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"A collaborative political resource." |
Israel grapples with own model of Wisconsin Works
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| Contributor | Penguin |
| Last Edited | Penguin Feb 26, 2006 09:42pm |
| Category | General |
| News Date | Feb 26, 2006 09:00pm |
| Description | Welfare protesters took to the streets, angry over the program they said was indifferent to the needy.
"Wisconsin does not create work, it creates poor!" read one banner. Police eventually were called in and arrested a few of the dozens of protesters.
The focus of the dispute was the "Wisconsin Plan," a controversial program to substitute work for welfare that aims to drastically reduce the welfare caseload.
But the venue was Israel 2006, not Wisconsin in 1996.
And despite its similarities to Wisconsin Works, or W-2, the Israeli program is an experimental reform plan formally called Mehalev, a Hebrew term meaning "from the heart," as well as an acronym for "from dependency to self-sufficiency."
The controversial program is commonly referred to as the Wisconsin Plan, however, and the offices in four Israeli cities where participants must go for assessment and training often are called Wisconsin centers. If a bit incongruous, Israel's Badger State preoccupation is not accidental.
Israeli government officials avoid saying "Wisconsin Plan," but social reform groups have reinforced the term to highlight negative connotations that attach to Wisconsin's path-breaking welfare reform, said Ran Melamed, a consultant to Yedid, an Israeli anti-poverty advocacy group. |
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