Additional Case Studies:
Ending Welfare
as We know It
as We Know It
Scene from the PBS film
Ending Welfare as We Know It
What happens to the people who had utterly depended on a welfare check, when it’s gone? That’s what Ending Welfare as We Know It, an hour-long PBS program, explores. Daily life is a roller coaster for the six families followed by the film.
As host Meredith Vieira explains, we may have ended welfare as we know it, but we have not ended poverty as we know it all too well, nor have we made provision for the training and support services the disenfranchised will need in order to survive without joining the underclass.
The film does not demand that we sympathize with the people we meet, and there is plenty of room in the film to criticize individual choices. But what stands out the most is the way in which poverty creates an unforgiving environment for bad choices. By the end of Ending Welfare as We Know It, we know that the issue goes far past moralizing, punishing or charity.
The film reached nearly 3 million viewers when it debuted on PBS with a launch that also involved a massive promotional campaign and vigorous off-broadcast use. Several stations also created follow-up programs to address the local impact of welfare reform, and eight community fora were held in cities across the country, featuring screenings of the film.