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**Children, Youth & Families
American Teens Engage in Social Entrepreneurship
Youth Venture, a program that enables youths to become social entrepreneurs,
is seeking technical allies and partners to help American teens create civic-minded
organizations, clubs and businesses. Youth Venture is building a national
movement that is growing rapidly and now supports hundreds of young people
who have created civic-minded "ventures" of their own design.
http://www.ashoka.org/news/oct02/oct02yv.cfm
The
Economic Rationale for Investing in Children: A Focus on Child Care.
A report from Mathematica Policy Research examines
the discussion about the extent to which the government could and should invest
in the childcare market. This report summarizes a conference convened to
engage a multidisciplinary group of economists, developmental psychologists,
child care researchers, and policy analysts in a dialogue about the rationale
for public investment in quality child care.
PDF: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/PDFs/redirect.asp?strSite=econrationale.pdf
National Runaway Prevention Month
National Runaway Prevention Month is a public education campaign spearheaded
by the National Runaway Switchboard and the National Network for Youth to
increase the awareness of the issues facing runaways, and educate the public
about the solutions and the role they can play in preventing youth from running
away. Every
day 1.3 million runaway and homeless youth live on the streets of America. One out of every seven
children will run away before the age of 18. Each year approximately 5,000
runaway and homeless youth die from assault, illness, and suicide.
http://www.nrscrisisline.org/lit_rpek.asp
New Television Series Address Growing Family Literacy Problem
Two new television series are now available that address family literacy
and adult basic education. "Madison Heights" and "Lifelines"
use drama and documentary to present stories of families struggling to improve
themselves and their position in the larger community.
http://www.pnnonline.org/article.php?sid=717
Census: Proportion of Single Moms in Poverty Declines
A new report on child support released today by the Census Bureau finds that
the proportion of custodial mothers -- a ratio of 4-in-5 are single -- taking
part in the nation's public assistance programs fell from 26 percent to 11
percent over six years.
PDF: http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/p60-217.pdf
The Need for Notice and Hearing Rights in Child Support Distribution
Cases
Under federal law, states receive substantial federal
funding to provide child support services to single-parent families who request
such services. However, many states follow neither the letter nor the spirit
of the law, leaving custodial parents with little or no information about
how their child support payments are being handled. States that do not now
offer these rights to custodial and non-custodial parents should be encouraged
to do so through legislation, administrative advocacy, or court order. The
information provided in this paper from the Center for Law and Social Policy
should enable advocates to follow one of these strategies to obtain these
rights for their clients.
HTML: http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1035575839.49/view_html
PDF: http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1035575839.49/Due_Process.pdf
California's Teen Birth Rate Drops Below National Average for First Time
Since 1980
California's teenage birth rate dropped below the national average in
2001 for the first time since 1980, according to the state Department of Health Services. About 45
out of every 1,000 California girls ages 15 to 19 gave birth in 2001, compared to the national
average of 46 births per 1,000 girls that age. Latina girls had the highest
birth rate in the state for 2001 -- 82 births per 1,000 girls -- with African-American
girls having the next highest teen birth rate, at about 53 births per 1,000.
California health officials attributed the drop in the teen birth rate
to a state-sponsored media campaign that advocates "sexual responsibility"
among teenagers.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=14194
**Civic Engagement
Young People and Elections
With November 5 close, two projects by the Council
for Excellence in Government center on the role of young Americans. Take
Your Kids to Vote starts children on the path to become voters in
future elections. The Campaign for Young Voters helps candidates for office at all
levels of government to engage young adults and get them to vote. According
to a 2002 Council for Excellence in Government study, parents who take their
kids to vote, talk with their kids about politics, and vote in all or most
elections raise kids with higher levels of political knowledge and political
engagement.
http://www.excelgov.org
Competition Sweeps the Social Sector
The basic architecture of the institutions serving society's social needs
has "tipped" during the last two decades to become as entrepreneurial
and competitive as business did after 1700. Ashoka Chair Bill Drayton documents
this extremely rapid, profound transformation in the University of California's
annual Peterson Ethics Lecture, recently published in the California Management Review.
http://www.ashoka.org/news/oct02/oct02cmr.cfm
Independent Sector Releases Report on Volunteering
Independent Sector’s Giving and Volunteering in the United States presents
a comprehensive study on the philanthropic behavior of Americans. Giving
and Volunteering provides a detailed look into the attitudes and motivating
factors of households that give and individuals who volunteer and explores
the links between giving and volunteering. The study gives precise breakdowns
on giving and volunteering patterns by the demographics of age, gender, race,
household income, education, marital status and organizational type, and examines
motivating factors such as childhood experiences and the influence of faith
in decisions to give and volunteer.
http://www.independentsector.org/media/GV01releasePR.html
**Community Development
Request for Facilitators and Presenters
The National Community Building Network’s 10th Anniversary conference will
be held from April 30 to May 3, 2003. Hundreds of community building practitioners,
advocates and supporters will gather in Chicago to network and share strategies.
