Human Services
Community Building
Digest

In a study of how teen-agers search the Internet for answers to health questions, University of Michigan researchers found that misspelled words, ambiguous search terms and an imprecise approach to scanning a Web site often prevented students from finding the information they sought.  The study suggests the importance of teaching teens better search strategies as well as encouraging Web site designers to target teens.

http://www.jmir.org/2003/4/e25/index.htm

**Civil Society – Civic Engagement

Highly Independent and Seeking Political Engagement, Youth Vote is Up for Grabs

Harvard University's Institute of Politics released a new poll of American college students' views on politics and public service.  Defying conventional wisdom, the poll finds they are significantly more supportive of President Bush than the general public. At the same time, they have lost trust in the President over the past year and worry about the state of the economy. These highly independent voters are very much up for grabs in 2004. They care about politics and are planning to vote; but they are waiting for candidates to reach out and talk to them.

PDF: http://www.iop.harvard.edu/pressreleases/survey_october_2003.pdf

Immigration Remakes Political Landscape; Study Examines Impact on Congressional Apportionment

A new study from the Center for Immigration Studies examines the effect immigration has on the apportionment of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The report focuses on the impact of the nearly 7 million illegal aliens and 12 million other non-citizens counted in the 2000 Census.  Immigration redistributes seats from low-immigration states to high-immigration states because seats are apportioned based on each state's total population, including illegal aliens and other non-citizens.

http://www.cis.org/articles/2003/back1403.html

**Community Development

HUD Announces HOPE VI Funding Availability

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the availability of $574 million in 2003 HOPE VI Revitalization and Demolition grants to revitalize aged public housing and transform neighborhoods across the country.  Public housing authorities have until January 20, 2004 to compete for the Revitalization grants. The deadline for the Demolition grants is February 18, 2004.  The maximum grant award for the Revitalization program is $20 million.

http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/programs/ph/hope6/index.cfm

**Economic Security

The Gap between Minimum and Median Wage Earners Continues to Grow

Analysis from the Economic Policy Institute finds that over the last 30 years, the gap between middle-wage workers and those earning the minimum wage has expanded.  Most recently, this gap is at its widest level on record.

http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots

HHS Provides $844 Million to States to Help Low-Income Households with Energy Costs

The Department of Health and Human Services announced the release of $844 million to states to help low-income citizens with their heating bills during October, November and December of this year. These funds represent grants to states, tribes and territories under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20031021.html

A Brief Overview of State Fiscal Conditions and the Effects of Federal Policies on State Budgets

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has prepared a report which briefly summarizes a series of analyses on the state fiscal crisis.  The report highlights the potential impact on programs for children, healthcare and education.

http://www.cbpp.org/10-22-03sfp4.htm

**Education

2003 Report on American Education

The 2003 Brown Center on Education Policy Report on American Education uses national and state test scores and survey data to evaluate student achievement. This year's report examines national trends in math and reading, debunks the popular notion that students are being overwhelmed with homework, offers a snapshot of rural schools, and updates a 2002 Brown Center study of charter schools.

http://www.brookings.edu/gs/brown/bc_report/2003/2003report.htm

Harvard's Education and Business Schools Engage Nine Urban School Districts in Partnership to Boost Student Success

The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), Harvard Business School (HBS), and nine urban school districts today announced the Public Education Leadership Project (PELP), a joint venture, collaboratively designed to dramatically improve the educational outcomes of these school systems. The districts, representing more than a million students, include many of the urban hubs across the nation including Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Francisco.

http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/features/pelp10212003.html

New Studies Explore the Barriers Keeping Low-Income & Minority Students from Entering & Succeeding in College

The Boston-based Jobs for the Future (JFF) released two reports; an in-depth analysis of high school and college graduation data which shows that only one in three eighth graders in 1988 earned an Associate's degree 12 years later and at the same time, a new national study of public perceptions of our education system shows that most Americans recognize that a college degree is critical for economic success, yet most people also believe that our education system, particularly high schools, is failing to prepare young people for higher education.  The reports were released at a national conference exploring ways to improve the high school-to-college transition rates, especially for lower-income and minority youth.

http://www.jff.org/jff/newsroom/PR/2003/PR_10_23_2003.html

Inequality Rules Today's Public Schools

According to university of Washington researchers, vouchers, charter schools and other school-choice programs might not make America's schools any more segregated and unequal than they are today.  Their study finds that today's public schools are bastions of inequality and that the kind of parental jockeying for favors that takes place under school-choice programs is at least more "transparent" than the hidden special treatment routinely secured by savvy and connected parents in most public school systems.

http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v11n39/

Ten Questions (and Answers) about Graduates, Dropouts, and NCLB Accountability

A report from the Urban Institute highlights the crucial role that graduation rates play in No Child Left Behind Act accountability.  The complexities of several key issues related to graduation rates are just being recognized.  This brief clarifies th0se issues and offers a foundation of knowledge upon which to ground ongoing discussions and analyses of the law.

