Office for Victims of
Crime - Call for Concept Papers
From: Office for
Victims of Crime
Office for Victims of Crime
is now accepting concept papers on innovative and replicable initiatives that
improve the delivery of crime victim services and support the implementation
of victims' rights. This call for papers is a preliminary step to apply for
FY 2006 discretionary funding that supports national scope training, technical
assistance, and demonstration projects. Eligible applicants include national
and state nonprofit victim organizations, faith- and community-based organizations,
public agencies (including federal, state, and local governments) with victim
responsibilities, and tribal and nongovernmental organizations.
http://www.ovc.gov/fund/dakit.htm#call
**Children, Youth &
Families
Study is First to Research
Spirituality in Youth-Serving Agencies
In Adolescent Heart &
Soul, the first-ever study of spiritual programming in youth-service agencies,
researchers studied the practice and potential of spiritual interventions
in helping troubled adolescents across the USA. The report is groundbreaking in its comprehensive
look at the ways social service agencies are introducing spiritual programming,
both religious and secular, into work with troubled adolescents. Spiritual
activities were defined as those explicitly intended to enhance clients' sense
of awareness, wholeness, and well-being, and help them tap into sources of
inner strength.
PDF: http://www.nenetwork.org/publications/Heart.and.Soul.pdf
Perceptions of Weight
Important Risk Factor for Suicidal Behavior in Adolescents
According to a study in
the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, how adolescents
perceive their body weight may be more important than their actual weight
in terms of increased likelihood of suicidal thoughts and attempts.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/jaaj-pow060205.php
Children and Adolescents
Incorporate Brands into their Self-Concepts
An article in the June 2005
issue of the Journal of Consumer Research reports on findings from a series
of studies into the development of self-brand connections in children and
young adults. The findings suggest that as one ages, particularly between
middle school and adolescence, the number and sophistication of the self-brand
connections increases. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/uocp-by060205.php
Mental Illness Exacts
Heavy Toll, Beginning in Youth
Researchers supported by
the National Institute of Mental Health have found that half of all lifetime
cases of mental illness begin by age 14 and that despite effective treatments,
there are long delays -- sometimes decades -- between first onset of symptoms
and when people seek and receive treatment. The study also reveals that an
untreated mental disorder can lead to a more severe, more difficult to treat
illness, and to the development of co-occurring mental illnesses.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/niom-mie060105.php
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High School Start Times
Deprive Teens of Sleep, Affect Academic Performance
According to a study in
the June issue of the journal Pediatrics, current high school start times
deprive adolescents of sleep and force students to perform academically in
the early morning, a time of day when they are at their worst.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/nu-hss052505.php
Overly tired teen? Sleepiness
May Signal Serious Health Problem
In a major new report in
Pediatrics by researchers at Brown University, doctors who care for young adults
are warned that computer games and caffeine may not be the only sources of
teen sleep deprivation. Sleep apnea, depression and other medical disorders
could be to blame.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/bu-ott060305.php
**Civic Engagement
Hispanic Growth Surge
Fueled by Births in U.S.
Hispanics accounted for
about half the growth in the U.S.
population since 2000, according to a Census Bureau report indicates the nation's
largest minority group is increasing its presence even faster than in the
previous decade.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/08/AR2005060802381.html?nav=rss_nation
**Community Development
Project Strives to Reduce
Gun Violence in the U.S.
Project Safe Neighborhoods
(PSN) is a comprehensive, strategic approach to reducing gun violence in America. RAND supports the research and planning for PSN task forces, and aims to improve
cooperation between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. The
goals of this program are to increase the capacity of PSN task forces to design
data-driven strategies that produce measurable decreases in firearms-related
crime, and improve the long-term ability of federal, state, and local agencies
to work together to understand, prosecute, and prevent firearms-related violent
crime within their jurisdictions.
http://www.rand.org/ise/projects/safeneighborhoods/
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Get more information on
these issues at http://www.ecommunityissues.com.
