Money for the marginalized: promoting access to income benefits in Manitoba
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Date
2019-07-31
Authors
Schachter, Kevin
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Abstract
Low-income Manitobans are eligible for a variety of federal and provincial income support benefits that may help them meet their basic needs. However, many face barriers to completing the bureaucratic processes required to access these benefits. In response, nonprofit and public sector agencies have developed free benefit intermediary programs that support low-income community members to claim their benefits. Despite the growth of this field, there is a dearth of scholarly literature on programs that promote access to income benefits. This thesis contributes to filling this gap through a mixed-methods study of benefit intermediary programs operating in Winnipeg, MB. Using a realist evaluation methodology, this study examines contextual conditions that inhibit benefit take-up and the field of social programs that promote access to benefits. The evaluation considers the social-structural context, program goals and activities, and key program mechanisms that may account for the outcomes that ensue. Findings from semi-structured key informant interviews and a literature review demonstrate that benefit intermediary programs have dual objectives that correspond to two of Nancy Fraser’s strategies for achieving social justice. At the individual level, they employ a strategy of affirmative redistribution to assist low-income community members to claim benefits that increase their quality of life. At a structural level, they pursue nonreformist reforms to reduce systemic barriers that inhibit benefit take-up and build cross-sectoral capacity to promote access. However, these programs face constraints that limit the scope of their direct service delivery and the extent to which they can effect structural change. Nevertheless, benefit intermediaries play a vital role in promoting access to income benefits in Manitoba. This research may be useful for practitioners, policymakers, and social scientists who are interested in the problem of benefit non-take-up, or who are engaged in efforts to increase the take-up of money for the marginalized.
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Keywords
Income benefits, Social welfare, Poverty relief, Welfare state, Social justice, Nonprofit sector, Realist evaluation, Social service, Redistribution, Social policy