NCBN invites you to share your experiences
as a community builder by offering a workshop at the conference.
http://www.ncbn.org/goto/propose_a_workshop
Lessons Learned: Strengthening Civic Infrastructure
All across the country,
communities are creating strong, effective networks to fight substance abuse.
Once established, they can also be used to respond to a host of other problems
facing communities. Drawing from the experience of six community coalitions,
this report relates their discovery that strengthening of their community's
civic infrastructure was an unintended--but positive--outcome from their efforts
to reduce alcohol and drug abuse.
PDF http://www.jointogether.org/sa/files/pdf/lesson.pdf
New Anti-terrorism Initiative Will Protect
Low-Income Communities
Even though the immediate sniper threat has dissipated,
there remains a critical need to protect communities from the threat of domestic
and international terrorism. The Community Action Partnership has begun to
address this issue through Community Land Security. The program aims to protect
low-income communities from terrorism through education, training, and outreach.
It will also help keep low-income communities connected to national homeland
security efforts.
http://www.communityactionpartnership.com/news.asp?id=122
**Disabilities
NCD Releases Brief on Americans with Disabilities Act
The National Council on Disability (NCD) released A Carefully Constructed
Law, the newest addition to the ongoing policy brief series analyzing and
responding to certain problematic aspects of the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA) decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. The report , responds to the
supposed uncertainties and ambiguities that the Supreme Court has perceived
that the ADA was not carefully considered nor carefully written by explaining
how the Congress carefully considered, negotiated, and fine-tuned the ADA
before enacting it, as well as the 25 years of methodical Congressional study
that preceded its passage.
http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/carefullyconstructedlaw
**Domestic Violence
Justice Department Holds Symposium on Violence Against Women
The US Department of Justice held its first symposium to address domestic
violence, together with the Department of Health and Human Services. Organized
by the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) Violence Against Women Office (VAWO),
"Violence Against Women: A Symposium on Domestic Violence" focused
on the causes, effects, and societal beliefs relating to domestic violence.
The meeting highlighted additional information about initiatives involving
violence against women and other OJP programs available on OJP's Website.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/vawo/
**Economic Security
370,000 Workers Exhaust Temporary Federal
Unemployment Benefits in September Alone
This report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that the
number of total exhaustees hit the 1.5 million mark, with the pace of exhaustion
much faster than in the last recession.
HTML: http://www.cbpp.org/10-29-02ui.htm
PDF: http://www.cbpp.org/10-29-02ui.pdf
State Fact Sheets: http://www.cbpp.org/10-29-02ui-states.htm
October Labor Market Data Indicate Continued
Lack of Job Growth Is Translating Into a Rise in Long-Term Unemployment
This analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities examines the
new October unemployment data, assessing trends in job growth and long-term
unemployment, as well as implications for federal unemployment insurance policy.
http://www.cbpp.org/11-1-02ui.htm
**Education
Center Finds Voucher Support Does Not Buy Votes
The president of the National Education Association, said today that opposition
to private school tuition vouchers is hardening, according to a new poll released
by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. The Center found
that African American opposition to vouchers rose from 37 percent in 2000
to almost 43 percent in 2002. Support for vouchers remained unchanged at
57 percent. According to the NEA, "Support for private school tuition
vouchers in a vacuum - without the context of other education reforms or the
obstacles to getting into private schools - is one thing… The real issue for
African Americans remains whether or not our policymakers and political leaders
will provide the resources it takes to ensure free quality public education"
http://www.nea.org/nr/nr021029.html
**Health
HHS Awards $85 Million to Eliminate Health Disparities
The Department of Health and Human Services announced the awarding of $85
million to support the elimination of health disparities among racial and
ethnic minority communities. The awards further augment the department's
Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health and highlights
strategies discussed during the July 2002 national health disparity summit.
http://www.omhrc.gov/wwwroot/omhrc/pressreleases/2002press1101.htm
HHS Awards Univ. of Wis. $55.8 Million to Fight Asthma
The Department of Health and Human Services announced that the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded a six-year, $55.8 million contract
to the University of Wisconsin at Madison to establish a nationwide research
network with the goal of reducing the severity of asthma and preventing the
disease in inner-city children, a group that suffers disproportionately from
asthma. The primary aim of this research network, termed the Inner-City Asthma
Consortium (ICAC), is to conduct clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness
of promising immune-based asthma treatments in inner-city children.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2002pres/20021025a.html
NIH Awards $6 Million to Establish Meharry/Vanderbilt Center for Reducing
Asthma Disparities
Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center are teaming
up to try to understand why some minority and low-income groups suffer disproportionately
from asthma. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute announced the awarding
of a five-year, $6 million grant to Meharry and Vanderbilt to establish a
new Center for Reducing Asthma Disparities. The center is one of five in
the country.
http://www.mmc.edu/MMC/News/Main/asthma.html
Medicare+Choice in California:
Lessons and Insights
This report from the Kaiser Family Foundation
examines the California experience from year-end 1997 through the beginning
of 2002 to identify lessons that can be applied to the national M+C environment.
