Challenges
and Opportunities in Children’s Mental Health: A
View from Families and Youth
This report from the National Center for Children in Poverty documents critical
issues in children's mental health policy and service delivery from the perspective
of the key stakeholders-families and youth. The report highlights innovative
ways in which families and youth are engaged in research, policy, and advocacy
strategies to improve the mental health, school success, living situation,
and community engagement of children and youth facing mental health challenges.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/challenges_and.html
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A
Self-Study Guide for Managers and Staff of Primary Support Programs for Young
People
Parents, teachers, educators, business people, those who work in juvenile
justice and law enforcement, health and safety professionals, and the public
as a whole sometimes worry about risky behaviors and lack of educational support
for young people during unsupervised time. Through meaningful participation
in such programs, children and youth can also develop self-direction and build
identities as persons and citizens who believe they can and should contribute
to their communities. This self-study guide from Chapin Hall is intended
to help primary support organizations in their important work.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/a_selfstudy_gui.html
**Community Development
Reaching
New Heights - Trends in Community Economic Development
The National Congress of Community Economic Development released its Fifth
National Census. The report "Reaching New Heights", measures the
quantitative achievements of community-based development organizations. The
new census--the fifth since 1988--records significant increases in the number
of homes and apartments produced, commercial and industrial space developed,
and jobs created by community development organizations.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/reaching_new_he.html
Reports
On HUD's Moving To Work Demonstration Raise Serious
Questions
A series of reports by HUD's Inspector General have found serious flaws in
the implementation of the Moving to Work (MTW) housing demonstration, including
ineffective oversight by HUD and poor use of funds by some local housing agencies.
These findings, considered together with other risks posed by MTW, suggest
that sharply expanding MTW's size and scope ---
as some members of Congress are seeking to do --- would be unwise.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/reports_on_huds.html
**Economic Security
Putting
the Market to Work for Lower Income Families
According to analysis from The
Brookings Institution public and private leaders have a substantial, and
widely overlooked, opportunity today to help lower income families get ahead
by bringing down the inflated prices they pay for basic necessities, such
as food and housing. In general, lower income families tend to pay more for
the exact same consumer product than families with higher incomes.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/putting_the_mar.html
Catholic
Charities USA Criticizes Congress, Administration for Increasing Poor Families'
Burdens
Ten years after the landmark welfare reform legislation that created the
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, new regulations set forth
recently by Congress and the Administration place unfair burden on married
welfare recipients and families struggling to achieve independence, according
to Catholic Charities USA.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/catholic_charit_2.html
Secretary
of Labor Announces Nearly $6 Million in Grants to Train Workers in the Financial
Services Industry
The Department
of Labor announced five grants totaling $5,989,023 to train workers for
careers in the financial services industry. The announcements are part of
the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative, a strategic plan to prepare
workers for jobs in expanding industries.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/secretary_of_la_1.html
**Education
Public
Schools Perform Near Private Ones in Study
The Education Department reported on Friday that children in public schools
generally performed as well or better in reading and mathematics than comparable
children in private schools. The report, which compared fourth- and eighth-grade
reading and math scores in 2003 from nearly 7,000 public schools and more
than 530 private schools, found that fourth graders attending public school
did significantly better in math than comparable fourth graders in private
schools.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/public_schools_1.html
A
Public Education Primer: Basic Facts about the U.S. Education System
This primer provides a comprehensive picture of the nation's public schools
with data about students, governance, funding, achievement, teachers, and
non-instructional services. As much as possible, the data compiled here come
from the federal government---primarily from the National Center for Education
Statistics.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/a_public_educat.html
Hard-Working
at School, Sluggish at Home
What motivates students of different ages to complete their math homework
assignments? A study published in the July/August issue of the journal Child
Development sheds new light on the age-old issue of homework, finding that
students' general level of conscientiousness predicts how much effort they
put into their homework.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/hardworking_at.html
The
Role of After-School Programs in Children's Literacy Development
Children's motivation to write is fueled when they feel they've written something
that gets a positive response from important adults, another characteristic
of the exemplary programs in our study. After-school programs are particularly
well suited to fostering the social dimensions of literacy, with children
sharing ideas, collaborating, helping each other, responding to and critiquing
each other, and solving reading and writing problems together.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/the_role_of_aft.html
**Health
NAACP
Leaders Take HIV Test, Call For National Black AIDS
Mobilization
In February, the NAACP released The Way Forward, a national report on the
State of AIDS in Black America. This sweeping analytical study penned under
the guidance of the Black AIDS Institute looked at how a strange illness among
five white gay patients at University of California Los Angeles became the
defining issue of our time, and its disproportionate impact on African Americans.
The report included critical recommendations for government officials, traditional
Black institutions and individuals.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/naacp_leaders_t.html
HHS
Approves Plan to Expand Coverage to 3,000 Additional Children in Montana
The Department of Health and Human Services approved a Montana plan to expand
health coverage to 3,000 additional children from low-income families in the
state. The approval made several other changes in Montana's SCHIP, including
the elimination of income documentation as a requirement for the application
process and providing enhanced mental health services to the enrollees.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/hhs_approves_pl.html
**Homelessness
Progress
Report on Homelessness in New York City
New York City will reinvest $10 million that the City has saved because of
lower shelter populations to give families who have left shelters, but who
are at high-risk of returning to shelter, flexible services to promote housing
stability. The Department of Homeless Services has identified 73 locations
- under highways, next to train trestles and on City streets - where some
350 homeless men and women in groups of four or five have set up makeshift
shelters. As an extension of its street outreach work, the Department of
Homeless Services will humanely, respectfully, but firmly work to get these
men and women to enter supportive housing, enroll in treatment programs, or
go into shelters.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/mayor_provides.html
Seattle
Houses Homeless Alcoholics Who Continue to Drink
"Chronic public inebriates" have been given government-financed
apartments in Seattle and allowed to keep drinking, a new twist on addressing
the related issues of homelessness and addiction, the New York Times reported
July 5. County officials say their intent is to save taxpayers money; they
estimate that the annual costs of sheltering, jailing, and treating the city's
hard-core homeless alcoholics to be about $50,000 annually, while housing
them at the Eastlake property costs $13,000 a year.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/seattle_houses.html
**Substance Abuse
Underage
Drinking Costs Society More than Illicit Drugs, Study Says
A new study estimates that underage drinking costs the U.S. $62 billion a
year and results in 3,200 deaths and 2.6 million other "harmful events,"
PNN Online reported June 30. The study conducted by the Pacific Institute
on Research and Education (PIRE) says that while public and government attention
is focused primarily on youth use of illicit drugs, underage drinking is by
far the greater problem, killing four times as many youths as all illicit
drugs combined.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/underage_drinki_1.html
Seeking
Help Could Quadruple the Likelihood of Abstinence
To quantify the effect of help seeking on recovery from alcoholism, researchers
in the United States analyzed data
from 4,422 adults who had participated in a nationally representative survey
and developed alcohol dependence at least 1 year before their participation.
A recent study of people with alcohol dependence found that those who actively
sought help from treatment or twelve-step programs had better odds of recovery.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/seeking_help_co.html
