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The forgotten half : an exploration of factors behind the poor performance of low income men in Project Pioneer, a job training demonstration program in Maine

In recent decades, many anti-poverty and job training programs have been focussed on serving women on welfare. The few programs that have tried to serve low-income men have failed to produce consistently significant results. Project Pioneer was ajob training program in Maine that served both low income men and women, but were less successful in achieving positive outcomes for their male participants. This paper is a study of the possible factors behind this gender difference in success rates among Project Pioneer participants. The study points to three factors that seem to be the primary forces behind this gender difference: 1) The men came from a different population than the women, often with years of frustrating experience in the low wage labor market or with barriers that were difficult to address in the three month training program, 2) The training program was designed by people whose primary experience and knowledge was working with women and who had less of an understanding of the different needs of men, 3) Social expectations around the role of men as providers put additional pressure upon the men in the program while other social expectations about male behavior, such as aggression, were counterproductive to success. The results of Project Pioneer point to the need to develop a better understanding of the different issues of men and to develop new training approaches that take these needs into account. Thesis Supervisor: Aixa Cintron Title: Assistant Professor of Urban Studies and Planning