Low-Income Americans Less Worried About Terror Attacks; Housing, Health
Care and Education of Greater Concern
A poll by Denver-based affordable
housing developer Mercy Housing and St. John's University in New York found
that despite reports that warn of the possibility of further terror attacks on
U.S. soil, a recent study shows that low-income Americans are less concerned
about homeland security than about basic needs like housing, health care and
education. The poll found that housing was the number one concern among
Americans (49.8 percent), whose annual incomes average $15,280. Healthcare
(43.8 percent) and education (31.6 percent) were a close second and third, with
terrorist attack (24.9 percent) ranking lower.
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What Works to Raise Healthy and Safe Teenagers
Child Trends has released a new research brief, Encouraging
Teens to Adopt a Safe, Healthy Lifestyle: A Foundation for Improving Future
Adult Behaviors. Child Trends reviewed more than 200 of the best research
studies on adolescent health and safety to identify specific strategies that
prevent teen smoking and encourage exercise, healthy eating and sufficient
sleep. The research shows that simply providing information to teens will not
alone change or improve their behaviors, instead, programs that have been
successful in promoting a healthy lifestyle among teens are multifaceted -
focusing on social skills and behavior - and aspire to long-term change. http://www.childtrends.org/n_teenhealth.asp
New Resource for Children, Youth and Family Indicators
Child Trends has introduced Child Trends Databank that
provides the latest national trends and research on over 70 key indicators of
child and youth well-being, with new indicators added each month.
http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/
Youth Access Interventions Do
Not Affect Youth Smoking
A new study highlighted by the Promising Practices Network from
the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education examines prior data in an
effort to determine whether smoking rates among adolescents are affected by
restrictions on access to cigarettes. Findings are discussed in "Youth
Access Interventions Do Not Affect Youth Smoking."
http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/abstract/109/6/1088
Teens Making More Responsible
Decisions
A report from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention shows that high school students are acting more
responsibly by avoiding tobacco, marijuana, risky sexual behavior and other
potentially dangerous behaviors that increase their risk for injury, illness
and death. The 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) report
reveals continued positive trends in most measures of students' injury- and
violence-related behaviors, as well as sexual behaviors that increase the risk
for HIV infection, other STDs, and unintended pregnancies
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs/
After-School
Programs: More than Safe Places for Children; Quality Activities Improve
Children's Ability to Learn
Working parents and teachers see after-school programs no
longer as optional, but as an essential support for children as they grow and
develop, according to a new national study of after-school programs, released
today by the Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds. Nearly 80 percent of parents
surveyed in the study said that after-school programs helped their children
cope with behavioral problems and helped them obtain new skills to meet
increased demands in school.
http://www.ppv.org/content/reports/ess-multi-full.html
**Community Development
Comeback
in the Bronx
In 1986, Jill Jones published a
book that chronicled the decline of the Bronx from the "borough of parks
and universities" to the classic urban nightmare, as well as its struggle
to recover. An article in a current publication from the Ford Foundation
outlines her observations on the borough's revival since then, which reflects
the work of strong community organizations and a city commitment to new
housing.
http://www.fordfound.org/publications/ff_report/view_ff_report_detail.cfm?report_index=342
New National Research on Linguistic Profiling in Housing
The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), the nation's
leading civil rights organization focused on the elimination of housing
discrimination, today announced a new partnership to track housing
discrimination based on racial dialect. The project will utilize NFHA testers
nationwide and will be conducted in collaboration with Stanford University
Professor of Education and Linguistics, Dr. John Baugh. The work will expand
Dr. Baugh's research on linguistic profiling in which Dr. Baugh uses racially
identifiable dialects to gauge telephone-based screening of -- and
discrimination against -- minorities by housing providers. The announcement
comes on the heels of President Bush's new push to boost minority home
ownership.
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Securing Supportive Housing Program's Future through Effective Asset
Management
AIDS Housing of Washington
released a guide to basic asset management in supportive housing: Designed as
an introduction to the basic concepts of asset management, this guide,
translates successful practices from mainstream affordable housing to the
specialized context of AIDS and supportive housing. It includes both guidelines
for planning and implementing effective asset management strategies and a
reference section that will help providers find both training opportunities and
additional resource materials available in print and on the Internet.
http://www.aidshousing.org/newsletter2210/newsletter_show.htm?doc_id=114534
University Bank Introduces
the $1.3 Million Urban Revitalization Fund
University Bank, the only
F.D.I.C. insured Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in Minnesota,
has created the Urban Revitalization Fund (URF); a socially responsible
investment option to support economically challenged communities in the Twin
Cities' area. The URF was designed for individuals and businesses at the local
bank level to receive and utilize University Bank's "double bottom
line" concept — to save money at competitive interest rates while doing
good within the Twin Cities' neighborhoods. University Bank has already raised
$1.3 million for the URF from individuals, local businesses, faith-based
organizations and other CDFI banks across the country that believe in the
bank's mission to improve the community.
