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**Children,
Youth & Families
Drinking
Moms Pass Problem on to Teens
Women who
drink regularly and are depressed are more likely to have teenagers with
drinking problems, according to Australian researchers. The study noted that
while the children of drinking and depressed mothers began exhibiting signs of
alcohol problems around age 14; they didn't develop an alcohol disorder until
around age 21 -- providing a window of opportunity for interventions.
http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/summaries/reader/0%2C1854%2C578676%2C00.html
What
States Are Doing to Promote Children's Healthy Mental Development
A new
Commonwealth Fund-supported report from the National Academy of State Healthy
Policy and the Fund examines how states are promoting the healthy mental
development of young children, and what obstacles must be overcome to help
at-risk kids.
http://www.cmwf.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=325120
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To
Reduce Childhood Obesity, Fast-Food Companies Should Offer Smaller Sizes of
Soft Drinks
This week's
Institute of Medicine recommendation that companies advertise only healthy food
choices to children takes a heavy-handed approach to stemming the nation's
obesity crisis. Recent research from Duke
University has demonstrated that fast-food
companies could reduce their consumers' caloric intake while maintaining
profits by simply increasing the assortment of soft drink sizes they sell.
http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20051208.130732&time=13%2019%20PST&year=2005&public=1
Child
Support Cooperation Requirements and Public Benefits Programs: An Overview
The TANF
and Medicaid programs impose assignment and child support cooperation
requirements on participating adults. The Food Stamp, SCHIP and child care
programs may also contain child support cooperation requirements. This paper
from the Center for Law and Social Policy
examines the rules in each separate program and then describes what happens if
an individual is subject to a cooperation requirement in more than one program.
The author makes recommendations for streamlining the requirements and making
sure that individuals who are subject to the requirement of more than one
program are treated fairly.
PDF: http://www.clasp.org/publications/cs_cooperation_requirements.pdf
**Civic
Engagement
60
Policymakers in Eight States Pair Up with Low-Income Constituents for One Month
60
policymakers and low-income constituents in California, Colorado, Iowa,
Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, Washington, and West Virginia spent the month of
November "walking a mile" in each other's shoes and learning from one
another about poverty, public policies and politics. The pairs will
participate in the national Walk a Mile (WAM) project based in Seattle which aims to make politics more
personal by creating a mutually educational opportunity through direct
interpersonal experience.
http://www.walkamile.org/
African
American Leaders Meet with President Bush to Discuss Critical Issues Facing the
Nation
A group of
nine African American leaders met with President George W. Bush at the White
House today to discuss a wide range of critical issues facing the African
American communities in the Gulf Region and across the Country. The meeting was
an outgrowth of a private White House meeting between Bruce S. Gordon, president
& CEO, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
and the President in September.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=57799
**Community
Development
Who Lives
Downtown
Though
downtown populations have remained stable over the past 30 years, as a new
analysis of 44 cities by Brookings shows, the number of households has
increased, demonstrating the rise of singles and childless couples there.
Today, these households—increasingly homeowners—are ethnically and racially
diverse, young, and educated.
http://www.brookings.org/metro/pubs/20051115_birch.htm
Leveraging
Higher Education in Pennsylvania
In this
paper from Brookings surveys Pennsylvania's higher education landscape and its
economic impact, proposing a number of policy approaches to boost town and gown
collaboration—especially on community revitalization—and better leverage these
assets for the mutual benefit of both institutions and communities and,
ultimately, the state.
http://www.brookings.org/metro/pubs/20051205_highedPA.htm
Statement
of Support from FIRM- the Most Diverse Nationwide Grassroots Immigrant Rights
Coalition
In a strong
show of bipartisan cooperation, Senators Hagel (R-NE), Durbin (D-IL) and Lugar
(R-IN) joined five Republicans and six Democrats to introduce the Development,
Relief for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, right before the start of the holiday
season, traditionally a time for family and reflection. The DREAM Act permits
undocumented high school graduates who immigrated to the U. S. as minors and who have lived in the
U.S. for at least five years, to apply
for legal status, pursue a college education or join the military and become U.S. citizens.
http://www.communitychange.org/press/releases/?page=112105
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information on these issues at http://www.ecommunityissues.com.
