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KEY
TANF AMENDMENTS EXPECTED ON SENATE FLOOR; CONTACT YOUR SENATORS
OVER RECESS
From the Center for Community
Change: On June 26th, the Senate Finance Committee approved its version of a
welfare reauthorization bill. The full Senate is expected to vote on the bill
when Congress returns from its August recess. After a Senate floor vote in
September, a House-Senate conference committee will iron out differences
between the two pieces of legislation. Congress is on recess through Labor
Day. This is an excellent time to meet with Senators and their staff to
discuss issues affecting your communities. Contact your Senators today and
urge them to vote YES on all amendments to increase childcare funding, remove
barriers for low-income families, and provide assistance without punishing
working families with time clocks.
http://64.95.130.47/webx?13@@.1dce3934
NATIONAL HOUSING TRUST UPDATE
The National Housing Trust Fund
Campaign had two major back-to-back victories in the House committee before
opponents were able to knock the National Housing Trust Fund amendment out of
the omnibus housing legislation being considered-but even that defeat resulted
in an amendment that would provide several hundred million dollars a year for
affordable housing. Action should continue in the House when Congress returns
in September.
http://64.95.130.47/webx?13@@.1dce37ec
**Children, Youth & Families
Voters Want States to Fund Quality Preschool
A poll released by the National Institute for Early
Education Research that in a national survey of 3,230 voters, 87 percent say
that state governments should provide enough funding so that every American
family can afford to send its three-and four-year old children to a
high-quality preschool education program.
http://nieer.org/press/index.php?PressID=6
Reserved
Children More Likely to Be Violent Than Their Outgoing Peers; Race, Gender, and
Family Income Have Little Effect
According to a study by researchers at the Harvard Graduate
School of Education and Brandeis University, one of the greatest predictors of
violence and aggression in children is their level of inhibition or social
withdrawal. They found that two characteristics strongly predict the
development of aggression. Violence in the home, including physical, parental
punishment, was the strongest predictor of aggression in the child. The second
finding was unexpected: inhibited temperament was the second strongest
predictor of aggression and violence in children. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/features/fischer08212002.html
Majority of Teens Say Their School is Drug-Free
According to The National Survey of American Attitudes on
Substance Abuse VII: Teens, Parents and Siblings, released by The National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, a majority of teens say their school
is drug free. Sixty-two percent of 12-17 year-olds in public schools report
their schools are drug-free, compared to 42 percent in 2000. This is the first
time in the seven-year history of the survey that a majority of public school
students are reporting drug-free schools. Parochial school students are also
reporting increases in drug free schools. Seventy-nine percent of students in
parochial schools say their school is drug free, compared to 65 percent in
2000.
http://www.casacolumbia.org/newsletter1457/newsletter_show.htm?doc_id=119559
The Dynamics of Child Care Subsidy Use
The National Center for Children in Poverty has released a
report studying the dynamic use of childcare subsidies in five states. The
study analyzes the characteristics of children and families who receive
subsidies, the services they receive, the length of time they are received and
the stability of children’s care arrangements while they are in the subsidy system.
http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nccp/DSsumtext.html
**Civic Participation
Voter Registration System May Be Barrier to Voting
The United States has one of the lowest voter turnout rates
among democratic nations. A new Century Foundation issue brief argues that the
onerous voter registration procedures have contributed to low voter turnout.
The brief, recommends steps to reduce the barriers to voting and increase voter
turnout including: election day registration; moving registration deadlines
closer to elections; and shifting the financial and administrative burdens of
voter registration towards the federal government.
http://www.reformelections.org/data/news/voterregbrief-072302.php
National Initiative to Promote Volunteer Service and
Civic Engagement Activities on College Campuses
A broad coalition of national higher education associations have launched CampusCares,
a year-long project created to identify, recognize, and encourage the
involvement of those on America's college campuses -- students, faculty,
administration, and staff -- who serve their community and contribute to its
well-being. A back-to-school initiative will launch the project. Colleges and
universities across the nation will host back-to-school activities that
encourage students, faculty, staff, and administrators to participate in their
communities.
http://www.campuscares.org/
**Education
Poll Highlights Public Attitudes Toward Public Education
The 34th Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's
Attitudes Toward the Public Schools finds that support for permitting parents
to choose private schools for their students to attend at public expense, after
dropping to 34 percent last year, rose to 46 percent. While a majority of 52
percent still opposes that idea, the increase in support will add, in the
public debate, to whatever momentum vouchers receive from the recent Supreme
Court decision.
http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0209pol.htm
**Health
HHS Awards $30 Million to 70 Health Centers
The Department of Health and Human Services announced $30
million in grants to create 70 new and expanded health centers -- the latest
step in the Bush administration’s initiative to expand health care services for
people without health insurance through local health centers. The grants will
allow the new and expanded centers to serve more than 500,000 additional people
in rural and inner-city areas where people with no health insurance or
inadequate coverage find it difficult to get needed treatment and services.
http://newsroom.hrsa.gov/releases/2002releases/70grants.htm
**Hunger and Nutrition
Get Ready for Food Stamp Reauthorization Changes in Your State
A paper from the Food Research and Action Center summarizes
the Food Stamp Program changes in the Food Stamp Reauthorization Act and
describes opportunities it creates for state-level advocacy. The law requires
states to take some positive steps and also gives states a range of new options
to improve the Food Stamp Program for their low-income residents.
PDF: http://www.frac.org/html/publications/implementation081402.PDF
USDA Releases Guidance for National School
Lunch and Breakfast Programs
The Food Research and Action Center reports that the
Department of Agriculture released guidance for the use of an option in the
School Breakfast and National School Lunch Programs that allows schools to
significantly reduce the paperwork and expand participation. The option allows
schools to serve meals to all participating children at no charge. Families
also benefit, as the program eliminates most of the paperwork they fill out as
well as their payments for school meals. More children from all income groups
tend to participate when the program is made equally available.
PDF: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Guidance/Prov2Guidance.pdf
More information and a fact sheet, can be found at:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Lunch/Prov1.2&3/provision1.2+3.htm
**Substance Abuse
Communities Join National Initiative to Increase Treatment for Substance
Use Disorders
Join Together, announced that fourteen communities have been
selected to join its Demand Treatment! program. The program is an national
initiative to increase the number of people getting quality treatment for
substance use disorders by building local leadership, providing information for
action, improving quality, and ending discrimination. "Too many people
fail to get the treatment they need because they don't think it will work, or
fear they will be fired or forced out of their homes," the director of
Join Together. "We are very pleased that these fourteen communities will
join us as we demand that the health, criminal justice and specialized
treatment systems be expanded and improved."
http://www.jointogether.org/sa/action/dt/
**Technology
Experts Divided on the Digital Divide
An article from OMB Watch finds it interesting that for the
past few months, a steady stream of articles, studies, and analyses have
suggested evidence that digital divide skeptics say underscores their
contention that technology access gaps are not a policy problem, while also
suggesting that if it were a problem, the problem's really not that bad. The
article asks the question, is there legitimate cause for celebration, or is
more evidence suggesting a problem whose actual implications are more difficult
to pinpoint than previously thought?
http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/1052/
**Welfare Reform
Child
Welfare Provisions in Recent TANF Proposals
The Center on Law and Social Policy and the Center on Budget
and Policy Priorities have updated their side-by-side comparison of Child
Welfare provisions of the new TANF proposals.
HTML: http://www.clasp.org/Pubs/DMS/Documents/1020952843.77/view_html
PDF: http://www.clasp.org/Pubs/DMS/Documents/1020952843.77/CW_Side_by_Side_080802.pdf
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