Stepping Stones is Washington Area Women’s Foundation’s multi-year initiative focused on increasing economic security and financial independence for low-income, women-headed families in the Washington metropolitan area.

The Women’s Foundation and the Urban Institute co-sponsored the fifth annual Stepping Stones Research Briefing on Friday, May 7, 2010, featuring two panels highlighting new ways to measure economic success and the role of public benefits and work supports in improving the lives of low-income, women-headed families.

Click here to listen to the full research briefing and download each of the panelists’ presentations.

And for more information on the panelists, presentations and their research, please see below.

Panels and Speakers

Panel 1: New Approaches to Measuring Success for Low-Income, Women-Headed Families

(Very) Low Income Alone is Not Enough: Building on the Federal Government’s New Supplemental Income Poverty Measure to Develop a Modern Framework for Measuring Basic Economic Security
- Shawn Fremstad, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Click here for the charts used in this presentation.

The Basic Economic Security Tables (BEST) for the Washington Region
- Shawn McMahon, Wider Opportunities for Women
Click here to download the presentation.

How Women Raising Young Children in Low-Income Environments Think About Their Own Success
- Travis Wright, George Washington University
Click here to see the slides used in this presentation.

Panel 2: Improving the Economic Security of Low-Income, Women-Headed Families with Public Benefits and Work Supports

Perspective on Strengthening Welfare-to-Work from DC TANF Recipients
- Katie Kerstetter, DC Fiscal Policy Institute
- Joni Podschun, Save Our Safety Net
Click here to see materials from this presentation.

Work Support Programs and Single-Headed Household Economics
- Stephen Holt, HoltSolutions
Click here to download the presentation.

The Effects of the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act on Women’s Access to Benefits
- Rebecca Dixon, National Employment Law Project
Click here to see this presentation.