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**Children, Youth & Families
Parents, Kids Don't See Obesity as Health Problem
A study published
in the journal of the American Dietetic Association sheds light on the
attitudes that children and their parents have on childhood overweight. Most "'tweens"
(children 8 - 12) give little thought to healthy weight, neither recognizing its
immediate benefits nor its long-term importance. They relate their weight to
athletic performance and overall appearance - not health. "Neither kids nor
their parents see obesity as a health issue. Parents tend to
characterize overweight as a social issue, worrying about how it will affect
their child's self-esteem and acceptance by peers," said the lead author
of the report.
http://ific.org/proactive/newsroom/release.vtml?id=21289
Teens Face Worst Summer
Job Market in 40 Years
According to a new report
released by Northeastern University, this year’s crop of teens face the
bleakest summer jobs market in nearly 40 years.
The report cites a faltering national economy as the principal cause of
teens’ labor market difficulties, but argues that the elimination of federal
funding specifically earmarked for summer jobs programs as well as state and
local budget crises have exacerbated these problems.
http://www.nlc.org/nlc_org/site/newsroom/nations_cities_weekly/display.cfm?id=0D7B7390-D471-4F5B-A17E069904C92A22
Millions of Older
Americans Need Help With Daily Tasks
A new survey
finds that more than one quarter of Americans over age 55, approximately 16
million people, struggle with daily activities as simple as shopping, cooking
and housework. Nearly one half of those who have difficulty do not receive any
help from family or others.
http://www.fiavolunteers.org/newsroom/index.cfm
Victims of
Child Abuse May Have Hidden Head Injuries
According to new
research from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, abused children may have hidden head
injuries that go undetected by routine examination and screening. The researchers recommend that healthcare
personnel perform brain scans to screen for hidden head injuries in children
with suspected abuse who are less than six months of age or who present with
high-risk injuries, including rib fractures, multiple skeletal fractures or
facial injuries.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-06/chop-voc052903.php
Threatened Progress: U.S. in Danger of Losing Ground on Child
Care for Low-Income Working Families
A report from the Center for
Law and Social Policy finds that between 1996 and 2001, federal and state
spending on child care tripled and the number of children served more than
doubled. However, even during this period of growth and progress, the great
majority of eligible children remained unserved. States used increased child care funding to
address three goals: (1) meet new welfare work requirements, (2) increase the
number of non-welfare families receiving care, and (3) improve the quality of
care. States are now in danger of losing ground on all three—due principally to
frozen federal funding for child care, dwindling welfare reserves, and the
continuing fiscal crises in the states.
PDF: http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1054310396.55/CC_brief2.pdf
YouthRules! Marks One-Year Anniversary, Continues to Expand
YouthRules!
a public awareness campaign launched by U.S. Department
of Labor one year ago to bring teens, parents, educators, and employers
together to promote safe and rewarding work experiences for young workers,
unveiled a re-designed and introduced new strategic partners. The website, a gateway to information on the
Internet about young workers, is designed to efficiently disseminate
information to teens, employers, and educators on the youth employment laws.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/esa/ESA2003282.htm
**Civil Society
& Philanthropy
Findings Show Reasonable
Reform Measure Could Pump Billions Into Charities
While Preserving Foundations
A new analysis from the
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) suggests that private foundations
can afford to devote up to an additional $4.3 billion annually to nonprofits
while sustaining themselves for the long term and enhancing their own
efficiency. The findings lend support to
a provision in a bipartisan charity aid bill in Congress, Sec. 105 of H.R. 7, that would help foundations focus their required
charitable spending almost entirely on grants.
