Human Services
Community Building
Digest

ENDORSE THE NATIONAL HOUSING TRUST FUND

The National Housing Trust Fund Campaign is working to establish a National Housing Trust Fund that would build and preserve 1.5 million units of rental housing for the lowest income families over the next 10 years.  The Campaign celebrates reaching the halfway mark in their goal to collect 4,000 endorsements from groups around the country by the end of 2002.

http://www.nhtf.org

**Children, Youth & Families

Children at Risk: State Trends 1990-2000
A Population Reference Board/KIDS COUNT report based on the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey looks at changes in 11 key measures of child well-being.  Despite the enormous wealth in the United States, the child poverty rate is among the highest in the developed world.   The broad array of data presented in this Special Report is intended to illuminate state-by-state trends in the well being of America’s children from 1990 to 2000. States can also use these data to compare the status of their children with children in other states across several specific dimensions of child well being. http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/c2ss/

Family Well-Being After Welfare Reform
Since 1994, welfare rolls have decreased by almost 60 percent nationwide. Are low-income children and their families better off—or worse off—after welfare reform? This volume explores concerns across a broad range of areas, identifying the relevant data sets, surveys, and other materials that could aid this assessment.

http://www.welfareacademy.org/pubs/familywellbeing/

Another report from the Welfare Information Network  describes the interactions between TANF and child well-being, including how welfare reform has addressed outcomes for children; how welfare reform has affected child welfare services; and how child well-being could be assessed in the context of welfare reform. Summaries are included of various organizations’ positions on how the law should be changed, if at all, to achieve better outcomes for children.

http://www.welfareinfo.org/childwellbeing_trn.htm

New Online Resource on Out of School Time
Developed by the Harvard Family Research Project this database is a great tool for evaluators who are planning an OST program evaluation, allowing them to quickly get detailed information about previous OST evaluations by searching the database using relevant criteria.  Practitioners can read the profiles to better understand evaluation options and methodologies. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/afterschool/evaldatabase.html

Transcripts of Presentations from After School Evaluation Symposium Now Online Transcripts of 12 of the presentations made at the After School Evaluation Symposium sponsored by the Harvard Family Research Project in June 2001 are now available for downloading from the their website. Audio files of the presentations can also be listened to online.    http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/afterschool/symposium/event.html

Black, Hispanic Teens Smoke Less Than Whites, But Share Same Risks for Starting
Smoking rates among ethnic groups may vary, but, no matter their ethnicity, teenagers who display problem behaviors are more likely to start smoking and keep smoking than their peers, according to new study.

http://www.cfah.org/hbns/newsrelease/ethnic3-1-02.cfm

Pregnant Minority Women Have High Rates of Depression, Says Study
A new study suggests that stressful life events and poverty may contribute to the relatively high rates of depression among Blacks and Hispanics.

http://www.cfah.org/hbns/newsrelease/minority3-5-02.cfm

**Education

Most teachers, students agree that test preparation has not interfered with classroom learning

Standardized testing may have touched off a firestorm over public education, but students aren't feeling the heat - 95 percent say they either can deal with the stress or don't worry at all about taking the tests. And most teachers and students say preparing for standardized tests has not detracted from learning in their classrooms. http://www.publicagenda.org/aboutpa/aboutpa3tt.htm

Impact of School Choice on Test Scores in NYC

Mathematica Policy Research reports that after three years the school choice scholarships program in New York City has shown positive impacts on test scores

for African Americans, but no impacts on test scores for Latinos.

http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/PDFs/redirect.asp?strSite=nycsumm.pdf

**Faith Based Initiatives

Request for Comments on Compassion Capital Fund - Due March 29
The Administration for Children and Families is preparing guidelines to award funds in fiscal year 2002, as allowed by the newly funded Compassion Capital Fund. In order to obtain a wide range of views and comments, ACF is soliciting comments from the public and other Federal agencies on the important issues that ACF should consider in developing such guidelines.

http://www.webclipper.org/pubs_hn1445/pubs_hn_show.htm?doc_id=104533

**Health Policy

Families USA's Assessment of Discount Drug Plan
Before details of the Administration's proposal were made public Families USA developed five key criteria to assess the proposal. The proposal does not meet three of those criteria and for two it is not clear. http://www.familiesusa.org/DrugDiscountCard.pdf

Diverse Communities, Common Concerns: Assessing Health Care Quality for Minority Americans
Minority Americans Lag Behind Whites on Nearly Every Measure of Health Care Quality, reports The Commonwealth Fund.  The study found that while differences exist between various minority groups, African Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanics are all more likely than whites to experience difficulty communicating with their physician, to feel that they are treated with disrespect when receiving health care, to experience barriers to access to care such as lack of insurance or not having a regular doctor and to feel they would receive better care if they were of a different race or ethnicity.

