News from
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Office of Communications
Stanhope Hall
Princeton, New Jersey 08544-5264Contact: Patricia Coen (609) 258-5764
Date: November 4, 1998
NYC Human Resources Commissioner to Address Welfare Reform
Princeton, N.J. -- Jason Turner, commissioner of the Human Resources Administration (HRA) for the City of New York, will give a lecture entitled "The Future of Welfare Reform" at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs on Thursday, November 12, at 4:30 p.m., in Robertson Hall, Bowl 1.
Turner was appointed HRA commissioner in January of this year by New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani. In announcing the appointment, Guiliani praised Turner's successful previous work in Wisconsin as the executive director of Milwaukee's Center for Self-Sufficiency and as the director of the state's Welfare Replacement Project. Turner, Guiliani said, "gained a national reputation for his work in overhauling the welfare system in Wisconsin and putting an emphasis on moving people from welfare dependency to self-sufficiency."
At the Center for Self-Sufficiency, Turner had worked to provide planning and operational assistance to states and counties contemplating ambitious welfare reforms. His tough "Wisconsin Works" program was in line with Guiliani's commitment to "establish universal work requirements" in New York City, highlighting work a central feature of successful welfare reform.
Before joining the Wisconsin state government, Turner had a distinguished career in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush. From 1981 to 1985, Turner was the special assistant for Community Planning Development in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. As the director of the Office of Family Assistance of the Department of Health and Human Services in the Bush administration, Turner developed policy for the JOBS program.
Turner's lecture is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.