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**Children, Youth &
Families
HHS Releases 2002
National Statistics on Child Abuse and Neglect
According
to national data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
an estimated 896,000 children across the country were victims of abuse or
neglect in 2002. The statistics indicate about 12.3 out of every 1,000 children
were victims of abuse or neglect, a rate slightly below the previous year's
victimization rate of 12.4 out of 1,000 children. The rate of child neglect and abuse in 2002
was about 20 percent less than the rate in 1993, when maltreatment peaked at an
estimated 15.3 out of every 1,000 children.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040401.html
House Budget
Slashes Investments in Children, Does Harm to Children Now and Later
The
Children's Defense Fund today responded to the budget resolution just passed by
the House of Representatives by pointing out how it hurts children now and in
the future. By granting tax cuts for the
wealthy - piling more red ink on top of the current deficit which is the
largest in the history of the nation - while cutting programs for children and
low-income Americans, this budget is a reckless attack on the most vulnerable
Americans. The budget cuts funding for nearly all domestic
programs by $120 billion, including nutrition, housing assistance, and juvenile
justice. It also threatens to
increase the number of uninsured children with a potential cut of $2.2 billion
to Medicaid. It includes no additional child care funding when the need is
growing, and it under funds education.
http://www.childrensdefense.org/pressreleases/040326.asp
Myths About the Adequacy of Current
Child Care Funding
The Center for Law and Social
Policy reports that as the Senate begins debate on welfare reauthorization and
child care funding, this three-page analysis debunks six myths about the
adequacy of federal funding for child care. It concludes that states need
additional child care funding.
http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1080577074.01/view_html
Five Reasons Why the Senate Should Adopt the Snowe-Dodd Amendment to Increase Child Care Funding
The Center for Law and Social
Policy provides five reasons in favor
the of the bipartisan amendment to provide $6 billion over five years in
additional child care funding that was passed on the Senate floor this week,
http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1080576573.24/view_html
SSI and Child Support
A memorandum from the Center
for Law and Social Policy summarizes the options laid out in a recent Social
Security Administration brief about how to increase child support, and overall
income, for children receiving SSI. In
contrast to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, the
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program contains a mandatory child support
disregard. However, at present, only 25 percent of those SSI children living
with just one parent actually receive child support. Thus, a substantial number
of SSI children might benefit from more aggressive pursuit of support on their
behalf.
http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1080248798.26/view_html
Freddie Mac Foundation
Gives LISC $750,000 to Expand and Improve Child Care Facilities
The Freddie Mac Foundation
has awarded a new three-year, $750,000 grant to the Local Initiatives Support
Corporation (LISC) to assist in addressing the growing need for child care
facilities in low- income communities. Through its Community Investment
Collaborative for Kids (CICK) program, LISC works at the federal, state and
local levels to generate new sources of capital for child care facility
construction and renovation.
http://www.liscnet.org/whatsnew/press/releases/2004.03.25.0.shtml
New Poll Finds Children
Have Poor Sleep Habits, Parents Paying a Price
According to a new poll
released by the National Sleep Foundation America's children sleep less than experts recommend while
more than two-thirds experience frequent sleep problems. Children's daytime behaviors are often
related to their sleep habits. According to parents/caregivers, about
one-quarter of infants, toddlers and preschoolers appear sleepy or overtired
during the day, while nearly three out of 10 school-aged children have
difficulty waking in the morning.
http://www.sleepfoundation.org/NSAW/presskit.cfm
**Civil Society/Civic
Engagement
Research
to Practice: Evaluating Assessing the New Federalism Dissemination Activities
From the outset in 1996, the
Urban Institute's Assessing the New Federalism project
and its funders considered dissemination an integral
part of the overall project. This paper reviews the dissemination goals,
objectives, and strategies the project established. The authors developed
several new sets of data to evaluate how well the strategies worked and ANF
reached its goals and objectives. Data developed included a survey of people
using ANF analysis, a press clipping database, measures of publication reading
ease, and web site tracking.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=8809
Public
Trust in the Public Face of Charities
According to the Urban
Institute, public charities file Form 990 with the IRS each year, and the Form
is the only public disclosure required of charities by government.
