the Holocaust, I offer a more democratic method for political theory to offer sources of hope to the public

Self-Sufficiency and Safety: The Case for Onsite Domestic Violence Services at Employment Services Agencies

This report presents the findings of a two-year demonstration project that provided domestic violence services to participants in programs at employment services agencies, highlighting the challenges, service needs, and outcomes of low-income domestic violence survivors as they struggle to keep themselves and their children safe, become and remain employed, and attain self-sufficiency

Addressing Domestic Violence as a Barrier to Work: Building Collaborations between Domestic Violence Service Providers and Employment Services Agencies

The Kraft Domestic Violence Services Project began in October 2000 and continued through the end of 2002 at sites in Houston, Chicago, and Seattle. This national demonstration project investigated how domestic violence acts as a barrier to women's training and employment and the interventions that are effective for assisting women remain safe and employed. The Center for Impact Research (CIR) undertook the project's research component and provided technical assistance to the participating employment services agencies and domestic violence service providers. From its inception, this project was designed not only to provide direct services and build the capacity of participating agencies, but also to include a research component for documenting and sharing program and participant outcomes. Thus, the purposes of the project were twofold: * To develop a collaborative model of providing domestic violence services within a job-training environment to expand access to domestic violence services for low-income victims. * To develop a model for strengthening programs that assist low-income women attain economic self sufficiency by addressing needs of domestic violence survivors. This report summarizes the project learnings and best practice recommendations for integrating domestic violence services into employment services agencies. It discusses establishing and maintaining interagency collaborations, training of case managers, conducting screening and referrals, and ongoing delivery of domestic violence services within the employment services setting

Access to Income Supports for Working Families in Chicago

A large number of eligible working families in Chicago do not participate in income support programs such as Food Stamps, the Child Care Subsidy, Medicaid, and KidCare. Participation rates in Medicaid and Food Stamps have declined since TANF reauthorization in 1996 as many former TANF recipients no longer receive the benefits they had before and to which they are still entitled. Low take-up rates for income supports mean that many low-income working families in Chicago are unable to provide the basic necessities for their families. These low rates also mean that local communities and businesses are not benefiting from the expenditures made possible by participation in income support programs. The Income Support Access Project was developed in conjunction with an initiative undertaken in 2001 by the Center for Law and Human Services (CLHS) to distribute information about income support programs to low-income participants at its Tax Counseling Project sites. Building on this initiative, the Center for Impact Research (CIR) undertook research in order to identify barriers to accessing income supports and ways to improve outreach and application support. The research involved surveying over 600 low income adults at tax service sites and job training agencies about their knowledge and experience of benefits programs. CIR also interviewed caseworkers at job training agencies as well as outreach workers and project directors. The findings and recommendations have been developed in consultation with the project working group whose members represent a range of Chicago-area community agencies and advocacy organizations

The final candidate from the JVAS/CLASS search for 6 arcsec to 15 arcsec image separation lensing

A search for 6 arcsec to 15 arcsec image separation lensing in the Jodrell Bank-Very Large Array Astrometric Survey (JVAS) and the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey (CLASS) by Phillips et al. found thirteen group and cluster gravitational lens candidates. Through radio and optical imaging and spectroscopy, Phillips et al. ruled out the lensing hypothesis for twelve of the candidates. In this paper, new optical imaging and spectroscopy of J0122+427, the final lens candidate from the JVAS/CLASS 6 arcsec to 15 arcsec image separation lens search, are presented. This system is found not to be a gravitational lens, but is just two radio-loud active galactic nuclei that are separated by ~10 arcsec on the sky and are at different redshifts. Therefore, it is concluded that there are no gravitational lenses in the JVAS and CLASS surveys with image separations between 6 arcsec to 15 arcsec. This result is consistent with the expectation that group- and cluster-scale dark matter haloes are inefficient lenses due to their relatively flat inner density profiles.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

Policy and Practice: Customer Service in Illinois Department of Human Services Local Offices

In a single month, as many as 6,400 to 12,500 people visit each of the busiest of the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) local offices. Since welfare reform in 1996, TANF caseloads in Illinois have declined precipitously. In the midst of the current economic recession with its attendant high levels of unemployment, Illinois ranks first in the United States with a reduction in its TANF caseload of 39.5% for period March 2001 to March 2003. 1 However, reductions in TANF caseload do not mean that the number of eligible families in need of assistance is declining.2 Nor do they mean that the workload of local offices has been decreasing at the same rate as TANF caseloads. On the contrary, welfare reform policies have made the management of the remaining TANF caseload a time consuming and labor intensive process. As of August 2003 for the five local offices in this study, caseworker staffing was 23.7% less than the allocated level and supervisor staffing was 28.6% less than allocated. These staff reductions resulting in caseloads in Cook County offices as high as 700 to 1,200 per caseworker negatively impact the kind of service that families encounter when they try to apply for and retain benefits. Commenting on the critical shortage of staff, one Cook County Local Office Administrator said, "I've been around a long time and it's very bad now. There are long lines and long waits. The volume is very detrimental to providing efficient services." Over the past two years, members of community-based organizations and advocacy groups have expressed concern about the increasing number of reports of problems facing people who go to Chicago area IDHS offices for public benefits such as Food Stamps, Medicaid, and TANF. For example, the volume of calls to the Public Benefits Hotline has increased from 7,054 calls for the period August 2001 through July 2002 to 8,418 calls for the period of August 2002 through July 2003. During 2003, call volume has continued to expand, with 43% more calls in August 2003 than in January 2003. In response to the need for current data about customer service in IDHS offices, CIR collaborated with community human services agencies and advocacy organizations in conducting a one-day survey to document the experiences of customers in five of the busiest local IDHS offices in Cook County. IDHS assisted with logistics, instructing local offices to allow CIR to conduct the survey in the waiting areas. Working group members conferred on research design and survey development, attended training in survey administration, and participated in administering the survey. Working group members also participated in discussions to interpret research findings and develop policy recommendations. Although the scope of the survey is limited -- information about 199 customers in 5 offices on one day in July 2003 -- the findings offer important indicators of strengths and weaknesses in service delivery. These findings are being used to inform stakeholders such as elected officials, state agencies, community leaders and organizations, and the media about the quality of service delivery

Current Strategies for Reducing Recidivism

This study reports on programs for inmates and released inmates that are contributing to reductions in recidivism. Programs showing the greatest success address the issues of substance abuse, low educational attainment, and the need for vocational training, job readiness, and placement services