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**Children,
Youth & Families
Comprehensive
Study: We Know Little about Environmental Effects on Kids
An effort from researchers at the University
of Rochester Medical Center to compile everything the medical
and scientific community knows about how children differ from adults
in terms of their biologic vulnerability to environmental agents
such as lead, mercury, pesticides, and smoke makes clear how little
is known about how environmental factors affect children.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/uorm-csw033004.php
Trauma
and Post-Traumatic Stress Highly Prevalent among Delinquents
According to a study in the
April issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, almost every boy and girl
currently detained in a juvenile facility in the United States has experienced at least one major trauma, and a
large proportion of these children have post-traumatic stress disorder.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/nu-tap040104.php
Exercise
is Key to Reversing Obesity-Related Heart Risk in Children
According to a report in the
rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association
the arteries of overweight children act like those of
middle-aged smokers, increasing their risk of an early heart attack or
stroke. But the damage can be reversed
through diet and regular exercise.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/aha-eik040104.php
Low
Activity Levels Found among Children with Asthma due to Parental Health Beliefs
Researchers at the Johns
Hopkins Children's Center report that 20 percent of children with asthma do not
get enough exercise, even though physical activities such as running and
swimming have been shown to decrease the severity of asthma symptoms.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/jhmi-lal040204.php
Administration Rolling Back Progress for Women and Girls with Policies
That Are Out of Sight & Out of Touch
The National Women’s Law Center released a comprehensive report that documents the
ways both well-publicized and carefully hidden,
glaring and subtle, that the Bush Administration is rolling back women’s
progress in every aspect of their lives.
The report, Slip-Sliding Away: The Erosion of Hard-Won Gains for Women Under the Bush Administration and an Agenda for Moving
Forward, shows that many of the Administration’s actions with harsh effects on
women are occurring almost completely without public scrutiny, and some of its
more well-publicized actions have a particularly harsh impact on women that is
not widely known. The report includes
recommended actions that should be taken to expand and protect women’s rights
and opportunities.
http://www.nwlc.org/details.cfm?id=1840§ion=newsroom
**Civil Society/Civic
Engagement
Young Voters Are Low
Priority for Political Parties
According to a groundbreaking
study released today, local political party chairs are not paying attention to
young people, even though an overwhelming majority agree
that the political disengagement by young people is a serious problem and that
parties can make a big difference involving this group. The Republican and Democratic party chairs say the main causes of the problem of youth
participation lies in deficient high school preparation, negative campaigning,
and the media.
http://www.pewtrusts.com/ideas/ideas_item.cfm?content_item_id=2299&content_type_id=7&page=7&issue=7&issue_name=Youth%20voting&name=
American Youth to
Volunteer Service in Their Communities for National Youth Service Day
More than a million young
people in America and millions worldwide will be volunteering their
service in their communities for National Youth Service Day, coming up on April 16-18, 2004, in the largest service event in the world. National
Youth Service Day is being spearheaded by 50 lead agencies in the U.S., along
with more than 90 national partners such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, the
American Red Cross, American Federation of Teachers, and YMCA, to name a few.
http://www.ysa.org/nysd/local_celeb/nysd_localceleb_parent.cfm
Families Should Develop
Media Plan to Take Control of Media Usage
According to a new report
released today by National PTA and Cable in the Classroom, families should
develop a comprehensive media plan that will allow them to become savvy
consumers who can take more control of their TV viewing, Internet and other
media activities
http://www.ciconline.com/Enrichment/MediaLiteracy/NavigatingMediaLandscape/default.htm
Foundation Giving Declined
in 2003
According to the Foundation Center's new report, "Foundation Growth and Giving
Estimates," three consecutive years of stock market losses and a sluggish
and uneven economic recovery caught up with foundations in 2003. Giving by the
nation's nearly 65,000 grantmaking foundations
declined an estimated 2.5 percent to $29.7 billion last year, down from just
over $30 billion in 2002 and 2001.
http://fdncenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml;jsessionid=TBC5HZRZE3P3MP5QALRSGW15AAAACI2F?id=65300021
Community
Development
HUD raises housing
goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development proposed new federal regulations that would
significantly raise the targeted lending requirements for the nation's two
largest mortgage finance companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. HUD estimates
that over the next four years an additional one million low-and moderate-income
families would be served as a result of the new goals.
http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr04-035.cfm
PolicyLink Guide Offers
Innovative Strategies for Police Reform Advocates
For many communities of
color, incidents of racial profiling, excessive use of force,
and questionable stop-and-frisk practices are the norm rather than the
exception and significantly contribute to the erosion of confidence in police
departments. Activists have long sought solutions to help bridge the deep
divide with police and to move toward engagement. PolicyLink offers some
recommended solutions in its latest publication, Organized for Change: The
Activist's Guide to Police Reform.
http://www.policylink.org/PoliceAdvocacy.html
Gun Violence Prevention: A
Bold New Approach
According to a new book by a
Harvard School of Public Health professor , guns are used to kill
about 80 people and wound nearly 300 more in the U.S. every day.
