Administration
Proposes $35.2 Billion HUD Budget in 2008
The Department of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary released details of the Administration's Fiscal Year 2008 Budget
request, which seeks to expand record homeownership, promote affordable housing
and assist homeless individuals and families. HUD is seeking $35.2 billion
for HUD, which represents a $1.6 billion or 4.5 percent increase over his
proposed spending plan for FY 2007.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/administration_7.php
2008
Budget Makes Investments in No Child Left Behind, More Aid for Low-Income
College Students
According the Department
of Education details of the FY 2008 budget request for provides increased
resources to improve our public schools, increase rigor in our nation's high
schools, and help more Americans afford college. The request of $56 billion
makes investments in the core priorities of the No Child Left Behind
Act (NCLB) by increasing funding for the landmark law to $24.5 billion, up
41 percent since 2001.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/supporting_amer.php
**Budget Commentary
Budget
Calls for Deep Cuts in a Wide Range of Domestic Programs
According to the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities, cuts start in 2008 and grow deeper over time. Under the Administration's
budget, domestic discretionary programs --- the programs that are funded each
year through the annual appropriations process, other than defense and international
programs --- are slated for sizable reductions over the next five years.
The largest cuts would come in 2012, when domestic programs would be cut $34
billion, or 7.6 percent, relative to the 2007 funding level, adjusted for
inflation.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/budget_calls_fo.php
President's
Budget Misses Mark on Helping to Reduce Poverty in America
The proposed $2.9 trillion budget contains
drastic cuts and changes to a range of programs that address the health and
well-being of low-income families and individuals. Catholic Charities USA
is especially alarmed that just two weeks after President Bush's State of
the Union address, in which he acknowledged the nation's health care crisis,
the president is recommending cutting more than $100 billion from Medicaid,
Medicare, and other critical health care programs over five years.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/presidents_budg.php
Nutrition
Program Changes in the 2008 Budget
According from the Food Research and Action Center, the President's FY 2008 budget proposals fall far short of the investments
required to meet the health, education and nutrition needs of America's vulnerable families, children and elderly. Missing
from the Administration package are eligibility restorations for legal immigrants
and jobless adults willing to work.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/nutrition_progr.php
Budget
Cuts Children's Health Coverage
According to Families USA, the President's
budget proposal would cut health coverage for children in low- and moderate-income
families. Instead of expanding health coverage to America's 9 million uninsured children, the President proposes
to reduce coverage in two ways. The President's proposed funding for the
State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is inadequate to retain
enrollment for the children who currently participate in the program. The
President's proposal also is designed to reduce SCHIP eligibility in 18 states*
where eligibility exceeds 200 percent of the federal poverty level ($34,340
in annual income for a family of three).
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/budget_cuts_chi.php
Families
Forgotten: Administration's Priorities Put Child Care Low on List,
According to the Center
for Law and Social Policy the President has once again sent a message
that America's hardworking families are on their own, especially when it comes to child care. The
federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) was
created in recognition of this need and has successfully helped millions of
families go to work. The President's budget shows little recognition of the
importance of the child care assistance program.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/families_forgot.php
Budget
Proposes Dramatic Changes For Rural Housing
The budget would defund
the Section 502 and 515 direct lending programs, which have enabled the U.S.
Department of Agriculture to make loans to low-income homebuyers and to producers
of rental housing for the lowest-income rural residents. "The trend
away from direct lending and toward loan guarantees has been developing for
a number of years, but eliminating both major direct lending programs is a
significant jump - not just a step," according to the executive director
of the Housing Assistance Council.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/budget_proposes.php
**Children, Youth &
Families
Developing
a Statewide System to Link Families with Community Resources
According to the Commonwealth Fund, undetected
childhood behavioral health and developmental problems have a significant
impact not only on the children who experience them, but also on their families
and communities and the medical, mental health, and educational systems they
use. Developmental Surveillance Developmental surveillance, unlike developmental
screening, is a flexible, continuous process in which knowledgeable professionals
perform observations of children while providing care.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/developing_a_st.php
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**Civil Society
Securing
Equal Justice for All: A Brief History of Civil Legal Assistance in the United
States
This document from the Center for Law and Social Policy chronicles civil
legal assistance for the low-income community in the United States from its privately funded beginnings, through its achievement
of federal funding, and to its expansion and growth into a national program
operating throughout the U.S.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/securing_equal.php
**Community Development
Safe
Streets, Sound Communities
A revitalized neighborhood
is almost always a safer neighborhood. In 2006, in an opinion column jointly
authored by one of the country's leading police reformers, Los Angeles Police
Chief William Bratton, and LISC's former CEO, Paul Grogan, summed up the emerging
consensus this way: "One of the greatest threats to community revitalization
is crime. Police and grassroots community builders can and must become greater
stakeholders in and defenders of the investments made by one another.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/safe_streets_so.php
**Economic Security
A
Counterintuitive Approach to Reducing Poverty and Strengthening Families
According to MDRC Between
the end of World War II and 1973, the percentage of Americans living in poverty
fell by half. Since then, however, the overall poverty rate has remained largely
unchanged. Why didn't poverty continue to decline? Falling wages and increasing
rates of lone parenting are the two principal explanations.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/a_counterintuit.php
**Education
Emergency
Financial Aid for Community College Students
The report describes early
findings from MDRC's evaluation of the Dreamkeepers
Emergency Financial Aid Program and the Angel Fund Program. Lumina Foundation
for Education created the Dreamkeepers Emergency
Financial Aid Program and the Angel Fund Program to provide emergency financial
assistance to community college students who are at risk of dropping out.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/emergency_finan.php
Education
Department Launches Priorities for NCLB Reauthorization
The 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. It would strengthen efforts to close the achievement gap by
giving states more flexibility to measure and increase student progress; encourage
rigorous coursework, particularly in math and science, in our nation's high
schools; and provide new options and choices for families whose children remain
in underperforming schools.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/secretary_spell_31.php
Education
Department Announces Largest Pell Grant Increase in Three Decades
The Department of Education
announced that the 2008 budget will raise the Pell Grant maximum for students
to $4,600 next year, the largest increase in over 30 years, and $5,400 over
five years, the largest five-year increase ever. Each year, Pell Grants help
more than five million full-and part-time low-income students afford higher
education.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/secretary_spell_27.php
**Health
National
Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
February 7 is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness
Day. Nearly half of the more than 1 million Americans estimated to be living
with HIV in the United States are African Americans. In 2005, African Americans
made up approximately 13 percent of the population, but accounted for nearly
half (49%) of new HIV diagnoses in the 33 states with long-term confidential
name-based HIV reporting.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/national_black.php
**Substance Abuse
12-Step
Treatment More Effective than Alternative, Study Says
Researchers from Stanford University found that a 12-step oriented treatment
program that included attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings boosted two-year
sobriety rates by 30 percent compared to cognitive-behavioral programs. Lead
study author Keith Humphreys said the spiritual dimension of AA may explain
why recovering alcoholics in such programs are better able to resist the temptation
to return to drinking.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2007/02/12step_treatmen.php
