Understanding Teen Participation— Frequency, Intensity
and Duration—In Boys & Girls Clubs
Written midway through a
three-year longitudinal evaluation of the role Boys & Girls Clubs play
in the lives of the youth they serve, this report from Public/Private
Ventures explores a topic of continuing interest to program operators
and funders: What does it take to involve teens in positive out-of-school-time
activities?
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/understanding-t-1.php
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Too Much Screen Time and Not Enough Physical Activity
May Lead to Childhood Obesity
The American Academy of Pediatrics created guidelines regarding
physical activity and screen time (television, video games): boys should take
at least 11,000 steps a day; 2) girls at least 13,000 steps a day; 3) children
should limit total screen time to two hours a day.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/study-suggests-1.php
Study Suggests Why Parents
Are Stricter With Older Children
If you think your parents
let your younger siblings get away with everything, you're probably right.
A new study from researchers at Duke University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland concludes that parents punish older
children more harshly -- and they're wise to do so.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/study-suggests.php
More about the Dads:
Exploring Associations between Nonresident Father Involvement and Child Welfare
Case Outcomes
This study from the Urban
Institute follows-up on a prior study of child welfare agencies' efforts to
identify, locate, and involve nonresident fathers of children in foster care.
The study finds that having an involved father is associated with shorter
case length and a greater likelihood of reunification.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/more-about-the.php
Pediatricians Asked to
Screen for Spousal Abuse
Because children often witness
spousal abuse, pediatricians have two reasons to routinely screen their patients'
mothers or other caregivers for signs of such physical and emotional domestic
violence, a study from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center suggests.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/pediatricians-a.php
**Civic Engagement
McCormick Tribune Foundation
Receives Council on Foundations' 2008 Paul Ylvisaker Award for Effective Public Policy Engagement
This honor recognizes the
Foundation's long-term commitment to improving early care and education for
at-risk children under the age of five in Illinois, and its consistent and positive impact
on policies related to early childhood education.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/mccormick-tribu-1.php
Tobacco Money Flows to Campaigns, Lobbying
Tobacco interests spent
nearly $2 million to influence California elections and legislative policy in
2007, according to a new report by the American Lung Association of California's
Center for Tobacco Policy & Organizing (the Center). In addition to this
report, the Center unveiled an expanded online database of campaign contributions
from tobacco interests to members of the Legislature.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/report-shows-to.php
**Economic Security
Corporate Tax Declines
and U.S. Inequality
According to the Economic
Policy Institute the shrinking share of corporate taxes combined with
an increase in payroll taxes has helped widen income inequality.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/corporate-tax-d.php
Climate-Change Legislation that Shields Low-Income Households
from Increased Poverty and Hardship
Efficient, effective policies
to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions work in part by raising the prices of fossil-fuel
energy products to encourage energy efficiency and the substitution of clean
energy sources for fossil fuel. The cost increases will pose special challenges
for low- and moderate-income households because, as Congressional Budget Office
studies have shown, they spend a larger share of their budgets on energy than
better-off households do.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/climatechange-l.php
The Implications of Career Lengths
for Social Security
Growing fiscal pressures
and increasing life expectancy have prompted calls to raise retirement ages. Some fear this change might harm long-career,
lower-wage workers. Tying retirement benefit eligibility to years of service
might protect low-wage workers who start their careers early.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/the-implication-2.php
Minnesota Integrated Services Project: Voices
of Program Participants
The Minnesota Integrated
Services Projects (ISP) focus on improving the delivery of employment, health,
and social services to families who receive cash assistance and have serious
or multiple barriers to employment. Operating in eight sites, the project
seeks to improve access to services that address multiple needs and coordinate
services provided by multiple service systems.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/minnesota-integ-1.php
The Urban Institute Has
Produced a Number of Reports on Economic Mobility
Can Escaping from Poor
Neighborhoods Increase Employment and Earnings?
Is there a correlation between
exposure to racially integrated, low poverty areas and employment outcomes?