http://www.cmwf.org/index.asp

**Housing

http://huduser.org/publications/pubasst/sec8_vol2.html

**Hunger and Nutrition

Food Stamp Participation Increases in December 2001 for Ninth Straight Month
The Food Resource and Action Center reports that the trends reflect the weakening of the economy and increased efforts to connect eligible people with benefits.  “Increases in participation likely have been driven by improved access to the program in some states, and by the weakened economy as well as growing numbers of layoffs, causing more households to apply, especially after the terrible events of September 11, 2001.”

http://www.frac.org/html/news/fsp/01december.html

**Immigrants

How Are Immigrants Faring After Welfare Reform?
A report from the Urban Institute provides preliminary evidence from Los Angeles and New York City.  The analysis indicates that, "many immigrants in Los Angeles County and New York City, particularly those who are not citizens, live in families experiencing economic hardship. [The Institute] examined an array of hardship measures, including poverty, food insecurity, moderate hunger, housing problems, and lack of health insurance.”

http://www.urban.org/immig/final_report.html

** Economic Stimulus and Employment

Multi-Year Business Tax Cuts Still Dwarf Aid to Unemployed
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities states that, "Although the new House [economic stimulus] bill represents an important step forward from previous versions of the bill in that it no longer includes some costly and ill-designed tax provisions, the lion's share of the bill continues to consist of multi-year tax cuts for businesses that the Congressional Budget Office and other economists have concluded are poorly designed to provide a short-term economic boost.".

http://www.cbpp.org/3-7-02ui.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/3-7-02ui.pdf

 OMB Watch Responds to Congress' Economic Stimulus Bill

According to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, not only

is the recession over, but “an economic expansion is already well  underway.”  This is what makes the March 8 passage in both the House and Senate of an economic stimulus bill overloaded with huge tax breaks even more bizarre.

http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/580/1/18/

 23 States Flunk their Unemployment Test

New National Report Card to be released on March 12, 2002

A new report from the National Employment Law Project, the Economic Policy Institute, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities offers a detailed and grim portrait of unemployment insurance systems in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, revealing a nation poorly prepared to meet the challenge of growing unemployment.

http://www.webclipper.org/newsletter1131/newsletter_show.htm?doc_id=104542

**Welfare Reform

Addressing the Health Insurance Needs of Newly Unemployed, Low-Income

Workers

A report from the Welfare Information Network analyses how the worsening fiscal situation in states threatens to stall incipient efforts to explore ways of expanding public and private health insurance coverage for the growing low-wage labor market.

http://www.welfareinfo.org/addressingthehealthinsuranceneedsIN-template.htm

Another report from the Welfare Information Network  describes the interactions between TANF and child well-being, including how welfare reform has addressed outcomes for children; how welfare reform has affected child welfare services; and how child well-being could be assessed in the context of welfare reform. Summaries are included of various organizations’ positions on how the law should be changed, if at all, to achieve better outcomes for children.

http://www.welfareinfo.org/childwellbeing_trn.htm

Family Well-Being After Welfare Reform
Since 1994, welfare rolls have decreased by almost 60 percent nationwide. Are low-income children and their families better off—or worse off—after welfare reform? This volume explores concerns across a broad range of areas, identifying the relevant data sets, surveys, and other materials that could aid this assessment.

http://www.welfareacademy.org/pubs/familywellbeing/

Increasing Work Opportunities for Low-Income Workers through TANF and

Economic Development Programs,

A third report from the Welfare Information Network describes the opportunity provided by TANF for welfare and economic development programs to collaborate. Difficulty, however often arises due to different cultures and a lack of understanding between agencies. By increasing understanding of the programs’ missions and addressing the programs’ different cultures, welfare and economic development agencies can combine resources to provide comprehensive assistance to community residents while stabilizing declining neighborhoods.

http://www.welfareinfo.org/increasingworkopportunitiesIN-template.htm

National Institute for Government Innovation Conference: Moving from Welfare to Work April 29-May 1, 2002 in San Francisco, CA and May 20-22, 2002 in Alexandria, VA.  For more information e-mail Vanessa Stanger at vstanger@nigi.org.

http://www.nigi.org/

How Are Immigrants Faring After Welfare Reform?
A report from the Urban Institute provides preliminary evidence from Los Angeles and New York City.  The analysis indicates that, "many immigrants in Los Angeles County and New York City, particularly those who are not citizens, live in families experiencing economic hardship. [The Institute] examined an array of hardship measures, including poverty, food insecurity, moderate hunger, housing problems, and lack of health insurance.”

http://www.urban.org/immig/final_report.html