HHS
Awards $58 Million through Compassion Capital Fund
The U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) announced awards totaling $58,025,562 through the
Compassion Capital Fund (CCF). The awards, to 420 faith-based and community
organizations, are designed to help grass-roots faith-based and community
organizations enhance their ability to provide a wide range of social services
for those in need. Those services include aid for homeless persons, at-risk
youth and rural communities and initiatives to empower youth and promote healthy
marriage.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/10/hhs_awards_58_m.php
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We're
Letting Down Our Kids Over Tobacco and Alcohol
In late August, there was
the story about how Big Tobacco secretly has been increasing the nicotine
content of cigarettes since 1998, making its deadly product that much more
lethal and addictive. By increasing the addictiveness of its products, Big
Tobacco again has shown its true colors -- despite lawsuits, settlements and
promises of reform.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/10/were_letting_do.php
Drinking
Teens More Likely to Be Violent
Children who drink are not
only more likely to be violent but also to be the victims of violence. Researchers
from the University of Cardiff surveyed 4,000 11- to 16-year-olds
about their drinking and experience with violence. They found that drinkers
were more likely to hit others, be hit by others, and engage in fighting.
"This new study seems to be the first to show a direct link between alcohol
misuse and vulnerability to injury, independent of any link between drinking
and fighting.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/10/drinking_teens.php
Va.'s
ABC Dept. Hosts Annual College Conference to Prevent Underage Drinking
November marks the 21st
anniversary of the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC's)
College Conference. Each year, the College Conference invites participants
from different backgrounds to come together and spend a weekend to participate
for a common goal: prevent underage drinking and high-risk alcohol consumption.
As college students and faculty members, you will spend time engaging with
one another and collaborating with other community leaders, organizations
and local law enforcement to figure out the pieces of the underage and high-risk
drinking puzzle.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/10/vas_abc_dept_ho.php
**Economic Security
A
Rising Number of State Earned Income Tax Credits Are Helping Working Families
Escape Poverty
The Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities reports on the Earned Income Tax Credit
- a tax reduction and a wage supplement for low- and moderate-income working
families. States that enact EITCs can reduce child poverty, increase effective
wages, and cut taxes for families struggling to make ends meet. When the
new EITCs are fully implemented, roughly one-third of recipients of the federal
EITC will live in a state with an EITC.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/10/a_rising_number.php
Seven
Unique Programs that Empower People to Leave Poverty Behind
Here's a look at seven Catholic
Charities programs that give people the skills, the knowledge, the confidence,
and the support to change their lives and their circumstances. Getting people
to see the greater benefit of learning how to fish---learning the skills in
order to become financially stable and self-sufficient---is one of the key
goals of Neighbor to Neighbor, a faith-based life skills and financial literacy
program developed by Catholic Charities in Evansville, IN, that helps people
in financial crisis take concrete steps to improve their lives. When a family
is living paycheck to paycheck, goals such as owning their own home, starting
a small business, or funding higher education for their children seem completely
out of reach.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/10/seven_unique_pr.php
HUD
Awards $47 Million to Help Families Across the U.S. get Job-Training and Employment
U.S. Housing and Urban Development
announced that public housing agencies in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico will receive $47,494,003 in funding
to help low-income people get job training, employment and homeownership counseling.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/10/hud_awards_47_m.php
**Homelessness
More
than 1,000 Families at Risk for Homelessness to Receive Housing and Services
Over a thousand persons
who are living with HIV/AIDS and who might otherwise be living on the streets
will find a stable home and receive the services they need because of $27.5
million in funding awarded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
HUD grants will support 26 programs in 15 states to provide their clients
with three years of permanent supportive housing.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/10/more_than_1000_1.php
**Hunger and Nutrition
In
Cities, Healthful Living Through Fresher Shopping
The Pennsylvania Fresh Food
Financing Initiative, leveraging $30 million in state money with $90 million
in private funds, is the most ambitious of a spate of state and local projects
around the country. They represent a different model for public nutrition
programs, which have relied since the 1960s on federal subsidies, such as
food stamps and WIC. Instead of subsidizing shoppers, the projects shift
the emphasis to the private sector, offering coaching and financial inducements
for grocers to go into areas they shunned for decades.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/10/_in_cities_heal.php
Food
Stamps Continue to Serve as Crucial Support in U.S. Cities
More than $1.9 billion in
food stamp benefits was left unclaimed by 24 of the largest U.S. cities and urban counties in 2004,
according to Food Stamp Access in Urban America, the Food Research and Action Center's latest survey of food stamp usage
and hunger. According to FRAC's Local Access Indicator (the measure used
by FRAC to calculate local participation in the program), it is estimated
that only 66 percent of the people in the 24 cities who were eligible for
food stamps were actually receiving benefits.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/10/_food_stamps_co.php
**Substance Abuse
Alcohol
Education Project Grants
The National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) will make awards of up to $250,000 for
Alcohol Education Project Grants. The grants support research programs that
advance understanding of the biological and behavioral processes involved
in the development, expression, and consequences of alcoholism and other alcohol-related
problems. The grants will support K-12 science education and undergraduate/graduate
education, health professions education, and public-health education.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/10/alcohol_educati.php
National
Treatment Admissions for Marijuana, Methamphetamine Continue to Increase;
Heroin Decreases
The percentage of marijuana-,
methamphetamine- and other opiates-related admissions to state-funded substance
abuse treatment facilities have continued to increase in recent years, according
to data from the national Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS). The percentage
of treatment admissions citing marijuana as a primary substance of abuse has
increased steadily over the past few years. Admissions for the primary abuse
of methamphetamine and opiates other than heroin have also increased.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/10/national_treatm.php
