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SUPPORT THE HEALTHY
FAMILIES ACT
From: National Partnership for Women and Families
The Healthy Families Act
provides full-time employees with a minimum of seven days of paid sick leave to
be used to recover from their own illness or to care for a sick family
member. Eighty-six million Americans do
not have paid sick days that they can use to care for a sick child. The National Partnership for Women and
Families has drafted a petition urging Members of Congress to support the
Healthy Families Act.
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/Default.aspx?tabid=114
**Children, Youth &
Families
The Importance of Child
Support Enforcement
An updated series of fact
sheets from the Center for Law and
Social Policy details the myriad ways child support payments are critical
to the financial and general health of families. Child Support Substantially
Increases Economic Well-Being of Low- and Moderate-Income Families
PDF: http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1024415166.93/The_Importance_of_Child_Support_Enforcement.pdf
Harnessing Technology for
Evaluation of Youth Programs
The new issue of our free
evaluation periodical, "The Evaluation Exchange," explores the
contribution of technology to evaluation practice. This issue features articles centering on
four key areas in which evaluators are using technology: data collection and
analysis, collaboration, knowledge mobilization, and evaluation capacity
building. Rounding out the issue is a special feature on the role technology plays
in fostering youth civic engagement and in evaluating programs for youth.
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/eval/issue27/
Study: Inadequate Physical
Activity Worsens as Teenagers become Adults
A new University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill investigation concludes
that while promoting physical activity and encouraging people to limit the time
they spend watching television are important throughout life, those efforts are
critical before adolescence.
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/oct04/gordon102604.html
Super-sizing Asian
Americans
Low-income Asian and Pacific
Islander children in California are becoming overweight at an alarming rate --
and will soon catch up to low-income white, black and Latino children in the
proportion who are overweight or obese, according to research reported today at
the 5th Asian American Cancer Control Academy.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/uocd-saa102004.php
**Civic Engagement
Death Penalty Debate Comes
to Howard University
Howard University was the sixth stop in a seven-state tour of historically
black colleges and universities aimed at promoting student involvement in civil
and human rights issues as well as voter registration and turnout.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=177-10262004&site=rss
**Community Development
HUD Announces $43.7
Million in Housing Counseling Grants for Low-Income Families
The Department of Housing and
Urban Development announced grants that will provide counseling for nearly
910,000 individuals and families to find housing or keep the homes they
have. The grants were awarded to 18
national and regional organizations and approximately 340 state and local
housing counseling agencies. These organizations will provide counseling
services and will help meet the Bush Administration's goal of increasing
minority homeownership by 5.5 million families by the end of the decade
http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr04-127.cfm
HUD Awards $20 Million to
help People & Families Living with HIV/AIDS
The Department of Housing and
Urban Development announced more than $20 million in grants to assist thousands
of individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS to find a permanent home and
get the services. HUD will renew funding
to 22 model programs around the country that assist persons and households at
high risk for homelessness.
http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr04-126.cfm
**Economic Security
Measuring Family
Well-Being
The Economic Policy Institute seeks to answer the
question, how have middle-income families fared since 2000? The EPI Briefing Paper Less Cash in Their
Pockets: Trends in Income, Wages, Taxes, and Health Spending of Middle-Income
Families, 2000-03 finds that most middle-income families lost ground between
2000 and 2003 and now have less income available to meet their needs.
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/bp154
The Changing Urban
Geography of Poverty and Service Provision
A paper from the Brookings
Institution analyzes the shifting geography of concentrated poverty and its
impact on access to social services.
Greater proximity to social service providers is thought to increase the
likelihood that eligible individuals in need will receive assistance.
http://www.brookings.org/metro/pubs/20040816_allard.htm
Female Job Seekers have
Fewer Opportunities than in the Past
The Economic Policy Institute reports that the
recent decline in the female unemployment rate is largely the result of slow
job growth in female-dominated industries.