Does moving from a poor, inner city neighborhood to a less poor area bring
greater proximity to job opportunities, or contacts with new networks of neighbors
who might steer movers to jobs? Does living in a community where more people
work increase motivation to work or to increase income? In examining these
questions for the MTO experimental movers, this brief finds that factors in
addition to where people live affect their employment and earnings.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/can-escaping-fr.php
New Findings on the Benefits
and Limitations of Assisted Housing Mobility
The U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) launched the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) demonstration
in 1994 in five cities targeted families living in some of the nations
poorest, highest-crime communities and used housing subsidies to offer them
a chance to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/new-findings-on.php
Have MTO Families Lost
Access to Opportunity Neighborhoods Over Time?
Families in HUD's Moving
to Opportunity program had the chance to move to neighborhoods with lower poverty, lower
crime rates and, presumably, more opportunities for employment, good schools
and better quality of life. Did they benefit from the moves and did they remain
there to continue those benefits?
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/have-mto-famili.php
Struggling to Stay Out
of High-Poverty Neighborhoods: Lessons from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment
MTO offered families living
in concentrated poverty the chance to move to lower poverty areas, away from
the high unemployment and high crime rates areas with the challenges and risks
they present. This brief looks at whether the program was successful in helping
families move away from those neighborhoods and stay away from them, noting
both the reasons for subsequent moves and the characteristics of the neighborhoods
to which they made those moves.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/struggling-to-s.php
Assisted Housing Mobility
and the Success of Low-Income Minority Families: Lessons for Policy, Practice,
and Future Research
The federal Moving to Opportunity program (MTO) was designed to help
poor minority families move from distressed, high
poverty neighborhoods to better locations, thereby improving their quality
of life and long term chances for well-being. Low income families living in
concentrated poverty face a variety of challenges to their safety, health,
and economic health, including poor schools, high crime and unemployment.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/assisted-housin.php
Self-Employment and Economic
Mobility
Self-employment has held
out the promise of economic mobility to generations of Americans. However,
it is unclear whether the success stories of self-made men and women represent
common experiences or exceptional cases.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/selfemployment.php
Discrimination and Economic
Mobility
Although many researchers
have documented lower levels of upward mobility amongst black families, it
is difficult to disentangle the effects of discrimination from differences
in (sometimes unobservable) characteristics that also contribute to variation
in employment, income, health, housing, and wealth outcomes across groups
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/discrimination-1.php
Labor Market Institutions
and Economic Mobility
Labor market institutions
like unions and minimum wage laws represent some of the most direct levers
available to a policymaker with a mobility-focused agenda. Both have the potential
to increase absolute mobility by ensuring that lower- and middle-income workers
receive a slice of the economic pie.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/labor-market-in.php
Wealth and Economic Mobility
While earnings are the primary
determinant of income in most households, family welfare and consumption are
often more related to wealth held either as financial assets or real assets.
