Consumer Reports Medical Guide Provides
Free Information About Childhood and Teen Depression Treatment
To highlight the importance of recognizing
the symptoms of depression in children and finding childhood and teen depression
treatment, Consumer Reports Medical Guide (http://www.ConsumerReportsMedicalGuide.org)
is providing free information on its home page throughout November in conjunction
with the release of its new, in-depth report on Depression in Children.
http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20051101.113512&time=12%2028%20PST&year=2005&public=1
Families Will Lose Child Care Assistance
under House Ways and Means Committee Welfare Reauthorization Bill
According to the Center for Law and Social Policy, on October
26, the House Ways and Means Committee approved a budget reconciliation
bill that includes provisions to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) program. Even as the bill increases families' work requirements-and
the need for child care-it provides only $500 million in new child care funding
over five years, despite Congressional Budget Office estimates that keeping
pace with inflation will cost $4.8 billion over five years. If enacted, this
bill would force states to cut child care assistance for low-income working
families over the coming years.
PDF: http://www.clasp.org/publications/housetanfbillchildcare.pdf
3 New Studies Assess Effects of Child
Care
Three new studies offer some solid information
on the pros and cons of different arrangements for child care. Two bolster
research that found that long hours in group child care are linked to better
reading and math skills but worse social skills and more behavioral problems.
The third suggests that children in child care centers are safer than those
who receive care in private homes, whether in a neighbor's home or by a nanny
in the child's own home.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/01/national/01child.html?ex=1288501200&en=49a02a8cbbd26f3b&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Childbearing by Unmarried Women Reached
a Record High of Almost 1.5 Million Births in 2004
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds
that more than 4 in 5 births to teenagers were among unmarried teens. Over
half of births to women in their early twenties and nearly 3 in 10 births
to women aged 25-29 were to unmarried women. The birth rate among unmarried
women of all ages increased 3 percent from 2003 to 2004. In 2004, 35.7 percent
of all births were to unmarried women.
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/fs051028.htm
CDC Study Documents High Costs and Impact
of Intimate Partner Violence
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
has released the results of the first study that identifies the health care
costs and impact of domestic violence incidents, where men as well as women
are victims. Domestic violence, which is also called spouse abuse or battering
or intimate partner violence, affects more than 32 million Americans each
year; with more than 2 million injuries and claims and approximately 1300
deaths. This type of violence includes physical, sexual, or psychological
harm to another by a current or former partner or spouse.
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r051025.htm
**Civic Engagement
Youths in Rural U.S.
Are Drawn To Military
An article in the Washington Post reports
that as sustained combat in Iraq makes it harder than ever to fill the ranks
of the all-volunteer force, newly released Pentagon demographic data show
that the military is leaning heavily for recruits on economically depressed,
rural areas where youths' need for jobs may outweigh the risks of going to
war.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/03/AR2005110302528.html?nav=rss_nation
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Get more information on
these issues at http://www.ecommunityissues.com.
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**Community Development
Communities from Across the Country Honored
for Work to Help the Victims of Hurricane Katrina
America's Promise - the Alliance for Youth announces it
is awarding five of the 100 Best Communities for Young People $20,000 each
in honor of their work to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. The announcement
of the winners was made during a special "American Street Festival"
where more than 400 community representatives from across the country joined
together to celebrate their selection as one of the 100 Best Communities for
Young People. The first-ever national competition, launched in partnership
with Capital One Financial Corporation, honored winning communities - ranging
from small towns to urban neighborhoods across America - for their commitment
to provide healthy, safe and caring environments for young people.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=56114
**Economic Security
While nearly 4 million immigrant families
in the United States are low income, virtually all of them have working
parents. Among children with foreign-born parents, 97 percent have a parent
who works and 72 percent have a parent who works full-time, year round. However,
according to two new reports issued by the National Center for Children in
Poverty (NCCP), these children have less access to government supports that
can help low-income families bridge the gap between earnings and basic family
needs. This reality flies in the face of arguments that immigrant families
come to the United States to receive generous social welfare benefits.
http://www.nccp.org/rel_10.html
For fact sheets with relevant data and
full text of the policy briefs click here .
http://www.nccp.org/pub_cif.html
Ways and Means Reconciliation Package
Targets Key Low-Income Programs
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
reports that the House Ways
and Means Committee approved its set of reconciliation proposals on October
26. The budget resolution that passed in April requires the Ways and Means
Committee to cut programs under its jurisdiction by $1 billion over the next
five years, but the Ways and Means proposals would cut programs under its
jurisdictions by $8 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
http://www.cbpp.org/10-25-05wel.htm
Changing Demographics of the Retired Population
According to the Urban Institute, the retired
portion of the population will increase in the next two decades and its demographic
composition will change. Newly eligible retirees are increasingly better educated,
but that will level off after 2012. Larger shares will be divorced or never-married
and smaller shares married or widowed. The share of whites will decline, while
shares of other groups, especially Hispanics, will increase. The changing
demographics of the retiring population will affect Social Security financing
and retirement policies.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=9489
Working Longer To Enhance Retirement Security
The Urban Institute reports that encouraging
older Americans to delay retirement would ease the economic pressures created
by an aging population. Retirees now collect Social Security benefits longer
than ever before, as typical retirement ages have fallen and life spans have
grown. If left unchanged, Social Security will soon pay out more than it
collects, forcing policymakers to raise taxes on workers or cut benefits to
retirees.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=9485
September Growth in Real Personal Income
Negative, Sans Hurricane Effects
The Economic Policy Institute puts the report from
the Bureau of Economic Analysis in perspective in its EPI Income Picture,
which shows that real compensation and wage and salary income actually decline
last month when factoring out the recent hurricane effects.