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_10272004
Economic Effects of Making
the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts Permanent
The Urban Institute describes the economic
effects of making the tax cuts tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, which are
scheduled to expire by the end of 2010, permanent. The analysis describes the recent tax cuts
and the proposals to make them permanent, and explore the consequences of
making the tax cuts permanent with regard to the fiscal status of the
government, the distribution of after-tax income, and prospects for long-term
economic growth.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=9026
Resident Participation in Seattle's Jobs-Plus Program
Seattle Jobs-Plus - part of an MDRC national research
demonstration designed to promote employment among public housing residents -
succeeded in engaging a majority of residents, many of whom were immigrants
from diverse parts of the world, in work-related services or supports.
http://www.mdrc.org/publications/398/overview.html
City Fiscal Conditions in
2004
The National League of cities
has released a report based upon a survey of finance directors from 288 US
cities with populations greater than 10,000, this report examines city fiscal
conditions; factors influencing municipal budgets; and revenue and expenditure
trends. 22 charts present data on the
composition of city income (federal, state, local, property tax, sales tax,
income tax); the ability of small, medium and large cities to meet program and
service needs; and actions cities have taken to balance their budgets.
http://db.savicom.net/d0004/cgi-bin/archive.pl?action=display&list=weingart&msgid=1098735190.25017
**Education
Request for Proposals:
Adolescent Literacy Study
MDRC and American Institutes
for Research (AIR) invite developers of promising supplemental reading programs
for ninth-grade students to submit proposals to participate in a
demonstration. This project is part of
the Evaluation of the Impact of Supplemental Literacy Interventions in Small
Learning Communities conducted by the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education.
http://www.air.org/ale/ale-set.htm
Supporting New Teachers:
Evaluation of a Teacher Induction Model
Mathematica Policy Research
is to evaluate impact of teacher induction programs. Well-established teacher induction programs
are invited to apply to serve as model program for study funded by the U.S.
Department of Education.
http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/education/teachinduc.asp
**Health
Talking About Medicare: Your Guide to Understanding the Program
A new, online consumer guide
from the Kaiser Family Foundation
helps people on Medicare and their family members and
caregivers to make informed decisions about their health care.
http://www.kff.org/medicare/7067/index.cfm
Initiative to Make
Consumers Aware of Potential Limits to Their Health Care Services
The National Women’s Law Center has unveiled a public effort to inform citizens about
potential limitations to their health care services because of the moral or
religious beliefs of their health care providers. NWLC’s
initiative includes a health care brochure designed to increase public
awareness of religious limitations on critical health services and provides
women with the right questions to ask their health care givers.
http://www.nwlc.org/details.cfm?id=2017§ion=newsroom
Ideas
that Work: Expanding Health Coverage for Workers
A Tool Kit from Families USA
helps those who want to build a state-based health coverage initiative based on
employer-provided insurance. It includes
case studies of California and Hawaii, a "decision guide," and tables with
state-by-state data about employment and insurance coverage.
http://www.familiesusa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Ideas_That_Work_TOC
New Joslin
Web Site Educates Growing Latino Population Affected by Diabetes
In recognition of Hispanic
Heritage Month, the Joslin Diabetes Center Latino
Diabetes Initiative announced the launch of its Web site, which provides
comprehensive and culturally appropriate information about diabetes for Latinos
in the U.S. and across the globe. Latino Americans are twice as
likely to develop diabetes as Caucasians. In addition, Latinos are more often
affected by the complications of diabetes, which include blindness, amputation
and end-stage kidney disease.
http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/spew4th.pl?ascribeid=20041015.111459&time=12%2016%20PDT&year=2004&public=1
HHS Announces Awards to
States to Tell Low-Income Beneficiaries about 2006 Drug Benefit
The Department of Health and
Human Services announced $62.5 million in grants to 21 states for fiscal year
2005 to help educate low-income Medicare beneficiaries, who currently get their
prescription drugs through state-funded programs, about the new Medicare drug
benefit coming in 2006. Another $62.5 million will be available to these states
in 2006.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20041028.html
**Hunger & Nutrition
Federal Resources for
Feeding Homeless Children and Youth
A report from the Food
Research and Action Center outlines the provisions of the Child Nutrition and
WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 which expands federal child nutrition programs
in several ways to assist homeless and runaway children and youth.
http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/programs/homeless/Federal_Resources_Homeles_Youth.html
How Will the Child
Nutrition Reauthorization Affect Food Stamp Program Operations?
The Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities reports that on June 30, 2004, the President signed into law, the Child Nutrition
and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004.
While the legislation focuses primarily on the child nutrition programs,
it does amend the Food Stamp Act and will have some impact on Food Stamp
Program operations.
http://www.cbpp.org/10-26-04fa.htm
**Violence Prevention
HHS Awards $1.6 Million to
Support Community Programs That Help Children Exposed to Domestic Violence
The Department of Health and
Human Services announced 22 grant awards across the country to support Safe and
Bright Futures for Children, which builds on the Administration’s domestic violence
prevention program. The Safe and Bright Futures for Children initiative
provides communities with an opportunity to diminish the damaging effects of
domestic violence on children and adolescents and to stop the cycles of abuse
and intentional injury.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20041026a.html
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