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SENATE MOVING APPROPRIATIONS BILLS; TIGHT
BUDGETS MEAN CUTS TO SOCIAL SERVICES
To date, the House of Representatives has approved only four
of the 13 appropriations bills that need authorization before October 1st,
2002, the beginning of fiscal year (FY) 2003, while the Senate has passed only
one. The annual appropriations process has been stalled over negotiations
around the FY 2002 supplemental appropriations bill, which finally issued a
conference agreement last week (see above).
The prospects of a "lame duck" session of Congress, when
members return in November after elections to finish pending legislation, are
increasing day by day. http://64.95.130.47/webx?57@@.1dce310a
**Children, Youth & Families
HHS, National
Adoption Center
Launch Internet Adoption
The Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) and the National
Adoption Center
today launched a new Web site, called AdoptUSKids, to
increase adoption opportunities for foster care children. The Web site -- http://www.adoptuskids.org -- features
photographs and biographies of children in the foster care system across the
country who are available for adoption. A
public-private partnership, AdoptUSKids will link
potential families with children they might not have been aware of otherwise.
http://64.95.130.47/webx?13@@.1dce3043
Nearly 20.5 Million
Children of Employed Parents in Child Care
New research from the Urban
Institute's Assessing the New Federalism project finds that most
children whose parents work are in some form of child care during non-school
hours, but the type of care varies dramatically, depending on family structure,
income, and age of the child. "Despite
increased investment in child care subsidies, the use of child care centers
declined for preschool children in low-income two-parent families from 1997 to
1999," notes the author of the new Urban Institute study. "These
findings suggest that child care policymakers should address the needs of
two-parent families, in addition to single-parent families."
http://www.urban.org/ViewPub.cfm?PublicationID=7763
 Promoting the Emotional Well-Being of Children and
Families - Policy Paper #3
National Center on Children in Poverty' has released Ready to Enter: What
Research Tells Policymakers About Strategies to Promote Social and Emotional
School Readiness Among Three- and Four-Year-Old Children, the third policy
paper in the series. This paper focuses on what emerging research tells
policymakers about why it is so important to intervene to help young children
at risk for poor social, emotional, and behavioral development and what kinds
of research-based interventions seem most effective.
PDF: http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nccp/ProEmoPP3.html
A new survey concludes that more 6th- through 12th-grade
students are staying away from alcohol and other drugs. According to the 2001-02 Pride Survey,
22.3 percent of students said they used marijuana, cocaine, heroin,
hallucinogens, or other illegal drugs in the previous 12 months, the lowest
level registered since the 1993-93 school year.
In addition, the cadre of students who said they drank alcohol, 65
percent, or smoked cigarettes, 36 percent, in the previous 12 months was the
smallest in the 15-year history of the survey.
http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/summaries/reader/0%2C1854%2C552784%2C00.html
Promoting the Health of Working Families
According to a report from the National Policy Association,
the United States
must to put greater public policy emphasis on addressing the relationship
between work and a healthy family life. The report, Improving the Health of
Working Families finds that "Despite the fact that many countries take the
links between social determinants and health as a given, the United
States rarely considers the impact of social
and economic policy on health."
http://64.95.130.47/webx?13@@.1dce303d
HHS Launches New Bilingual Effort to Expand
Health Insurance Coverage for Hispanic Children
The Department of Health and Human Services released a new
bilingual booklet to provide information to Spanish-speaking parents whose
children may be eligible for health insurance benefits through the State
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Medicaid. "This new booklet will help to expand
health insurance coverage to eligible children in the Hispanic community by
providing information to families about the benefits available to their kids
http://www.insurekidsnow.gov
Districts Placing Focus on Covert Aggression Among
Girls
Ostracism, put-downs, and other forms of covert aggression
among girls are receiving increased attention in schools in the wake of two
recent books, but districts are finding that changing deeply ingrained behavior
is not easy. School officials, counselors, and psychologists who have seen
girls' covert aggression at work say it should receive the same attention as
physical bullying, but that it often goes on unabated because it does not
disrupt order in the classroom or the school, according to the August issue of
American School Board Journal.
http://www.asbj.com/current/coverstory.html
**Community Development
New Venture Fund to Create Jobs, Provide a Return to Do More Good
A group of Baltimore area foundations has raised $15 million
to create a venture fund that hopes to marry social goals with financial
success - creating more than 1,000 jobs for low- and middle-income people while
providing a return that will allow the charities to do still more good. The Baltimore Venture Fund,
plans to invest in eight to 10
established but growth-oriented companies in and around Baltimore
over the next four years. The Open Society Institute-Baltimore and the Annie E.
Casey Foundation, each of which contributed $5 million, spearheaded the
project.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/yahoo/bal-te.md.fund16jul16.story?coll=bal%2Dnewsaol%2Dheadlines
Race and Power
The Summer 2002 issue of the
Nonprofit Quarterly focuses on Race and Power a subject of much discussion in
the community-building field. The issue
features an interview with Lani Guinier
addressing the issue of race and the question of whether the discourse about
“race relations” or “racism”— is about finding ways to accommodate
fundamentally antagonistic interests, or extending the promises of democracy to
all? There
is also the opportunity to participate in an online dialogue on these issues.
http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/315.htm
EPA Awards $405,000 to Communities Around the Country to Support Brownfields
Revitalization and Smart Growth
The Environmental Protection Agency announced $405,000 in
grants to nine communities around the country under the "Smart Growth:
Saving Open Space, Revitalizing Brownfields"
program. Each community will receive $45,000 to incorporate smart growth
approaches into the redevelopment of properties where reuse is complicated by
real or perceived contamination. These
sites will demonstrate the environmental and economic benefits that can be
gained by incorporating smart growth into brownfields
revitalization efforts
http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/brownfields.htm
**Disabilities
Labor Dept.