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Sector Skills Academy's Marano Fellows Selected
The Marano Fellows come
from organizations representing a variety of institutional types including:
community- and faith-based organizations, business associations, labor-management
partnerships, workforce development boards, community colleges and community
development corporations. They are based in urban, suburban and rural locations
throughout the country and work in a range of sectors from health care to
automobile manufacturing to biotechnology to the arts and more. The Fellows
bring a wealth of experience, skill and passion that will make the Academy
a dynamic and fruitful learning experience, and contribute to the scope and
scale of the sectoral employment development field.
http://www.sectorskillsacademy.org/#Fellows
**Disabilities
For Disabled Parents,
Extra Family Services Could Improve Entire Family's Health
Research from Tufts University illustrates the role parental disability plays in overall
family health as indicated by immunization rates for children. The report
assesses the likelihood that children of parents with a disability receive
their childhood immunizations on time. Disability is identified as the gap
between a personal capability and an environmental demand, and is modifiable
through intervention.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/tu-fdp060605.php
**Economic Security
The Impact of Tax Reform
on Low- and Middle-Income Households: Testimony Submitted to the House Committee
on Ways and Means
This testimony by The
Urban Institute focuses on how the income tax system affects low- and
middle-income taxpayers and the potential effects of tax reform. Despite its
flaws and some recent erosion, the income tax is highly progressive and is
an important source of income support for low-income households. Tax reform
could help low- and middle-income households by reducing their tax burdens
further, but some so-called fundamental tax reform proposals could shift the
tax burden away from those most able to pay to those least able.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=9287
Social Security Reform:
Statement before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate
According to The
Urban Institute the Social Security debate could and should be part of
a larger one in which we engage our fellow citizens in figuring out how to
take best advantage of new opportunities created by longer lives and better
health. Since Social Security was first enacted, vast changes have occurred
in the economy, life expectancy, health care, the physical demands of jobs,
the labor force participation of women, and even the age at which one can
be considered old. This testimony focuses especially on our increasing inability
to protect the young, the truly old, and the vulnerable when Social Security
morphs into a middle-age retirement system.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=9279
A
Brief Comparison of the Marriage-Related Provisions in Welfare Reauthorization
Bills
A paper from the Center
for Law and Social Policy summarizes the marriage provisions in the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) reauthorization bill passed by the House
Human Resources Subcommittee and the one passed by the Senate Finance Committee.
It also compares the bills in a side-by-side chart.
PDF: http://www.clasp.org/publications/sbs_marriage_060805.pdf
Side-by-Side Comparison
of Child Support and Fatherhood Program Provisions in Welfare Reauthorization
Bills
A chart from the Center
for Law and Social Policy summarizes the marriage and fatherhood provisions
in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) reauthorization bill
passed by the House Human Resources Subcommittee and the one passed by the
Senate Finance Committee.
PDF: http://www.clasp.org/publications/cs_sbs_060605.pdf
**Education
HHS Releases Head Start
Impact Study
The Department of Health
and Human Services announced the initial findings of a study on the impacts
of the Head Start program. The report, entitled Head Start Impact Study:
First Year Findings, indicates that while children in Head Start reap positive
benefits, on most measures Head Start graduates and enrollees continue to
lag significantly behind children from more economically advantaged families.
The study found that Head Start produced small to moderate impacts in areas
such as pre-reading, pre-writing, vocabulary and in health and parent practice
domains. However these impacts did not close the gap between low-income children
in the Head Start program and the general population of three- and four-year
olds.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2005pres/20050609.html
Full Report: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hs/impact_study/reports/first_yr_finds/firstyr_finds_toc.html
Ensuring Academic Rigor
or Inducing Rigor Mortis? Issues to Watch in Reading First
According to the Center
on Education Policy, under Reading First, a grant program authorized under
the No Child Left Behind Act, $1 billion has been distributed to states for
grants to school districts to improve student reading in grades k-3. While
it is too early to determine the full effects of Reading First, policymakers,
administrators, and educators need to know whether Reading First makes reading
instruction more rigorous and thus more effective, or whether it restricts
reading instruction, so that rigor mortis sets in and programs become ineffective.
This report defines areas of Reading First that policymakers and educators
should pay special attention to over the next few years.
PDF: http://www.ctredpol.org/fededprograms/ReadingFirst/ReadingFirst7June2005.pdf
How Have High School Exit Exams Changed Our Schools: Some
Perspectives from Virginia
and Maryland
"How have High School
Exit Exams changed our Schools? Perspectives from Virginia and Maryland" is a new report by the Center on Education Policy adding
to work in tracking the local implementation of state high school exit exams.