http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/NewReports.cfm&PublicationID=8618

Racial - Ethnic Pride and Academic Achievement Linked

A researcher from Penn State University finds that African American fourth graders with higher levels of racial-ethnic pride also to have higher academic achievement measured by reading and math grades in school and standardized tests.  In addition, children, whose teachers exhibited higher levels of racial-ethnic trust and perceived fewer barriers due to race and ethnicity, showed more trust and optimism. Children living in communities with higher proportions of college-educated residents also exhibited more positive racial-ethnic attitudes.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-10/ps-rpa101703.php

Ohio Selected for Participation in National Education Technology Initiative

Following the Leaders, a nationwide education initiative providing schools and districts with technology resources and hands-on support, announced that Ohio has been selected to join the program. Recognized for their leadership and commitment to improving academic achievement under the No Child Left Behind Act, 23 Ohio schools have been chosen to represent the state in the federally funded program. Plans exist to expand the program to additional Ohio schools in the future.

PDF: http://www.followingtheleaders.org/nclbimages/10.20.03_FTL_Ohio.pdf

**Health

New Resource Helps Individuals Understand, Manage Personal Health Information

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) announced the debut of its new Web based resource to help individuals understand and manage their personal health information.  AHIMA developed MyPHR.com to fill a need for an objective, consumer-friendly resource that can empower individuals with the information and tools they need to manage their personal health information, understand their new privacy rights, and answer common questions about the many issues that surround it.

http://www.myphr.com/

Efforts to End Racial Disparities in Health Care Gain Traction

Many studies have found that blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asians receive less adequate health care than whites. To make this body of evidence widely available, Physicians for Human Rights has created an annotated bibliography of key articles in the peer-reviewed literature on racial and ethnic disparities in health care. The Commonwealth Fund supported the development of this database as well as a number of research reports on this topic.

http://www.cmwf.org/programs/minority/racialdisparities_2ndpg.asp

U.S. Blacks Five Times as Likely as Whites to Progress to Kidney Failure

A study from the University of California has found that rates of early kidney disease do not differ between black and white Americans, but blacks with early kidney disease are five times as likely as whites to progress to the end-stage of kidney disease that requires transplantation or dialysis.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-10/uoc--ubf102103.php

Mix of Factors Related to Exercise among Minority Women

A nationwide collection of studies in the September issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine concludes that women from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds say that having more convenient and inexpensive places to exercise would encourage them to become more active.  Beyond this common ground, however, there is a mix of factors that influence whether Latina, Native American, Black and White women in rural and urban areas are physically active.

http://www.hbns.org/news/minority10-20-03.cfm

Number of Uninsured in Large Firms Up Sharply

A new Commonwealth Fund report finds that thirty-two percent of workers lacking health coverage in 2001 were employed by large firms, up from 25% in 1987.  As of 2001, more than one of four of the nation's uninsured, or some 10 million Americans, worked for firms with 500 or more employees or were dependents of those workers. These findings are particularly troubling given that big companies have traditionally been the businesses most likely to offer health benefits to their employees.

http://www.cmwf.org/programs/insurance/glied_largefirms_2ndpg.asp

This Isn't Such a Bitter Pill – Who Pays What for Medicare

In an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times, the president of the Urban Institute avers, that as they struggle to craft a compromise Medicare bill, members of Congress are facing an unusually contentious and politically explosive issue:  Whether the time has come to charge higher-income elderly Americans more than they charge the less affluent for the benefits they receive under Medicare.

http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/NewReports.cfm&PublicationID=8616

**Welfare and Welfare Reform

Block Grants: Past, Present, and Prospects

The Brookings Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy and the Welfare Reform & Beyond Initiative sponsored a public forum to discuss block grant proposals made by the Administration and broader issues related to the changing relationship between federal, state, and local governments, and the trade-offs between flexibility and funding certainty. The forum included policymakers, researchers, and policy experts.  The Bush administration has proposed turning at least six existing federal programs serving low-income families—Medicaid, housing, workforce development, child protection, transportation, and Head Start—into block grants or something similar, which brings the longstanding issues of federalism and devolution to the forefront.

http://www.brookings.org/comm/events/20031015.htm

Immigrants and TANF: A Look at Immigrant Welfare Recipients in Three Cities

Key findings from the Urban Institute show that: immigrants and limited English speakers make up a significant share of those on welfare; many have significant barriers to work including less education and work history than natives; and immigrants on welfare are less likely to be working and more likely to be working in dead-end jobs. Job training programs often have English language requirements, limiting immigrants' access. The report concludes that combining part-time work and language training can help immigrant welfare recipients move into jobs and off the welfare rolls.

http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/NewReports.cfm&PublicationID=8615