Announces Grants to Integrate People
with Disabilities into the Workforce
The U. S. Department of Labor announced the availability of
$6 million in funding under the Working for Freedom, Opportunity
and Real Choice through Community Employment (WorkFORCE)
Grant Initiative. The grant Initiative includes two components. Under the WorkFORCE
Coordinating Grants Program, the Department of Labor will award up to $4
million, with the average grant ranging between $100,000 -
$150,000. These funds will assist in coordinating, strategizing and
developing competitive, customized community employment opportunities for
individuals with disabilities so that they may live, work, and fully
participate in their communities. Under the WorkFORCE
Action Grant Program, the Department will award $400,000 to $750,000 to non-profit
organizations or consortia of non-profit organizations to expand the delivery
and implementation of competitive, customized community employment
opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
Application Deadline: August 21, 2002
http://www.dol.gov/odep/grants/workforce.htm
Designers with Disabilities at Work
A new publication funded by the National Endowment for the
Arts and NEC Foundation, Building a World Fit for People, describes the career
development of 21 designers with disabilities from around the world, all of
whom contribute to a more inclusive society. In addition to documenting their
contributions to a more inclusive society, it reminds us that good design -
including architecture, industrial design and electronic design - considers the
needs of all users.
http://adaptiveenvironments.org/accessdesign/
**Economic Security
Earned
Income Tax Credits
Earned income tax credits reduce poverty by encouraging and
rewarding employment, and research shows that their employment incentives and
income supplements are stronger than any other policy examined in National
Center on Children in Poverty's
series, Improving Family Economic Security.
Read why the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, the nation's largest cash or
near-cash program directed at low-income families, is also the nation's most
effective government program for lifting children out of poverty.
PDF: http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nccp/ESBrief2.pdf
What OMB’s
Mid-Session Review Reveals and What it Obscures
An examination from
the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities of Office of Management and Budget’s
new estimates finds they are based on rosy scenarios overstating expected
revenues and understating likely expenditures.
The OMB data show last year's tax cut is the single largest factor
behind the precipitous decline in projected 10-year surpluses.
PDF: http://www.cbpp.org/7-25-02bud.pdf
**Education
The National Coalition of Advocates for
Students seeks public school partners
The National Coalition of Advocates is
looking for public school partners for participation in year II of the Metlife Foundation Family School Connection, an interactive
network of schools committed to developing and sustaining family involvement
programs responsive to the needs of students in traditionally underserved
communities. School board members,
professional educators, community leaders, or family members of students may
nominate schools.
http://www.familyschoolconnection.org/
Finding Common Ground: Service-Learning and
Education Reform – A Survey of 28 Leading
School
Reform Programs
A new American Youth Policy Forum report
reveals areas of compatibility between Comprehensive School Reform (CSR)
programs leaders in education reform and elements of service-learning. For
example, most CSR programs (or models) in the report provide opportunities for
students to apply their knowledge and skills to real-life situations, address
local community issues and interests, and develop civic skills and
competencies. It remains to be seen
whether these two educational movements collaborate to develop a unified approach
to linking classroom academics to service in school or the community, providing
a truly comprehensive education for America’s
children and youth.
PDF: http://www.aypf.org/publicatons/findingcommonground.pdf
**Hunger and
Nutrition
Characteristics of Food Stamp Households
The US Department of Agriculture's Office of Analysis and
Evaluation has released "Characteristics
of Food Stamp Households: Fiscal Year 2001 (Advance Report)," based on
an analysis of food stamp quality control data. The Food Research and Action
Network has prepared a summary of the results.
http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/programs/fspcharacteristics.html
Chart Comparing Funding Levels for Food and Nutrition Programs
The Food Research and Action Center has produced a chart
with FY 2003 House Appropriations Committee funding levels for key nutrition
programs (compared to FY 2002, and to the President's FY 2003 proposals).. Full
Senate Committee mark up is was scheduled for Thursday, July 25. The Subcommittee
bill includes language to expand the summer food pilot program from 13 states
to 50 states and D.C. in order to ease the burdens on public sponsors of the
Summer Food Service Program and ensure more children access to the program.
PDF: http://www.frac.org/html/news/Approps03CHART.pdf
USDA Announces Nutrition Education Grants
The US Department of Agriculture announced grants totaling
$4.1 million to 21 state agencies for Team Nutrition training programs. Team
Nutrition is a behavior-based plan for promoting nutritional health. It
involves schools, parents and the community in its strategies.
http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2002/07/0301.htm
**Welfare Reform
New
York Welfare Reform Puts Spotlight on Local Flexibility
The nation's largest
city-run welfare system underwent a dramatic and wide-ranging overhaul during
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's administration, shifting the focus from cash
assistance to exceptionally strict work obligations coupled with skills
development and training. A new Urban
Institute report points to New York
as an example of how a locality used federal and state leeway on work
requirements and the definition of work activities to address evolving local
priorities.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=PressReleases&NavMenuID=4&PublicationID=7798&Template=/TaggedContent/PressReleases.cfm
Experiences of Virginia Time Limit Families After
Case Closure
A report from Mathematica Policy Research
presents 18 months of follow-up data on families whose TANF cases closed
because of the time limit in early 1998 and early 1999. The report finds that nearly all parents worked,
mainly at low-paying jobs, but average hours, hourly wages, and total earnings
increased over time, with 21 percent reporting income over the poverty line
after 18 months. Furthermore, 82 percent had health insurance for their
children, but only 41 percent had it for themselves. Families also decreased
their use of food stamps, Medicaid, and child care subsidies over the
period, for a variety of reasons.
PDF: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/PDFs/redirect.asp?strSite=experiencesva.pdf
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