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Taking
the Next Step: What Can the U.S. Learn about Parental Leave from
New Zealand?
A brief from the Center for Law and Social Policy, the first
in the Work-Life Balance Series, discusses New
Zealand’s experience with paid parental leave and includes qualitative
data from 17 New Zealand small businesses on their experiences with their new
law. It concludes with policy implications and some next steps
for the United States
in this arena.
PDF: http://www.clasp.org/publications/work_life_brf1.pdf
Teens Delaying
Sexual Activity; Using Contraception More Effectively
According to a new study by
the Department of Health and Human Services, sexual activity declined
significantly for younger teenage girls and for teenage boys between 1995 and
2002, and teen contraceptive use improved in significant ways,. The study
compares new findings from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth with the
previous survey conducted in 1995.
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r041210.htm
NCHS Report Offers
Evidence Abstinence Education Works
The CDC, National Center for
Health Statistics released two reports which offer evidence that abstinence
education works. According to one of the reports, "Teenagers in the United States:
Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use, and Childbearing, 2002" fewer teens
are having sex. Declines were particularly large among males age 15-19. A second
report on contraception and the use of family planning services also revealed
bad news for contraception education proponents. More women are relying on
family planning services than ever before and yet the outcomes of the studies
released today reveal a worsening related to birth spacing and pregnancy
prevention education.
http://www.abstinence.net/library/index.php?entryid=1658&NACSession=7fd2cefbb3a00b44f3cf2f38a0c3fc13
**Community Development
Local Initiatives Support
Corporation Promotes Elements of Good Housing Design in New Publication
Local Initiatives Support
Corporation (LISC), a national non-profit supporter and funder of community
economic development initiatives, with financial support from Citigroup, has
produced a brochure entitled Good Design—The Best Kept Secret in Community
Development. The brochure describes what good design is, why it’s essential to
affordable housing that works, and who’s responsible for making it happen.
http://www.lisc.org/whatsnew/press/releases/2004.12.13.0.shtml
HUD's Youthbuild
Program Delivers $54 Million for Skills and Leadership Training
The Department of Housing and
Urban Development announced $54 million in grants to assist nearly four
thousand young people who never finished high school to get a second chance to
receive their diplomas. The grants are part of HUD's Youthbuild Program to
offer job training and leadership skills to young people while putting them
back on a path toward graduation. These grants will help train them for a
future in the construction trades while producing more than 1,000 homes for
lower income families, many facing homelessness.
http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr04-148.cfm
Race, Place, and Housing
are Interconnected
According to a Housing
Assistance Council report, counties with consistently high concentrations of
racial or ethnic minorities are the last bastions of poor quality housing in
this nation. The geographic isolation and relative segregation of rural
minorities living in counties with high minority populations combine with
history and economics to increase abusive credit practices, increase
substandard housing, and lower home values, HAC found.
http://www.ruralhome.org/pressreleasesview.php?id=140
**Economic Security
Parental Employment in Low-Income
Families (2004)
According to the National Center for
Children in Poverty, most children in low-income families have at least one
parent who works full-time and year-round. But low-income parents who work are
more likely to be employed in service occupations where they are less likely to
receive benefits such as health insurance.
http://www.nccp.org/pub_pel04b.html
Poverty Never Takes a Holiday:
Catholic Charities Agencies Report Clients’ Greatest Need is for Emergency
Services
According to a recent survey
of local Catholic Charities, the greatest needs of their clients this holiday
season is for financial assistance, food, and housing. More than half (57
percent) of the 86 agencies recently surveyed by Catholic Charities USA said it
is going to be harder to meet the needs of the people they serve this holiday
season, citing a greater demand than previous years (74 percent), the economy
(55 percent), and cuts in government funding (41 percent). Seventy eight
percent of the agencies said that their clients’ greatest are for financial
assistance. Other big needs are for food (51 percent) and housing (47 percent).