Banning guns is not the answer, instead, the researcher advocates a
public health approach that could sharply reduce gun violence–and backs up
assertions with statistical evidence that has been collected over the past 10
years.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/now/apr2/index.html
**Economic Security
State Income Tax Burdens
on Low-Income Families in 2003
A report from the Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities finds that poor families in many states continue
to face a substantial burden as they file personal income taxes for the 2003
tax year.
http://www.cbpp.org/4-8-04sfp.htm
Tax Foundation Figures
Do Not Represent Middle-Income Tax Burdens
An analysis from the Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that a Tax Foundation report claiming to
identify the day of the year until which Americans must work to pay their taxes
is severely flawed, employing a methodology Alan Greenspan has sharply
criticized; it exaggerates tax burdens nationally and on a state-by-state
basis.
http://www.cbpp.org/4-7-04tax.htm
**Education
That Financing Facilities
Is Biggest Hurdle to Creating Charter Schools
A new study sponsored by
Local Initiatives Support Corporation confirms that facilities financing is one
of the biggest hurdles for charter school operators. By detailing the
experiences of numerous charter schools, the report documents the methods that
have been used to overcome these obstacles.
The Finance Gap: Charter Schools and their Facilities also concludes
that the high cost of financing often severely reduces money available to
schools for instructional budgets.
http://www.liscnet.org/whatsnew/press/releases/2004.04.05.0.shtml
**Health
The Aetna Foundation, Children's Defense Fund Announce New
Effort to Eliminate Disparities in Children's Health
The Aetna Foundation and the
Children's Defense Fund announced a groundbreaking project aimed at identifying
and eliminating disparities in health for minority children. The focus on
pediatrics is unique - most previous efforts to eliminate health disparities
have focused on adults, especially regarding cardiac, cancer and stroke
prevention and care. Aetna, a leader in addressing health disparities, has
awarded CDF a grant of $225,000 over two years to support the project.
http://www.childrensdefense.org/pressreleases/040406.asp
New Online Resources for
Students, Faculty Interested in Health Policy
The Kaiser Family Foundation
is launching kaiserEDU, a new online resource for the
academic community. The free service,
now online at www.kaiserEDU.org, was developed specifically for use by faculty
and students across the country who are interested in
health policy. kaiserEDU provides a range of
information - compiled from the Foundation's own work as well as that of the
larger health policy and research community - that can be used as an integral
part of an academic course or as an additional source for independent research.
http://www.kff.org/onlineresources/kaiserEDU040704nr.cfm
90 Million Americans are Burdened with
Inadequate Health Literacy
A new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies finds that nearly half of all American
adults – 90 million people – have difficulty understanding and using health
information, and there is a higher rate of hospitalization and use of emergency
services among patients with limited health literacy. Limited health literacy may lead to billions
of dollars in avoidable health care costs.
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/0309091179?OpenDocument
Improving Depression
Treatment For Minorities
A study from the RAND
Corporation finds that a program to improve the way primary care medical
practices treat depression created significant benefits for African American
and Latino patients that continued five years after the year-long program
began.
http://www.rand.org/news/press.04/04.05.html
**Seniors
Gaining
Health while Giving Back to the Community
Researchers at the Johns
Hopkins Medical Institutions have found that older adults who volunteer in
troubled urban schools not only improve the educational experience of children,
but realize meaningful improvements in their own mental and physical health.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/jhmi-ghw040104.php
Older
People Recover from Disabling Events at Higher Rate than Previously Thought
According to a study by Yale
University School of Medicine researchers approximately four out of every five
newly-disabled older people regain the ability to live independently within 6
months of their disability episode, a higher recovery rate than previously
reported.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/nioa-opr040204.php
**Substance Abuse
Early Substance Use Haunts
Older Teens and Young Adults
Research from the RAND
Corporation Alcohol finds that tobacco, and other drugs are in the nation's
schools -- sidetracking kids from getting a good education and from building a
productive, healthy life.
http://www.rand.org/publications/RB/RB4560/
Powerful Tactics for
Preventing Teen Smoking
According to new findings by
researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the simple act of requesting to sit in a nonsmoking
section may have profound benefits beyond avoiding second-hand smoke. Parents who routinely engage in such
anti-smoking behaviors in front of their adolescent children - particularly
parents who themselves smoke - appear to significantly reduce their offspring's
chances of becoming a smoker by their senior year in high school
http://www.fhcrc.org/news/science/2004/04/05/teensmoking.html
Study Finds Lesbian,
Bisexual Girls Are at Heightened Risk for Tobacco Use
A new study from researchers
at Children's Hospital Boston and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston has found that lesbian and bisexual girls may be
among the hardest hit by tobacco among the nation's young people. Researchers found that lesbian and bisexual girls ages 12 to 17 were almost 10 times more likely to say
they smoke weekly compared to heterosexual girls of the same age.
http://www.childrenshospital.org/cfapps/CHdeptPagePressDisplay.cfm?Dept=Press%20Room&PageNbr=84&ParentPage=1
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