Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. Interpretive Research for Public Policy -- Part 1 Neighborhood: Family and Community as Supports -- 2. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Labyrinth of Working and Parenting in a Poor Community -- 3. Communal Isolation: Narrowing the Pathways to Goal Attainment and Work -- 4. Negotiating Adolescence in a Black Middle-Class Neighborhood -- Part 2 Employment: From Removing Barriers to Coping with Obstacles -- 5. Dreamkeeping in the Inner City: Diminishing the Divide Between Aspirations and Expectations -- 6. On the Outside Looking In: Low-Income Black Men's Conceptions of Work Opportunity and the Good Job -- 7. Black Male Employment and Self-Su.ciency -- Part 3 Parenting: From Enforcing Responsibility to Enabling Care -- 8. Mother, Worker, Welfare Recipient: Welfare Reform and the Multiple Roles of Low-Income Women -- 9. Work Preparation and Labor Market Experiences Among Urban, Poor, Nonresident Fathers -- Conclusion -- 10. Social Contexts in the Making of Public Policy -- Contributors -- Index.