With exams now required for graduation in 19 states, the report reveals a
first look at how the tests are changing behavior of students, teachers and
administrators in America's high schools.
PDF: http://www.ctredpol.org/highschoolexit/change/CEP_HS_EE_9June2005.pdf
Who Graduates in the
South?
This research brief from
The Urban Institute presents a new analysis
of high school graduation rates in the South. Graduation rates are calculated
using the Cumulative Promotion Index (CPI), a widely-reported statistic developed
at the Urban Institute. Results show that the region's overall graduation
rate of 65 percent falls below the national average and that large disparities
exist among racial-ethnic groups. A slight narrowing of this graduation gap
has occurred during the past several years.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=9284
**Health
Improving Well-Child
Care in Medicaid Managed Care
A new Commonwealth Fund
report finds that although state Medicaid agencies typically work with external
quality review organizations to assess the quality of health care they provide,
only a handful of states are using these organizations to improve the quality
of preventive and developmental services.
http://www.cmwf.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=278078
Latest Data on Medicaid
Spending on Mandatory and Optional Populations and Services
Two new Kaiser Commission
on Medicaid and the Uninsured reports show that although optional populations
account for 29 percent of Medicaid enrollment, 60 percent of all Medicaid
spending (whether for mandatory or optional populations) is optional and 86
percent of optional spending is for the elderly or individuals with disabilities.
http://www.kff.org/medicaid/kcmu060705pkg.cfm
Low-Income Assistance
under the Medicare Drug Benefit
According to the
Kaiser Family Foundation:
Beginning in 2006, 42 million
elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries will have access to prescription
drug coverage through Part D of the Medicare program, including an estimated
14.4 million who will be eligible for low-income subsidies. This fact sheet
provides an overview of the drug benefit and the low-income subsidies and
explores how such changes will affect participation and eligibility.
http://www.kff.org/medicare/7327.cfm
Paying a Premium:
The Added Cost of Care for the Uninsured
A report from Families USA
quantifies, for the first time, the dollar impact on private health insurance
premiums of care provided to the uninsured. The report includes data for
each state.
http://www.familiesusa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Media_Release_Paying_A_Premium
Prevalence and Severity
of Mental Illness in the United States
According to a study in
the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, over the course of the previous
12 months, more than one-fourth of adults reported having symptoms that would
qualify them for a diagnosis of a mental disorder; and most of those disorders
can be classified as serious or moderate, , one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/jaaj-pas060205.php
The Latest U.S. Mental Health Tracking Survey Shows
Mixed Results of Progress
In a set of four papers
published in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, the survey
authors reported that a majority of Americans will have a mental health disorder
at some time in their life, but that most are mild; that those disorders often
go untreated; and that even when treatment does occur, the care provided will
likely not meet recommended mental health treatment guidelines for the disease.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/hms-tlu060305.php
KNOW HIV/AIDS - Promotes
HIV Testing
Viacom Inc. and the Kaiser
Family Foundation announced, as part of their Emmy and Peabody Award-winning
public education campaign, KNOW HIV/AIDS, a new series of public service announcements
(PSAs) and other programming to encourage young people and those at higher-risk
for HIV to get tested. The latest wave of the campaign comes in the lead-up
to National HIV Testing Day (June 27). Since launching KNOW HIV/AIDS in January
2003, Viacom has committed $600 million in media value as part of its partnership
with Kaiser.
http://www.kff.org/hivaids/PHIP060605NR.cfm
**Hunger and Nutrition
Housing Subsidies may
Help Prevent Children's Under-Nutrition
According to a study in
the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, the children
of low-income families who receive public housing rent subsidies had greater
weight for age, an indicator of better nutrition, than children whose families
did not receive rent subsidies.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/jaaj-hsm060205.php
Food Stamp Participation
in March 2005 Increased Over February 2005
According to the Food Research
and Action Center, food stamp participation increased by 155,096 persons in
March 2005 to 25,443,097 persons. This follows two consecutive monthly caseload
declines and puts the over-the-year increase in Food Stamp Program participation
to more than 1.6 million persons. Food Stamp Program growth over the year
reflects continuing joblessness, state actions to improve access, and the
effects of the food stamp reauthorization implementation.
http://www.frac.org/html/news/fsp/03.05_FSP.html