Consequently, donors and regulators rely on the form when making assessments of
these organizations. This essay suggests that questionable quality of reporting
by charities on Form 990 constitutes a crisis of trust between charities and
the people who rely on their financial reports when making giving decisions.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=8808
Community
Development
Is
Public Housing Ready For Freedom?
The Urban Institute, building
on lessons learned from the Moving to Work (MTW) demonstration, reviews
"Freedom to House," a proposal to reform and partially deregulate the
nation's Public Housing Authorities (PHAs), submitted
in the 2005 budget to Congress. The author discusses the climate of mutual
cynicism and distrust between the federal regulatory agency, the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the public housing
industry that burdened the MTW demonstration, and argues for all parties
approaching Freedom to House as a genuine experiment whose purpose is to
demonstrate both the benefits of deregulation as well as any negative
consequences.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=8810
U.S. Marks 36th
Anniversary of Fair Housing Act, HUD Says Housing Discrimination is
Underreported by Victims
Upon
the 36th anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act and the beginning
of Fair Housing Month, renters and their offending would-be landlords are among
the growing number of Americans who have come to realize how the nation's fair
housing law applies to them. The Act,
established by Congress in 1968, prohibits discrimination in the financing,
rental, sale or financing of any dwelling based on race, color, religion, sex,
or national origin. In 1988, amendments were added to prohibit discrimination
based on disability or familial status. Alleged violations of the Act are
investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, state and
city agencies working with HUD and private fair housing groups that receive HUD
funds.
http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr04-031.cfm
Secession
of the Successful?
Residents of California's Planned Housing Developments Do Not 'Opt Out' of
Civic Life
A
study released by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) suggests the
explosion of planned housing communities is a more complex issue than their
conventional image might imply. Are they
simply enclaves for white, upper-income residents? Are they contributing to
residential segregation? Do their residents participate as much in civic life? The report, "Planned Developments in California: Private Communities
and Public Life," finds that although planned communities are less diverse
racially and ethnically than other neighborhoods, they are quite diverse with
regard to income. In fact, planned communities have about the same number of
middle-income households as other neighborhoods.
http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=349
**Economic Security
Women Closing Earnings Gap
Economists at Texas A&M University's Private Enterprise Research Center find that women
are making significant progress in closing the earnings gap with their male
counterparts, and the gap is expected to continue narrowing. The progress can be attributed in large part
to the substantial investment in education that women, in general, have made
throughout the last quarter century.
PDF: http://www.tamu.edu/perc/publication/feb04.pdf
Key Issues in the
Budget Resolution Conference
An analysis from the Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities outlines some of the major issues at stake in
House-Senate negotiations over the 2005 budget resolution.
http://www.cbpp.org/3-31-04bud.htm
Budget Priorities Under the Senate Budget Plan
According to the Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities the Senate-passed budget plan would cut taxes on
the wealthiest, raise taxes on the poorest workers, cut most domestic
discretionary program areas, and likely increase the ranks of those without
health insurance; yet proposal would increase, rather than reduce, deficits.
http://www.cbpp.org/3-4-04bud.htm
More Than One Million Of The Unemployed Have Now Been Denied Aid Due To End Of
Federal Program
An analysis from the Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates "exhaustees"
on a national and state-by-state basis through the end of March, and assesses
the three main arguments being used against a resumption of the temporary
federal benefits program.
http://www.cbpp.org/3-25-04ui.htm
Expiring
Unemployment Benefits Will Hurt More Than Half a Million Children
According
to estimates by the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), with the expiration of
unemployment benefits for more than one million Americans, 622,000 children and
their families will suffer financial hardships.
The process of phasing out the federal program designed to provide
extended financial assistance to the unemployed is occurring despite the
continued jobless recovery. Since December 2003, when the phase-out started,
about 1.1 million people have exhausted their benefits and are not eligible for
any additional unemployment assistance. According to the Congressional Budget
Office, these individuals and their families will now lose an average of $1,100
per month.
http://www.childrensdefense.org/pressreleases/040331.asp
**Education
Engaging With Families in Out-of-School Time Learning
The
fourth in Harvard Family Research Project's series of "Out-of-School Time
Evaluation Snapshots" is now available on their website. This Snapshot,
"Engaging With Families in Out-of-School Time
Learning," provides an overview of how out-of-school time (OST) programs
are evaluating their engagement with families.