The reform would end foundations' practice of counting much of their own
administrative costs toward their annual charitable spending obligations.
http://www.ncrp.org/Press%20Release%20-%20Reasonable%20Reform.htm
**Disabilities
Latest Edition of the NCD Bulletin
The National Council on Disability released the latest edition of NCD Bulletin, a monthly publication. Included in this edition is an update of the
Council’s activities around the 2003 reauthorization of five laws important to
people with disabilities: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the
Workforce Investment Act (WIA), the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Transportation Equity Act (TEA-21), and
the Higher Education Act (HEA).
http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/bulletins/b0503.html
** Economic Security
Bush Tax Cuts To
Send Revenues, As A Share Of GDP, To Lowest Level Since 1959
Analysis from the Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities finds that in 2003 total federal revenues as a
share of the economy will fall to their lowest level since the end of the
Eisenhower Administration. Based on the latest Congressional Budget Office
estimates of revenues and the Joint Committee on Taxation’s estimate of the
cost of the tax-cut legislation signed into law on May 28, 2003, federal revenues this fiscal year will equal between
16.4 percent and 16.7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. The last time that revenues as a share of the
economy fell below 17 percent was in 1959.
http://www.cbpp.org/6-4-03tax.htm
**Education
Head Start Reauthorization: A Preliminary Analysis, the “School
Readiness Act of 2003”
This year, Congress is
scheduled to reauthorize Head Start, a federal-to-local grant program for the
provision of early childhood education and comprehensive services, including
health, nutrition, parental involvement, social, and other services, for
low-income preschool children and their families. On May 22nd, the House
Committee on Education and the Workforce filed the first reauthorization bill
of the process. This preliminary analysis from the Center for Law and Social
Policy provides section-by-section details on what the bill proposes, noting
where questions remain about the meaning and intent of the language.
http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1054591317.28/view_html
Urban Children’s Low
Perceptions of Health Could Hinder Educational Success
According to a new study from
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, children in urban elementary schools perceive their
health-related quality of life to be low as early as the second grade. The study discovered an association between
health-related quality of life and school connectedness – an association
suggesting that health and educational programs that improve a child's
attachment to school could result in improved perceptions of health by urban
children.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-06/chmc-ucl052803.php
First Sign of the New
Accountability
An article in Principal
Leadership magazine explains that The No Child Left Behind
Act (NCLB) is the latest national effort to bring "more
accountability"-a favorite catchphrase of policymakers-to public
education. Unlike past federal legislation, however, this law aims to hold
every public school accountable for performance, even those that do not
directly benefit from federal aid. The act has already had an effect on states,
and by fall 2003, it will be felt in all public schools. The article explains the public school choice
and supplementary education services provisions under the No Child Left Behind Act.
http://www.nassp.org/news/pl_first_signs_0503.html
Early Victories, Serious
Challenges
A chapter from Miles to Go:
Reflections on Mid-Course Corrections for Standards-Based Reform discusses the
evolution of the standards movement in the United States.
http://www.ctredpol.org/standardsbasededucationreform/earlyvictoriesseriouschallenges/earlyvictoriesseriouschallenges.htm
**HIV/AIDS
Failing to
Meet HIV Prevention Goals Could Cost Nation $18 Billion
A study from
Emory University Rollins School of Public Health finds that failure to reduce
new HIV infections in the United States by 50 percent in the next two years not
only will have substantial human consequences, but could cost the nation more
than $18 billion. The study analyzed the
fiscal implications of the failure to meet this national goal set by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in January 2001.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-06/euhs-ftm060303.php
Some with HIV
Have Unprotected Sex without Disclosure
According to a
new study in the American Journal of Public Health, thirteen percent of
HIV-positive people are having unprotected sex with partners who are
HIV-negative or uncertain of their virus status without telling these partners
that they have HIV.