California enrollees account for about one-quarter of the national enrollment
in the M+C program, and the state has a much higher market penetration rate
than the rest of the nation. The authors note that provider infrastructure
and contracting have had a large influence on the program's success, and M+C
will likely remain an almost exclusively urban product.
PDF: http://www.kff.org/content/2002/6047/6047V2.PDF
Children with Special Health Care Needs in Commercial
Managed Care
Children with special health care needs who are
enrolled in commercial, employer-based health insurance plans may be at high
risk for inadequate access to needed health services. This report from Mathematica
Policy Research provides new and important information on patterns of service
use and cost for 30,000 children with special health care needs enrolled in
private managed care plans in 1999-2000.
PDF: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/PDFs/redirect.asp?strSite=childrenspecial.pdf
**Substance Abuse
Leading Physicians Call Adolescent Substance
Abuse a Major National Public Health Problem
The Physician Leadership on National Drug Policy
(PLNDP) -- a bipartisan group of leading physicians from across the country--today
released a comprehensive report on adolescent substance abuse and urged lawmakers
and public health officials to revisit strategies for curbing and treating
teen drug abuse. The report "Adolescent Substance Abuse: A Public Health
Priority," contains recommendations for policy changes aimed at the prevention,
screening, assessment, and treatment of adolescents prone to or affected by
abuse
http://www.jointogether.org/y/0,2521,554898,00.html?U=134470
DARE Program Helps Youths Decide Against Drugs
The University of Akron today released results of the evaluation of the new
D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) 7th grade curriculum. The findings
show improvements in students' decision-making skills, drug refusal skills,
and beliefs that drug use is socially inappropriate. The new curriculum is
delivered through D.A.R.E., which operates in 80 percent of U.S. school districts.
http://www.asapstudy.org/media/mediapage.html
**Technology
Equal Justice and the Digital Revolution: Using Technology to
Meet the Needs of Low-Income People
This publication from the Center for Law and Social
Policy describes how technology has improved program management and increased
access to assistance and information for both clients and advocates in legal
services programs. The report concludes with eight detailed recommendations
on how the equal justice community can continue to improve the use of technology
in its work.
PDF: http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1035576585.33/digital_revolution.pdf
**Welfare Reform
IWPR: Welfare Reform No Help For Poorest Children
A new study by the Institute of Women's Policy Research finds that welfare
reform has been less than ideal for more than two and a half million children
living in low-income, single-parent families. Although child poverty improved
overall, children living in poor families are less likely to receive cash
assistance, Medicaid and food stamps. Even the most disadvantaged of these
already poorest kids are less likely to receive benefits now than they were
before welfare reform.
PDF: http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/d451.pdf
Welfare Caseloads Continue Downward Trend, Says HHS
The Department of Health and Human Services announced that the number of
people receiving assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) program declined between December 2001 and June 2002. During that
time, the number of recipients of TANF benefits declined by 267,000 to roughly
5 million people -- a 5.1 percent decline. The number of families receiving
TANF assistance dropped by more than 75,000 to about 2 million -- a 3.6 percent
decline, according to the statistics from HHS' Administration for Children
and Families (ACF).
HHS Release: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2002pres/20021101.html
Full ACF Report: http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/news/stats/newstat2.shtml
Annual TANF Expenditures Remain $2
Billion Above Block Grant
This paper from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities highlights the
first available data on total TANF expenditures in FY 2002. Treasury data
shows that states spent $18.7 billion in federal TANF funds in fiscal year
2002, some $2.2 billion more than the basic block grant, by drawing on reserves
from prior years.
http://www.cbpp.org/10-30-02wel.htm
Rural
Welfare-to-Work Strategies Demonstration Evaluation: A Summary of the Evaluation
Design and Demonstration Programs
This report from Mathematica Policy Research
details innovative programs in Illinois, Nebraska, and Tennessee participating
in a rigorous five-year study of rural welfare-to-work strategies. Also discusses
the evaluation design. The project, which will assess the effectiveness of
three diverse program approaches in promoting the employability and self-sufficiency
in low-income people in rural areas, includes three interconnected studies:
(1) impact, (2) cost-benefit, and (3) in-depth process and implementation.
PDF: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/PDFs/redirect.asp?strSite=summaryofeval.pdf
