NARAL
Pro-Choice America Calls Passage of 'Child Custody Protection Act' A Threat
to Teen Safety
The President of NARAL Pro-Choice
America, called the Senate's passage of the so-called "Child Custody
Protection Act" an irresponsible action that will do nothing to protect
young women's safety or improve family communication. "The passage of
this bill will have a chilling and dangerous effect on our most vulnerable
teens. The American public wants teen pregnancy prevented, not punished."
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/naral_prochoice.html
FRC:
U.S. Senate Acts to Protect Parents' Knowledge of Children's Abortions
Today, the U.S. Senate voted
65 to 34 to approve the Child Custody Protection Act S. 403, which would make
it a federal offense to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion
if this action circumvents the application of a state law requiring parental
involvement in a minor's abortion. "Today, the Senate acted to affirm
the rights of America's parents to know when their child
is considering an abortion. It is unconscionable that abortion clinics from
states without parental notification laws advertise their services to minors
in states that have them.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/frc_us_senate_a.html
Early
Results from the Healthy Kids Evaluation
Mathematica conducted a
survey of parents with children enrolled in the Los Angeles Healthy Kids program.
Early findings reveal that the initiative is improving children's access to
primary care and easing parents' concerns about meeting their children's health
care needs. Parents believe having their children enrolled in Healthy Kids
gives them considerable assurance that they can meet their children's health
care needs.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/early_results_f.html
**Economic Security
Employment-Focused
Programs for Ex-Prisoners
In recognition of the enormous
human and financial toll of recidivism, there is new interest among researchers,
community advocates, and public officials in prisoner reentry initiatives,
particularly those focused on employment. Some programs seem to be modestly
successful: those for older ex-prisoners, integrated services both before
and after release, and perhaps models using financial incentives.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/employmentfocus.html
Weaker
job market re-opens racial income gap
Compared to the full-employment
job market of the latter 1990s, the weaker post-2000 labor market has reversed
significant progress in racial income gaps. In 1995, the median income of
African-American families was 60.9% of that of white families (in 2004 dollars:
$31,966 versus $52,492). By 2000, when the unemployment rate fell to 4.0%,
the ratio was 63.5% (still a very large income gap: $36,939 versus $58,167
in 2004 dollars), the highest level on record, going back to 1947.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/weaker_job_mark.html
Big
Box Living Wage Ordinance Passes in Chicago; ACORN and a Community-Faith-Labor
Coalition Secure Living Wage Law
On July 26th, the Chicago
City Council approved an ordinance that will require Big Box retailers to
pay workers a living wage. The ordinance will require a $10 minimum hourly
wage and $3 an hour in fringe benefits, with annual indexing for inflation,
for big box retail stores that are at least 90,000 feet and have gross annual
sales of $1 billion.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/big_box_living.html
Welfare
Reform Roundtable: Reviewing a Decade, Previewing the Future
According to the Urban Institute,
writers and critics of the landmark 1996 welfare reform bill took part in
an Urban Institute roundtable event with federal officials, state and local
human service practitioners, researchers, and analysts to mark the legislation's
approaching 10th anniversary. The legislation was mostly hailed by participants
as a bipartisan achievement that shrank welfare rolls and put single mothers
to work, welfare's transformation from an entitlement program to a block grant
that imposed time limits on assistance also left many families with children
in poverty.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/welfare_reform_3.html
Government
Work Supports and Low-Income Families: Facts and Figures
According to the Urban Institute,
Welfare reform in 1996 was accompanied by an increased focus on policies that
help low-income parents find and keep employment and support their families
as many moved into low-wage jobs with few benefits. The core supports that
assist families while they are working include the Earned Income Tax Credit
(EITC), health insurance, food assistance, and child care subsidies.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/government_work.html
A
Decade of Welfare Reform: Facts and Figures
The passage of welfare reform
law in August 1996 signaled the end of "welfare as we know it."
The legislation transformed Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)
into the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, dramatically
changing the nation's approach to supporting needy families with children.
Reform was intended to end dependence on government cash assistance by promoting
job preparation and work.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/a_decade_of_wel.html
Analysis
of New Interim Final TANF Rules
On June 29, the Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued regulations regarding the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. In this process, it is critical
that states maintain focus on the overall goal of helping low-income families
improve their employment outcomes and support their families, not just on
achieving the required participation rates. Job search and job readiness
assistance activities must be supervised by the TANF agency or other responsible
party on an ongoing basis no less frequently than daily.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/analysis_of_new.html
Two-Thirds
of States Qualify as "Needy States" for Extended Counting of TANF
Job Search and Job Readiness Assistance
The changes made by the
Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and the corresponding regulations have increased
pressure on states to place TANF recipients in federally countable activities.