http://www.hbns.org/news/disclose06-03-03.cfm
**Health
Study Estimates Coverage
of the Uninsured Would Add Up to $69 Billion in Overall Health Care Spending
A new study from researchers
at the Urban Institute finds that if the country provided universal coverage
under the current health system, the cost of additional medical care provided
to the newly insured would increase health spending's
share of gross domestic product by less than one percentage point - or about 3
to 6 percent of total health care spending.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/NewReports.cfm&PublicationID=8423
Government Regulations
Contribute to Medical Debt of Uninsured and Underinsured
A new
Commonwealth Fund report, Unintended Consequences: How Federal Regulations and
Hospital Policies Can Leave Patients in Debt, reveals some patients face
unmanageable medical bills because unclear federal fraud laws and Medicare
regulations may encourage providers to bill the uninsured more than those with
insurance for the same service. To address this problem, CMS could clarify
rules to address providers' concerns, and hospitals could establish standard
criteria and simplify applications for free or reduced-cost care.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-06/cf-grc060203.php
Failure to Thrive: The Continuing Poor Health of Medical Child
Support
A report from the Center for
Law and Social Policy reports that the state child support enforcement program
can better assist the uninsured children under its purview in obtaining
coverage. First, it could require a parent with access to coverage to enroll
the child and allocate any associated costs for premiums, co-payments, and
deductibles between the parents. Second, when neither parent has access to
private coverage, the state child support agency can provide information to the
custodial parent about public coverage and help the custodial parent enroll the
child in such coverage.
http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1054585921.0/view_html
State Fiscal Relief Provides An Opportunity To Safeguard Medicaid Budgets
According to the Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities the new state fiscal relief legislation gives
states the opportunity to avert unnecessary and harmful Medicaid budget cuts
and/or to restore some cuts that have already been made.
http://www.cbpp.org/6-4-03mcaid.htm
**Violence
Live With a
Gun, Die by a Gun
If you keep a gun
in the home, you dramatically increase the odds that you will die of a gunshot
wound, according to research published in the June issue of the Annals of
Emergency Medicine. The University of
Pennsylvania study found that people with a gun in their home were almost twice
as likely to die in a gun-related homicide, and 16 times more likely to use a
gun to commit suicide, than people without a gun in their home. The findings
support widely debated studies published a decade ago in the New England
Journal of Medicine that also link the presence of a gun in the house with
increased rates of suicide and death by homicide.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-06/uopm-lwa060403.php
**Welfare &
Welfare Reform
TANF
and the Status of Teen Mothers under Age 18
Researchers from the Urban
Institute find that, in the short term, there is no evidence that minor teen
mothers were harmed or helped much by residency and activity requirements in
TANF or even by welfare reform policies in general. Using data from the
National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1997 cohort, they find few significant
differences in minor teen birth rates, living arrangements, and school
enrollment between 1997 and 2000. While
not significant, the trends are consistent with the goal of welfare reform to
reduce teen childbearing. Although their
receipt of cash assistance has dropped significantly, about 80 percent of minor
teen moms receive some form of public assistance.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/NewReports.cfm&PublicationID=8419
GAO Finds State Child
Care Assistance Limits Disproportionately Impact Low-Income, Working, Non-TANF
Families and Children
An analysis from the Center for Law and Social Policy
summarizes a recent report by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) that
found that, since January 2001, 23 states have adopted policies that reduce the
overall availability of child care assistance for low-income working families.
The GAO’s “findings indicate that entry into and remaining in the child care
assistance program may be less possible for families, particularly for families
not associated with the welfare system.” As long as child care resources are
constrained, states will need to make difficult policy trade-offs when allocating
child care assistance among needy families. The report concludes that increased
federal child care funding is needed to effectuate Congressional intent and
ensure that more vulnerable, low-income, working families receive the child
care assistance they need to support their families and stay off of public
assistance.
PDF: http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1054753553.77/GAO_cc.pdf
States Are Cutting TANF And Child Care Programs
According to the Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities more than 35 states have made cuts in programs
funded with TANF and child care block grant funds, and most of these cuts are
in programs that promote the goals of welfare reform. The cuts reflect
both the exhaustion of many states’ surplus TANF funds from prior years and the
large budget gaps many states face. The breadth and depth of these cuts
highlight the importance of upcoming Congressional action on legislation to
reauthorize TANF.
http://www.cbpp.org/6-3-03tanf.htm
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