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/afterschool/resources/snapshot4.html
LISC Awarded $4 Million
Grant to Support Charter School Financing Program
Local Initiatives Support
Corporation (LISC) announced that it has received a $4 million grant as part of
the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) 2004 Credit Enhancement for Charter
School Facilities Program. This amount is in addition to the $6 million LISC
was awarded under the Program in 2003, bringing LISC's
total award to $10 million. The funds will support LISC’s
Educational Facilities Financing Center (EFFC), which provides financing for
charter and alternative public schools for children and families in underserved
communities nationwide.
http://www.liscnet.org/whatsnew/press/releases/2004.03.31.0.shtml
**Health
Survey: Health Care Reform
a Major Issue for Voters
According to a new
Commonwealth Fund survey rising health care costs and growing instability in insurance
coverage have made health reform a key issue in this election year. The same survey also found that more than two
of five Midwesterners have problems with their medical bills or was paying off
accrued medical debt.
http://www.cmwf.org/media/releases/collins728_chicago_release03302004.asp
HHS Awards More
Than $1 Billion to States to Help Provide Care, Services and Prescription Drugs
for People With HIV/AIDS
The
Department of Health and Human Services announced more than $1 billion in
grants to states and territories to provide medical care, support services and
prescription drugs for people living with HIV/AIDS. The fiscal year 2004 awards include $285
million in basic awards based on the number of people living with AIDS in each
state or territory and $728 million for the purchase of medications through
state-run AIDS Drug Assistance Programs.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040401b.html
**Homelessness
HUD to Offer Affordable
Housing Funding Incentives
The
Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it will create a new
funding incentive to encourage state and local communities to remove excessive
regulations that inhibit the production of affordable housing. On March 22nd,
HUD notified potential applicants of HUD's competitively awarded grant programs
that it will begin awarding priority points to governmental and nongovernmental
applicants in communities which have successfully demonstrated efforts to
reduce regulatory barriers that prevent many working families from living in
the communities of their choice.
http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr04-029.cfm
HUD Awards $6.5 Million
to Help Provide Permanent Housing to Help End Chronic Homelessness
The Department of Housing and
Urban Development announced $6.5 million to assist hundreds of persons
experiencing long-term or chronic homelessness in 13 communities. HUD is providing this funding from the
Department's HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) to develop permanent
rental housing for the hardest-to-serve homeless individuals who may also be
living with a disability, mental illness or an addiction. The projects must be
carried out by local community-based nonprofit organizations.
http://www.hud.gov/content/releases/pr04-030.cfm
HHS Cites Progress
in Fighting Chronic Homelessness
The
Department of Health and Human Services vowed to continue to push for an end to
chronic homelessness by increasing the coordination among government programs
to better serve those who have disabling conditions as well as no permanent
place to live.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040401a.html
**Technology
Online Directory Connects
Nonprofits to Technology Service Providers
The Nonprofit Technology
Enterprise Network (N-TEN, www.nten.org) and TechSoup.org (www.techsoup.org ) announced the launch of
TechFinder (www.techfinder.org). This searchable online directory of
technology service providers helps nonprofits quickly identify the providers
that are best equipped to meet their specific needs. By establishing a central
hub that connects nonprofits and service providers, TechFinder strives to
support the work of both groups. Currently, the directory is accessible as a
beta version.
http://www.techsoup.org/techfinder/index.cfm?p=about
**Welfare Reform
Welfare Rolls Drop
Again
The
Department of Health and Human Services announced the number of families and
individuals receiving assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF) program continues to decline.
There were 2,006,597 families receiving TANF cash benefits in September
2003, the most recent month for which data are available. The total represents
a 1.2 percent decline from June 2003 and a 54 percent decrease from August
1996, when TANF was enacted.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040330.html
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