Self-sufficiency means families are able to meet their basic
needs without having to rely on any public or private
assistance. That is the definition that underlies the self-
sufficiency standard, which we have long recommended as the best
way for the state government or anyone else to measure the
economic well-being of families. Press Release - Millions of
families work hard but struggle to make ends meet: New report
finds that one in four working families are low-income. Oct. 12,
2004 Working Hard, Falling Short: America's Working Families and
the Pursuit of Economic Security concludes that greater national
and state-level attention is needed to address the problems
confronting low-income working families, including access to
need-based college scholarships, job training and subsidized
child care. Commentary - Report dispels myths about poverty, by
Spiros Protopsaltis, The Boulder Daily Camera, Oct. 24, 2004 We
all know that unemployment can lead to poverty, but hard work is
supposed to protect families from