Loyola University's Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL), and Policy Research Action Group (PRAG), joined in collaboration with two community-based organizations, Howard Area Community Center (HACC) and Organization of the NorthEast (ONE), to study the potential adverse impact of welfare policy changes on different types of public benefit recipients in the Chicago neighborhoods of Uptown, Edgewater and Rogers Park. This collaboration was motivated by the partners' grave concerns over how low-income individuals and families would survive when faced with the termination of life-sustaining public benefits, and how the communities would cope with increased impoverishment and diminished funds.