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_econindicators_income20051031
**Education
Pre-K and Early Head Start Programs Enhance
Children's Development
In two studies appearing in a special issue
of Developmental Psychology, researchers show the benefits of universal pre-K
programs (serving 4-year-olds) and Early Head Start programs (serving infants,
toddlers, and their families) on children's cognitive and language development,
but especially for those children who are from low-income families.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-11/apa-pae102805.php
Hurricane-Affected Schools Receive Federal
Surplus Property
The Department of Education announced a new
federal initiative, the Furniture For Schools Task Force, to streamline the
process for getting furniture and other supplies to schools affected by the
recent hurricanes.
http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2005/11/11012005.html
**Health
Good
for Kids, Good for the Economy: Health Coverage for All Kids in Illinois
In recent
years, Illinois has taken substantial steps to help low-income families afford
health insurance coverage, particularly for children, even as many states
across the country were reducing health coverage. From 2002 through 2004,
Illinois consistently demonstrated
the political leadership and will to expand eligibility and to eliminate unnecessary
bureaucratic enrollment barriers, extending coverage to nearly 170,000 additional
children. In 2005, Illinois has a unique opportunity
to step out in front as the first state in the nation to offer comprehensive
health insurance coverage to all children. This opportunity comes in the form
of “All Kids.”
PDF: http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/Illinois-All-Kids-Oct-2005.pdf
Energy and Commerce Committee Bill Imposes
New Costs On Low-Income Medicaid Beneficiaries
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
reports that this week the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate
Finance Committee voted on reconciliation legislation to reduce projected
expenditures for programs under their jurisdiction. This legislation meets
the requirements of this year’s budget resolution to achieve reductions in
entitlement programs, including Medicaid. The House Energy and Commerce Committee
achieves savings in ways that are very likely to cause harm to the millions
of low-income people who rely on Medicaid for health coverage. The Senate
Finance Committee, in contrast, attempts to avoid making changes that are
harmful to beneficiaries, in part by extracting significant savings from overpayments
to Medicare managed care plans.
http://www.cbpp.org/10-28-05health.htm
Congressional Budget Office Estimates
Reveal Severity of Medicaid Cuts in House Reconciliation Bill
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
reports that under the terms of the budget resolution, the House Energy and
Commerce Committee was required to achieve at least $14.7 billion in savings
over five years to programs under its jurisdiction through the reconciliation
process, with at least $10 billion in savings assumed to come from the Medicaid
program. Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee completed work
on its reconciliation legislation, and on October 31, the Congressional Budget
Office issued its cost estimate of the Energy and Commerce package.
http://www.cbpp.org/11-2-05health.htm
For Americans, Getting Sick Has Its Price
Americans pay more when they get sick than
people in other Western nations and get more confused, error-prone treatment,
according to the largest survey to compare U.S. health care with other nations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/03/AR2005110301143.html?nav=rss_nation
HIV Patients of Low Socioeconomic Status
Likelier to Die More Often and Sooner than Others
HIV patients with a low socioeconomic status
are likelier to die much more often than patients with higher levels of wealth
and education, a new UCLA study has found. These findings are of concern
given the high rates of HIV among patients with low socioeconomic status,
according to the study.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-11/uoc--hpo102805.php
Applications for 2006 Barbara Jordan Health
Policy Scholars Program Now Being Accepted
The Kaiser
Family Foundation's Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program brings
talented African American, Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Asian/Pacific
Islander college seniors and recent graduates to Washington,
D.C., during
which time the Scholars are placed in Congressional offices in order to learn
first-hand how health policy is developed and implemented. Applications will
be accepted up to January 9, 2006 and will be reviewed as they are received.
http://www.kff.org/about/jordanscholars.cfm
**Hunger & Nutrition
Hunger in America
rises by 43 percent over last five years
Hunger in American households has jumped
43 percent over the last five years, according to an analysis of the US Department
of Agriculture (USDA) data released today. The analysis, completed by the
Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University, shows that more than
7 million people have joined the ranks of the hungry since 1999.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-10/bu-hia102805.php
**Substance Abuse
UCLA Research Sees Big Savings for Treatment
Investment
Researchers at UCLA say that society saves
$7 for every $1 invested in addiction treatment -- $11,487 for the average
$1,583 cost of treating someone with alcohol or other drug problems.
http://www.jointogether.org/saredirect/?Object_ID=578516&Type=sa
Decline in Teen Smoking Falters as States
Spend Less on Prevention
A new report published in HealthDay News says that a drop in state spending
on youth tobacco prevention efforts in recent years corresponded with a leveling-off
of youth smoking rates after previous declines.
http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/summaries/reader/0%2C1854%2C578530%2C00.html
Exposure to Alcohol-Related Images Can
Lead to Aggression
A University
of Missouri study finds that people may find themselves at risk
for aggressive behavior just by being in a venue that serves alcohol. A recent
study confirms the link between alcohol and aggression and suggests the mere
presence of alcohol-related images encourages aggression, even if people are
not consuming alcohol.
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/media/releases/2005/pr051103.cfm
