The need for further study is required to appropriately reform community-based systems.
Other issues at the community level are heavy concentrations of welfare recipients in urban areas and low income group discrimination. Research shows that "big cities have particularly heavy concentrations of long-term cases, those with beneficiaries who are the most at risk of reaching time limits if they do not find work" (3). The inability to find work is further explored later in this paper when discussing the impact of family circumstances on welfare. Elan Melmid and Gabriel Brodbar of the Child Welfare League of America writes, "Low income groups are the targets of discrimination based on their socioeconomic status as well as social indicators such as race, ethnicity, and gender" (4). The geographic concentration of low income families has more than double since 1970, reaching the highest levels in northern industrial cities (Berry 168). Obviously, it is hard to find a job when there is a high rate of unemployment plus discrimination due to poor socioeconomic status (Coulton 3).
Worker skill level is another issue not addressed in the current or proposed reforms on welfare. In the article "Researching the "Race to the Bottom" in State Welfare Reform" by William Berry, it is clear that "welfare policy has been made without regard to multiple levels of ecological influence on employment of low-skill workers" (1). There are many people who lose there jobs through obsolete or exported jobs and are in need of re-education to qualify for other work. These people, who were previously productive members of society, have suddenly become an extremely needy segment of society. Additionally, "Perceptions of the poor and of welfare [ ] tend to reflect attitudes and stereotypes that attribute poverty to personal failings rather than socioeconomic structures and systems" (4). This would certainly contribute to discrimination at the community level and these special circumstances must be used to determine eligibility for welfare.