Study
of Los Angeles County Neighborhoods and Their Impact on Children
Researchers are knocking
on doors across Los Angeles County asking families to take part in the
latest phase of a RAND Corporation study that is examining the impact neighborhoods
have on children and families. Published results have examined whether Los Angeles youngsters are ready for school, probed
neighborhood factors that may contribute to obesity, and provided the first
concrete estimate of the number of undocumented immigrants who have health
insurance.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/rand_study_of_l.php
In-Depth
Summary of Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006
The Center for Law and Social
Policy reports that the Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006
(CFSIA) represents an important step toward providing crucial services to
children and families involved or at risk of becoming involved with the child
welfare system. Requires states to describe how they actively consult with
and involve physicians and other medical professionals in assessing the health
and well-being of children in foster care and in determining appropriate medical
care for the children.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/indepth_summary.php
**Community Development
Housing
Aid Extended For '05 Storm Victims
The U.S. government will
extend housing aid through August for hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast
residents still displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, officials said yesterday,
acknowledging that wide swaths of New Orleans and parts of coastal Mississippi
remain uninhabitable nearly 17 months after the 2005 storms. The Federal
Emergency Management Agency said it would continue for six more months to
pay for 130,000 households' trailers, mobile homes and apartments, aid that
under federal law would have expired at the end of next month.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/_housing_aid_ex.php
HUD
Announces Nearly $9 Million to Assist Elderly, Disabled
The U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development awarded $8,796,564 in grants today to 32 public housing
agencies and non-profit organizations across the country for supportive services
that help elderly and disabled public housing residents. The funding is from
HUD's Resident Opportunities and Self Sufficiency (ROSS) Elderly/Persons with
Disabilities Program, which public housing authorities, resident associations
and non-profit organizations compete for annually.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/hud_announces_n_1.php
**Economic Security
New
Data Reveal Unprecedented Income Inequality
The Economic Policy Institute
reports that data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis through the third quarter
of 2006 show that a historically high share of corporate income is going into
profits and interest (i.e., capital income) rather than employee compensation.
And a newly released Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis of household
incomes shows that a greater share of this capital income goes to the richest
households than at any time since the CBO began tracking such trends.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/new_data_reveal.php
Hundreds
of Business Leaders Tell Congress to Raise Minimum Wage
Let Justice Roll Business
reports that business owners and executives across the nation are telling
Congress that a $5.15 minimum wage hurts business, workers and the economy.
The House passed a clean bill to raise the minimum wage. In a recent National
Consumers League survey, for example, 76 percent of American consumers said
"how well a company treats/pays employees influences what they buy."
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/hundreds_of_bus.php
**Education
Why
We Still Need Public Schools: Public Education for the Common Good
A publication from the Center
On Education Policy posits that in addition to
preparing young people for productive work and fulfilling lives, public education
has also been expected to accomplish certain collective missions aimed at
promoting the common good. These include, among others, preparing youth to
become responsible citizens, forging a common culture from a nation of immigrants,
and reducing inequalities in American society.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/why_we_still_ne.php
Promoting
Effective Early Learning: What Every Policymaker and Educator Should Know
This brief from the National
Center for Children in Poverty provides a blueprint for state and local
policymakers, early learning administrators, teachers, families, community
leaders, and researchers to use effective preschool curricula and teaching
strategies to help low-income young children close the achievement gap in
early literacy and math to be ready for kindergarten like their more affluent
peers.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/promoting_effec.php
Closing
Achievement Gap at Philadelphia School
U.S. Secretary of Education
Margaret Spellings visited M. Hall Stanton Elementary School in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania to mark Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by commending students, teachers,
and administrators for their success in narrowing the achievement gap. In
fifth grade alone, the number of Stanton Elementary students reading on grade
level increased almost six-fold since 2002 and the percentage of students
doing math on grade level increased from 19 to 83 percent between 2003 and
2006.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/celebrating_mar.php
Taking
Middle Schoolers Out of the Middle
This is the second New
York Times article in a series that looks at changing theories of how
middle school should be taught. The two schools, in disparate corners of
the nation's largest school system, are part of a national effort to rethink
middle school, driven by increasingly well-documented slumps in learning among
early adolescents as well as middle school crime rates and stubborn high school
dropout rates.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/taking_middle_s.php
Support
of American Business Leaders in Reauthorizing No Child Left Behind
U.S. Secretary of Education
Margaret Spellings today met with business leaders of the Business Coalition
for Student Achievement to thank them for their support of the No Child Left
Behind Act (NCLB) and to discuss the shared goal
of reauthorizing NCLB this year. By helping states and schools align educational
goals with workforce needs, active, engaged business communities are making
a meaningful difference in our schools.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/secretary_spell_26.php
Priorities
for No Child Left Behind Reauthorization
U.S. Department of Education
launched Building on Results: A Blueprint for Strengthening the No Child Left
Behind Act. Building On
Results is designed to provide additional tools to our schools and educators
to help America's students read and do math at grade
level by 2014.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/secretary_spell_23.php
**Health
Children's
Defense Fund Welcomes Health Coalition's Commitment to Covering Children First
While applauding HCCU's
stated goal to cover all children, CDF President Marian Wright Edelman noted
that the details of the HCCU proposal fall significantly short of achieving
this goal. By contrast, the proposal released by CDF last week does provide
health care coverage to all children.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/childrens_defen_7.php
Key
Voices Unite to Expand Health Insurance Coverage
Families USA reports that most of the nation's
largest health care organizations announced that they have agreed on a proposal
that would significantly expand health coverage for America's almost 47 million uninsured, starting
immediately with expanded coverage for children in 2007. Calling itself the
Health Coverage Coalition for the Uninsured (HCCU), the group is made up of
16 influential, national organizations that have played leading roles in every
federal health policy debate of the last 30 years, often on opposing sides.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/key_voices_unit.php
**Hunger and Nutrition
More
Students Shun Cafeteria Junk Food
According to a survey of
food service directors, french
fries are decreasing in popularity and interest in carrots is skyrocketing.
As choices on the lunch line change, many children are accepting them, said
Martha Conklin, an associate professor at Penn State University who conducts research about school
nutrition programs and school food service.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/more_students_s.php
Personal
Health: 104 Teenagers Who Are Role Models for Weight Loss
Anne M. Fletcher, author
of the newly published "Weight Loss Confidential," a study of how
104 overweight preteens and teenagers --- 41 boys and 63 girls --- lost significant
amounts of weight and maintained their losses for two years or longer. They
succeeded only after coming to terms with their self-destructive eating habits
and sedentary ways, and making permanent changes in how they deal with food
and how they move their bodies.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/personal_health_2.php
**Nonprofit Management
What
5,000 Board Cafe Readers Think About Boards
Nonprofit board members
felt the best about boards, closely followed by executive directors, giving
"grades" of B to B-. Makes us think: Maybe boards ARE doing a good
job, but funders and consultants are convincing
us we're not? The overwhelming majority (80%) of Board Cafe readers are board
members, of whom half have no paid connection to
any nonprofit.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/_what_5000_boar.php
**Substance Abuse
Brief
Interventions Can Prevent Drinking During Pregnancy
Researchers report that
a series of five brief counseling sessions was effective in getting high-risk
women to quit drinking during pregnancy and start using birth control. A
study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found
that women who took part in the counseling sessions and were interviewed nine
months later were twice as likely to avoid risky drinking, use contraception,
or both.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/01/brief_intervent.php