"Needy states" may qualify for extended counting of job search and
job readiness assistance toward the TANF work participation rate. The state
qualifies as a "needy state" under the provisions of the Contingency
Fund section of the law.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/twothirds_of_st.html
**Education
A
Whole 'Nother World
Each year thousands of young
people begin their college careers in community colleges. The lower cost,
more convenient location, and flexible admissions standards of community colleges
make them an attractive educational alternative for many students, especially
those from low-income and disadvantaged backgrounds. MDRC's Opening Doors
Demonstration is measuring the effects of various combinations of curricular
reforms, enhanced academic advising, and increased financial aid intended
to increase the persistence and improve the academic achievement of students
at six community colleges across the United States.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/a_whole_nother.html
New
Report Shows Progress in Reading First Implementation and Changes in Reading
Instruction
Children in Reading First
classrooms receive significantly more reading instruction and schools participating
in the program are much more likely to have a reading coach, according to
the Reading First Implementation Evaluation: Interim Report, released today
by the U.S. Department of Education. The report shows significant differences
between what Reading First teachers report about their instructional practices
and the responses of teachers in non-Reading First Title I schools, which
are demographically similar to the Reading First schools.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/new_report_show_2.html
Education
Department Announces $19 Million in Library Grants
The Secretary of Education
announced 78 school districts across the country would receive the Improving
Literacy through School Libraries Grant to improve students' reading achievement.
A total of $19 million will be awarded to 26 states and the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands this year.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/secretary_spell_18.html
Department
of Education Awards $15.5 Million to Help Students Develop Strong Character
and Good Citizenship
Schools in California, New York, the District
of Columbia, Indiana, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, South
Carolina, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Illinois and New Mexico will share $15.5 million in grants designed to help them implement
programs that teach the principles of character development and the responsibilities
of citizenship to their students, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
announced today.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/us_department_o_5.html
Education
Department Announces Benefit to Students with Extension and Expansion of Pilot
Programs
The Department of Education
announced the extension and expansion of two pilot programs designed to help
struggling K-12 students. The two pilots, which were initiated by the Department
of Education last year, are focused on increasing student participation in
the tutoring or supplemental educational services (SES) provisions offered
under the No Child Left Behind Act.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/deputy_secretar.html
**Health
Giving
up driving may be express lane to long-term care
Although the slower driving
habits of some seniors often steam impatient younger motorists, researchers
at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have found that elders who stay behind
the wheel are less likely to enter nursing homes or assisted living centers
than those who have never driven or who have given up driving altogether.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/giving_up_drivi.html
Language
barriers compromise health care for 50 million Americans who do not speak
English
While passions flare on
all sides of the language debate, the sad truth is that the language barrier
negatively impacts health care for 50 million (19 percent) U.S. residents
who do not speak English at home and the 22 million (eight percent) with limited
English proficiency. Lack of effective communication also contributes to
the high cost of healthcare, according to a., professor of pediatrics, epidemiology
and health policy at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and director of the
Center for Advancement of Underserved Children at the Medical College and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/language_barrie.html
**Substance Abuse
Treatment
Access Tough for Rural Methamphetamine Users
Experts say that addiction
treatment works for methamphetamine users, but those who live in rural areas
-- including regions most affected by meth abuse -- often don't have access
to treatment, the Arkansas News Bureau reported June 29.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/treatment_acces.html
Alcohol
Abuse Remains the Leading Substance Abuse Problem in Rural America
Although media reports have
declared that rural America is facing a methamphetamine crisis, alcohol abuse remains a far more prevalent
problem in small towns and rural areas of the country. A new report from
The Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire
shows that alcohol abuse in rural America exceeds illicit drug abuse and that
excessive drinking is a serious problem among rural youth, particularly in
homes where parents are absent.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/alcohol_abuse_r_1.html
New
training technique helps alcoholics in battle with the booze
A new training technique
developed in the UK
is proving successful in helping excessive drinkers curb their alcohol abuse.
Researchers funded by the Economic and Social Research Council have experimentally
tested a computer-based training program which helps abusive drinkers pay
less attention to alcohol, feel more in control of their drinking and drink
less.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/07/new_training_te.html
