The South, as does the rest of the country, holds great expectations for welfare reform and the ability of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), the revised public assistance program replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), to help the poor in this country become more self-sufficient.  Appreciable work requirements are embedded within the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), the legislation mandating welfare reform.  Almost daily, there are reports on the dramatic declines in welfare caseloads across the nation since President Clinton signed PRWORA into law in August 1996.  These declines are generally interpreted to mean that welfare-to-work strategies must be effective.  However, not enough is known about the dynamics of moving people from welfare to work to make such assessments.  And researchers certainly do not have a good understanding of caseload reduction in the rural South where unique social and economic conditions may affect the implementation and success of welfare reform.  This report describes recent welfare reform efforts and identifies some of the conditions that may affect welfare reform and the potential for the new legislation to move welfare recipients into the workforce in the South.