This review from the Urban Institute examines the pathways through which wealth
influences economic mobility, with an emphasis on its effects on mediating
factors like educational investment and neighborhood choice.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/wealth-and-econ.php
Determinants of Asset Building
This report from the Urban
Institute provides a policy-oriented conceptual framework that has the potential
to explain saving and asset accumulation across the entire population and
to account for the low levels of saving and asset accumulation in the low-income
population.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/determinants-of.php
The Effects of Immigration
on the Employment Outcomes of Black Americans
According to the Urban Institute,
while most evidence suggests that immigration has had a modest negative effect
on black employment, especially for those without a high school diploma, changes
in immigration law will probably not improve job prospects for young blacks
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/the-effects-of-1.php
**Education
$2.1 Million Awarded for 5-Year Afterschool Matters
Initiative to National Institute on Out-of-School Time
The Wellesley Centers for
Women (WCW) announced that the Robert Bowne Foundation
is awarding more than $2.1 million over five years to the Centers' National
Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) for the National Afterschool Matters
Initiative which will promote research and professional development for the
out-of-school time industry.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/21-million-awar.php
Tips for Parents on Inspiring
the Young to Learn
This month's U.S. Department
of Education monthly TV show, "Education News Parents Can Use,"
will offer tips for parents on how to ensure young children enter school ready
to read and ready to learn.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/tips-for-parent.php
$114.7 Million Awarded
for 121 Grants to Improve Teaching of American History
The U.S. Department of Education
announced the award of $114.7 million for 121 new grants to improve the quality
of American history education. The grants are being awarded to school districts
in 40 states nationwide.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/1147-million-aw.php
Education Department
Highlights Writing Gains Made on the Nation's Report Card
The U.S. Secretary of Education
highlighted the results of The Nation's Report Card: Writing 2007. Secretary
Spellings commended educators and students for the significant progress made
under No Child Left Behind.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/spellings-highl.php
Education Department
Announces $8.3 Million Charter Schools Grant to Civic Builders Incorporated
The U.S. Secretary of Education
announced an $8.3 million grant to Civic Builders, Inc. (Civic) as part of
the U.S. Department of Education's Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities
Grants Program. The grant will be used to help build and renovate charter
schools in New York and New Jersey.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/secretary-spell-11.php
**Health
Health Insecurity Now
a Broadly Shared American Experience
Holding on to health care
is getting much harder, even if you have a good job, and a good education,
and especially if you are a full-time worker of prime working age. In an new
Briefing Paper, A Decade of Decline: The Erosion of Employer-Provided Health
Care in the United States and California, 1995-2006, Economic Policy Institute economists demonstrate
that the dramatic drop in employer-provided coverage has occurred across the
entire age, education, occupation, industry, race, and ethnicity spectrum.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/health-insecuri.php
States Preparing for
SCHIP Reauthorization
According to the
Commonwealth Fund, the debate over federal reauthorization of the State
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is in high gear, with a number
of reauthorization bills already introduced in the House and Senate. 
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/states-preparin.php
Cutting through the Stigma
Training community members
such as barbers as peer educators can be an effective way of spreading information
on HIV/AIDS throughout low-literacy, rural communities, say findings published
this week in the open access journal Human Resources for Health.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/cutting-through.php
State Public Health Officials
Move to Protect the Most Vulnerable People in America During a
Pandemic
The Association of State
and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) has created a unique partnership
to help protect the American people most at-risk during one of the worst public
health catastrophes imaginable - an influenza pandemic.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/state-public-he.php
States' Roles in Shaping
High Performance Health Systems
States are pursuing health
system improvements on many fronts, from expanding access to affordable health
care and insurance coverage to developing quality improvement and health IT
systems. This Commonwealth Fund report gives the full range of state health
care reforms in play from Alabama to Utah, with close-ups provided on dozens
of innovative programs and policies.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/states-roles-in.php
**Seniors
IBM and SeniorNet Bring Technology to Rural, Low Income Native American
Reservations
Together, SeniorNet, the world's leading technology educator of older
adults, and IBM Corporation are set to bring technology access and education
to the fourth rural Native American reservation in the United States.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/ibm-and-seniorn.php
Mentoring Partners to
Strengthen Programs for Older Adults
The Alliance for Children and Families has announced
recipients of funding and technical assistance awards as part of a major mentoring
initiative for members of the Alliance. Of the 20 agencies, 10 have been
identified to serve as mentors, helping the other 10 to strengthen their capabilities
for improving the lives of older adults in their communities.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/mentoring-partn.php
Aerobic Exercise Can
Increase Mental Fitness in Order People
Aerobic physical exercises
that aim to improve cardiovascular fitness also help boost how fast you can
think, manual dexterity and how well you can concentrate on visual and auditory
tasks, concludes a Cochrane Review.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/aerobic-exercis.php
**Substance Abuse
To Treat or Not to Treat: Evidence
on the Prospects of Expanding Treatment to Drug-Involved Offenders
Despite a growing consensus
among scholars that substance abuse treatment is effective in reducing recidivism;
strict eligibility rules have limited the impact of current models of therapeutic
jurisprudence on public safety.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/04/to-treat-or-not.php