http://socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi?sfArticleId=865
**Education
Supreme Court Rules on School Voucher Programs
The Supreme Court has ruled that school voucher programs are constitutional
if they provide parents a choice among a range of religious and secular
schools. A recent study, conducted in RAND
Education, provides the most comprehensive examination of the
nation's experience with vouchers and charter schools to date. It concludes
that so many key questions remain unanswered that neither the hopes of choice
supporters nor the fears of its opponents can currently be confirmed. This
book is available for free online.
http://www.rand.org/hot/Press/vouchers.html
**Health
Controlling the Spread of HIV/AIDS - More
Than Medicine
The summer 2002 issue of the Ford Foundation Report offers four articles
what is being done to contain AIDS epidemic. The stories reflect programs and
approaches from Brazil, Kenya, New York City and Washington State.
http://www.fordfound.org/publications/ff_report/index.cfm?report_year=2002&issue=Summer
Health Tax Package Provides
Little Assistance to People with Long-Term Care Needs
A paper from the Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities analyzes the House Ways & Means Committee that
includes two provisions related to long-term care. The first provision
would provide a deduction for the purchase of long-term care insurance.
The second provision would permit taxpayers who care for family members with
long-term care needs in their homes to claim an additional personal exemption
on their tax return. The tax provisions that are
likely to be ineffective in helping lower and middle-income people address
their long-term care needs.
http://www.cbpp.org/6-26-02health.htm
Popular Prescription Drugs for Seniors Rose Three Times the Rate of
Inflation Last Year
A new report released by Families
USA finds that the prices of the 50 most prescribed drugs for senior citizens
rose, on average, by nearly three times the rate of inflation last year. The
report found that last year, nearly three quarters (36 out of 50) of these
drugs rose at least one-and-one-half times the rate of inflation, while over
one-third (18 of 50) rose three or more times the rate of inflation. http://www.familiesusa.org/popularprescription.htm
**Philanthropy and Nonprofit
Management
Faith
and Philanthropy Report Shows Donors to Religion Also Most Generous to Other
Causes
A new report released by INDEPENDENT SECTOR and the National
Council of Churches details the extraordinary philanthropy of America's givers
to religion. Faith and Philanthropy: The Connection Between Charitable Behavior
and Giving to Religion reveals that households that give to religion are the
bedrock of giving to the nation's nonprofit organizations. Households that give
to both religious and secular causes give more money and volunteer more than
households that give to only one type of organization.
http://www.independentsector.org/media/FaithPR.html
**Technology
How to get the right technology volunteers
Technology support providers and
nonprofits, especially small nonprofit organizations, often find themselves
challenged to effectively manage volunteers to deliver services and support
administrative functions. In recent years, many people with technology skills
have become increasingly motivated to donate their time and expertise to
nonprofits. In many cases, these sorts of volunteer/nonprofit matches have had
positive results, moving organizations with little technological capacity into
a whole new league, making them more efficient, opening up new possibilities about
how to do their work. But there can be many pitfalls in relying on volunteers
that make offers of help not too helpful.
http://www.techsoup.org/articlepage.cfm?ArticleId=398&topicid=7&cg=summit&sg=062602
**Violence Prevention
Teen Gun Survey to Released
The third annual Teen Gun Survey
sponsored by the Uhlich Children’s Home in Chicago found that over 40% of America’s
teenagers know someone who has been shot and over one third know how to get a
gun.
http://www.uhlich.org/gunsurvey.htm
**Welfare Reform
Teen Pregnancy Prevention and
Welfare Reform
From the National Campaign to Prevent
Teen Pregnancy - On June 26, 2002 the Senate Finance Committee approved welfare reform
reauthorization legislation on a 13-8 vote that included four very positive
provisions related to teen pregnancy prevention. Taken together, these
provisions will make major contributions to improving the life prospects of
young women and men and the well-being of their children and will provide
valuable new resources to help organizations around the nation make additional
progress in reducing teen pregnancy.
http://www.teenpregnancy.org/about/legislative.asp
Senate Finance Committee Bill Offers Improvements to Welfare
System
From the Center for Community Change - The Senate Finance
Committee adopted a bipartisan bill that expands education and training,
restores benefits to legal immigrants, and provides help to low-wage workers
and children. The bill decisively rejects the punitive and prescriptive
approach taken by the House and the Administration.
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