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**Children,
Youth & Families
Violence Exposure and
Traumatic Stress Reactions can Lead to Poor Health in
Children
A study in the March issue of
The Journal of Pediatrics examines the effect of traumatic stress reactions on
the health of children exposed to violence and maltreatment within the
community and their families.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-03/ajom-vea030205.php
How effective are Herbal
Supplements in Reducing Illnesses in Children?
A study in the March issue of
The Journal of Pediatrics reviews the medical literature to provide information
about the effectiveness of some of the most common herbal supplements in
children.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-03/ajom-hea030205.php
Cockroach Allergens have
Greatest Impact on Childhood Asthma in Many US Cities
New results from a nationwide
study on factors that affect asthma in inner-city children show that cockroach
allergen appears to worsen asthma symptoms more than either dust mite or pet
allergens.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-03/nioe-cah030705.php
A Happy Marriage can Help
Mend Physical Wounds
New research, reported at the
American Psychosomatic Society, finds that a happy marriage apparently is good
medicine, but hostile spouses may be harmful to one another's health. Couples
in conflict-ridden marriages take longer than the happily married to heal from
all kinds of wounds, from minor scrapes or athletic injuries to major surgery.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/usatoday/20050307/ts_usatoday/studyahappymarriagecanhelpmendphysicalwounds
**Civil Society
Census Bureau Estimates
Number of Children and Adults in the States and Puerto Rico
According to estimates released
by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of elementary school-age children (ages
five through 13) declined by 381,000 while the number of their high school-age
counterparts (ages 14 through 17) increased by 329,000 between 2003 and 2004. Arizona had the largest numerical increase of children
between the ages of five and 13, and California had the largest numerical increase of those between
ages 14 and 17.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=44133
**Community Development
Low-Income Families Are
Moving to Better Neighborhoods with Help from Chicago's Housing Mobility Program
According to the Urban Institute, families with housing vouchers
are 52 percent more likely to move to low-poverty neighborhoods if they receive
housing search assistance, a new study from the nonpartisan Urban Institute
shows. The study, which looked at Chicago's Housing Opportunity Program (HOP), provides the first
evidence that mobility-counseling programs can help families move out of
high-poverty neighborhoods.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=9191
Turning Around
Downtown: Twelve Steps to Revitalization
While any approach to
downtown revitalization must be customized based on unique physical conditions
and institutional assets, this paper from the Brookings Institution lays out 12
fundamentals of a downtown turnaround plan and the unique
"private/public" partnership required to succeed and return "walkable urbanity" to downtown.
http://www.brookings.org/metro/pubs/20050307_12steps.htm
Defacto Shelters: Homeless Living in Vacant Public Housing
Units
According to the Urban Institute, as Chicago's public housing is demolished to make way for new
mixed-income communities, an unknown number of homeless squatters living
illegally in vacant public housing units will also lose their housing. As
illegal squatters, these residents have neither legal right to relocation
services nor the right to return to revitalized developments.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=9187
HUD to Sponsor Nine City Training Sessions for Public Housing Agencies,
Housing Practitioners
The Department of Housing and
Urban Development will kick-off a nine-city training program for public housing
agencies (PHAs) and assisted- housing practitioners
in Las Vegas on March 29. Participants will get the latest
information regarding HUD information systems and will receive training to help
them navigate a wide range of program areas under HUD's Office of Public and
Indian Housing (PIH).
http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr05-024.cfm
**Economic
Security
What New CBO Data Indicate
About Long-Term Income Distribution Trends
According to the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities the Congressional Budget Office releases the most comprehensive
data available on changes in incomes and taxes for different income
groups. CBO has just released its income
and tax information for 2002.. This information underscores the
degree to which income gains have been concentrated at the top of the income
scale over the past two-plus decades.
http://www.cbpp.org/3-7-05tax.htm
Opportunity, Assets, and Ownership: An Evolving Policy Agenda
The Urban Institute published a transcript
from the latest in its First Tuesday series.
As President Bush champions new policies geared toward the formation of
an "ownership society," sweeping proposals have emerged prompting a
variety of viewpoints. Panelists at this First Tuesday forum discussed issues
surrounding choices in health care, homeownership, retirement and savings, and
the implications of an ownership and opportunity agenda.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=9198
Top
Earners get Social Security Windfall, Others get the Bill
According to
the Economic Policy Institute, because
Social Security taxes are only paid on earnings of up to $90,000, workers
earning more than this cutoff are taxed at a much lower effective tax rate. The
Snapshot
for March 9 explains how the tax burden has been lowered for the
highest-earning 6% of America, even while President Bush has declared the Social
Security trust fund to be in crisis.