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Cities
Announce Immigration Task Force
The
National League of Cities (NLC) today announced the formation of a task force
on immigration issues. The task force is expected to assess enforcement
policies, educational opportunities, labor issues, health care, and resources
for children of immigrant families, and provide policy recommendations next
year.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=57871
**Education
New Study Shows High Quality State Pre-K Programs Improve Language,
Math Abilities of Children of All Backgrounds
A new study
of high quality pre-kindergarten programs in five states reveals significant
improvement in children's early language, literacy and mathematical
development, improvement far greater than found in a recent national study of
the federal Head Start program. The study finds that children attending
state-funded pre-k programs in the five states (Michigan, New
Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West
Virginia) gained
significantly regardless of ethnic background or economic circumstances.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=57647
**Health
More
Than Six Million Children on Medicaid Could be Subject to Dramatically Higher
Premiums and Cost-Sharing Under the House Budget Bill
According
to the Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities the House budget bill contains far-reaching changes to
the federal standards governing the affordability of care provided to children
and others who rely on Medicaid for health care coverage. The Congressional
Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that the premium and cost-sharing provisions
of the House bill will reduce federal Medicaid spending by $11.7 billion over
the next ten years. By 2015, it estimates that some 11 million people about
half of whom would be children will be subject to cost-sharing for the first
time and an additional 6 million people to higher cost-sharing.
PDF: http://www.cbpp.org/11-10-05health2.pdf
Study
Assesses Impact of Medicare Drug Law on Retiree Health Benefits
A new
Kaiser/Hewitt survey of large businesses provides an in-depth look at the
impact of the Medicare drug law on both retirees and employers in 2006 and
beyond. It also looks more broadly at changes in retiree health benefits this
year.
http://www.kff.org/medicare/med120705pkg.cfm
Obesity,
High Blood Pressure Impacting Many U.S. Adults Ages 55-64
Half of
Americans aged 55-64 have high blood pressure – a major risk factor for heart
disease and stroke – and two in five are obese, according to Health, United States, 2005, the government’s annual report to the President and
Congress on the health of all Americans. The report was prepared by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics from data
gathered by state and federal health agencies and through ongoing national
surveys.
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r051208.htm
Nursing
Home Quality Stagnates
Nursing
home deficiencies causing actual harm to residents declined from 7.0 percent to
6.5 percent from 2003 to 2004, while patient abuse remained stable at 17
percent of complaints, according to a new analysis of the ratings HealthGrades
annually gives to nearly every nursing home in the country. Overall, the
deficiencies cited per nursing home declined 2.0 percent from 2003 and 2004,
the analysis found.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-12/h-nhq120505.php
**Substance
Abuse
Native
American Alcohol Enforcement and Treatment Grants
Tribal
governments are invited to apply for the Bureau of Justice Affairs' FY 2006 Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program,
which provides funding for programs that link alcohol-related tribal justice
and law-enforcement efforts to addiction treatment. Grants of up to $250,000
for 24-month programs are expected to be awarded, depending upon Congressional
approval of the program's 2006 budget.
http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/funding/reader/0%2C1854%2C578685%2C00.html
Study
Finds Alcohol Education Effective with Elderly
Senior
citizens tended to reduce their drinking when provided educational information
about the hazards of alcohol consumption. The researchers concluded that
giving older patients personalized reports on drinking habits along with
educational materials can reduce harmful drinking and increase safer drinking
habits.
http://www.jointogether.org/saredirect/?Object_ID=578711&Type=sa
Tobacco
Company Ad Budgets Far Outpace Prevention Spending
For every
$1 that states spend on tobacco prevention, tobacco companies spend $28 marketing
their products, even after the nationwide tobacco settlement curbed some forms
of tobacco advertising. The gap between state tobacco prevention spending and
tobacco advertising is growing, according to a report from the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, and
American Lung Association.
http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/funding/reader/0%2C1854%2C578686%2C00.html
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