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The Fraying Safety Net: Index to the Series

Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Estelle B. Richman, Pennsylvania's secretary of public welfare, wants to make sure vulnerable families get needed help. Click photo for larger image.

Staff writer Steve Twedt and photographer Steve Mellon spent 10 months examining how this region cares for its most vulnerable citizens -- the disabled, the elderly, addicts, homeless and hungry people, and others.

Their report begins with a three-day package of stories and will continue through the year as an intermittent series.

The project will examine how good a job society does at providing services for these groups, and how well money for those programs is spent.

Day One

The social services safety net is fraying

Caring for Beth: Room for a friend turns into a bureaucratic headache

Foundations are generous to social service agencies, but have limits

Day Two

Nonprofit groups' survival may depend on clients' image

Unpopular charities survive in a wider group

Day Three

State welfare chief pushes one-stop help for families

Nonprofits economize by combining services

Cambria County rethinks human services