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_20050309
Payrolls Expand Nicely,
but Unemployment Rises
A report from the Bureau of
Labor Statistics shows that payrolls expanded by 262,000 jobs in February, the
strongest month of job growth since October 2004. However, this was coupled
with an increase in unemployment to 5.4%.
http://www.epinet.org/static/webfeatures_econindicators_jobspict_20050304.cfm
Job Growth Leaves Large
Job Deficit
According to the Economic Policy Institute, despite recent job
growth there remains a large jobs deficit: employment lags growth in the
working-age population and job growth over the last year has not closed the job
gap.
http://www.jobwatch.org/
There's One Rule for the
Rich...
It is well known that the
world's wealth is shared out unevenly.
Now, physicists in America are using models based on simple laws of physics to
understand the distribution of wealth. They found that 3% of the population
follows one law where the extremely rich hogged most of the wealth. And incomes
for the remaining 97% follow a completely different law.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-03/ns-tor030905.php
**Education
Truancy Prevention Website
The Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has
launched the Truancy Prevention-Empowering Students, Schools, and Communities
Website. Drawing on the expertise and
resources of OJJDP and the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, the Web site offers a range of truancy-related
information to educators, law enforcement agencies, court personnel, and the
general public. Because truancy is a
complex problem requiring a comprehensive response, the Web site focuses on
partnership-building strategies designed to help children reach their fullest
potential.
http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/truancy/
**Health
Does Neighborhood
Deterioration Lead to Poor Health?
According to a RAND
Corporation study, traditional thinking about health in America has been that individuals alone decide whether to
engage in unhealthy behaviors. However, the conditions in which individuals
live may also contribute to their health and longevity.
http://www.rand.org/publications/RB/RB9074/
Low Socioeconomic Status
is a Risk Factor for Mental Illness
According to a study of
34,000 patients with two or more psychiatric hospitalizations in Massachusetts during 1994-2000, unemployment, poverty and housing unaffordability were correlated with a risk of mental
illness. The poorer one's socioeconomic
conditions are, the higher one's risk is for mental
disability and psychiatric hospitalization, regardless of what economic
hardship or type of mental illness the person suffered.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-03/apa-lss030205.php
American Public Health
Association Supports KidsFirst Act of 2005 to Ensure
Health Care Coverage for Uninsured Children
The following is, in part, a
statement by the executive director of the American Public Health
Association: "The American Public
Health Association strongly supports the KidsFirst
Act as a comprehensive approach to protect the health of children who are
otherwise uninsured and do not have access to essential health services, such
as medical care for acute and chronic illnesses and immunizations. We must
remove the financial barriers that discourage states and parents from providing
health coverage for children, and we must ensure that all children, especially
the millions who live in poverty, are not forced to sacrifice the health care
they need to become healthy adults.”
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=162-03092005&site=rss
Assessing Health Care
Experts' Views on Health Insurance Issues
The Commonwealth Fund's
latest online survey of health care experts finds much agreement about how to
help small employers and the self-employed join together to buy health benefits
and share the advantages of large group purchasing. Most respondents favor
options similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
http://www.cmwf.org/surveys/surveys_show.htm?doc_id=263060
By how much is the House
Budget Committee Proposing to Cut Funding for Medicaid and SCHIP?
According to the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities the House Budget Committee’s proposed federal budget plan for
Fiscal Year 2006 requires reductions in mandatory programs likely to lead to
cuts in federal expenditures for Medicaid and the State Children’s Health
Insurance Program (SCHIP) totaling $15.1 billion or more over the next five
years. The cut to Medicaid would be as
much as $20 billion if the Energy and Commerce Committee does not adopt Administration
proposals relating to other programs in the Committee’s jurisdiction. This cut significantly exceeds the savings
the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates would be achieved if all of the
changes in Medicaid and SCHIP the President proposed in his budget last month
are enacted.
http://www.cbpp.org/3-10-05health.htm
**Hunger & Nutrition
University of California Scientists Confirm Healthier Food Costs More; March
Is National Nutrition Month
According to a new University
of California study, making a few simple dietary improvements, such as
substituting 100 percent whole wheat bread for white bread, lean ground beef
for regular, and low-fat cheese for whole-fat, increases monthly food spending
$70 to $80 per month for a family of four. This higher cost represents 35 to 40
percent of low-income consumers' food budgets.
http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20050309.114322&time=12%2014%20PST&year=2005&public=1
Legislative Conference
Addresses School Nutrition Programs
Over 750 school nutrition
professionals will meet in Washington, DC next week to advocate for strong school nutrition
programs during the 33rd annual Legislative Action Conference of the School
Nutrition Association. The conference
and participants' advocacy efforts will build on the bipartisan progress of the
child nutrition reauthorization process in Congress last year.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=44127
Food Stamp Participation
Increases in December 2004 to More Than 25.4 Million Persons
According to the Food
Research and Action Center, participation in the Food Stamp Program in December
2000 was 25,487,768 persons, an increase of 2,207,685 persons from December
2003. The Food Stamp Program growth in recent months reflects continuing
joblessness, state actions to improve access, and the effects of the food stamp
reauthorization implementation.
http://www.frac.org/html/news/fsp/12.04_FSP.html
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