http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/news/content_displays.cfm?fuseaction=display_document&id=522&location=3
**Education
High School Graduation,
Completion, and Dropout (GCD) Indicators: A Primer and Catalog
A report from the Urban
Institute explores the measurement of high school graduation, completion, and
dropout (GCD) rates. The report outlines a basic framework for conceptualizing
high school completion processes and identifying challenges associated with
empirically measuring GCD rates. This report aims to provide a broader set of
stakeholders-policymakers, educators, the public at large-with a
technically-assessable introduction to this important issue.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=9089
Stereotypes
Can Impact Self-assessment and Learning Ability
Researchers from New York University
have shown that stereotypes can impair the standardized test performance of
African Americans. A recent psychological study, which examined the long-term
effects of stereotypes, suggests that stereotypes may also impact a person's
academic self-assessment and overall learning ability.
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/media/releases/2004/pr041213.cfm
The Talent Development Middle School Model
According to MDRC during the first three years of
implementation in six urban schools, The Talent Development Middle School
model-an ongoing, whole-school reform initiative-had a positive impact on math
achievement for eighth-graders but appeared to produce no systematic
improvement in outcomes for seventh-graders.
http://www.mdrc.org/publications/400/overview.html
Study Says 50 State
Assessment of Student Reading Shows Students in Grades 4-12 Lag Behind Federal
Goals
According to a RAND
Corporation report, reading achievement among the nation's students in grades
4-12 lags significantly behind federal goals, raising questions about whether
schools can meet federal requirements that all students be “proficient” readers
by 2014. An assessment of student literacy achievement compiled by researchers
from RAND Education found that in several states fewer than half the students
tested meet state reading proficiency standards set for NCLB.
http://www.rand.org/news/press.04/12.16.html
Jobs for the Future
Receives Grant to Expand Early College Network Nationwide
The Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation announced $29.6 million in grants to eight organizations to expand
the early college high school network to more than 25 states. Early college
high schools provide traditionally underserved students with a rigorous,
college-level curriculum and the opportunity to earn two years of college
credit or an Associate’s degree. Since 2001, the early college high school
network has received more than $124 million in support from the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, WK
Kellogg Foundation, Woodruff Foundation and Ford Foundation.
http://www.jff.org/jff/newsroom/PR/2004/PR_12_7_2004.html
**Health
Married Adults are
the Healthiest, New CDC Report Shows
A new report from the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that married adults are healthier
than divorced, widowed or never married adults. The report was based on
interviews with 127,545 adults aged 18 and over as part of the National Health
Interview Survey, conducted by CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. The study looked at health
status and limitations, health conditions, and health-related behaviors
according to marital status and also by age, race/ethnicity and socioeconomic
factors such as education and poverty status.
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r041215.htm
Leavitt to Lead HHS, Could
Cut Programs
Michael Leavitt, President
Bush's choice to be secretary of Health and Human Services may have to cut
billions of dollars from the government's mammoth health programs for the
elderly, poor and disabled to pare the budget deficit. The Medicare and
Medicaid programs, consuming nearly $500 billion a year and growing quickly,
could be vulnerable in the context of last year's $413 billion budget deficit,
the ongoing war in Iraq, costly domestic security commitments and
administration plans to revamp Social Security without raising taxes.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041214/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_cabinet
Major Health Plans and
Organizations Join AHRQ to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care
HHS' Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ) announced a new public-private partnership, the
National Health Plan Learning Collaborative to Reduce Disparities and Improve
Quality, which is designed to help reduce disparities in health care for people
with diabetes and other conditions.
http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2004/dispcolpr.htm
Summary of the New
Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit
A document from the Kaiser
Family Foundation summarizes the proposed rule to implement the new Medicare
prescription drug benefit. The rule was published in August 2004 by the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
http://www.kff.org/medicare/7228.cfm
Families Inform Roadmap to
Improve Care for Dying in Nursing Homes
According to a AARP study
conducted at Brown Medical School, end-of-life care in nursing homes often results in
unnecessary suffering due mainly to a lack of staff time, training and
communication. The report lists 15 recommendations to improve care, including
more staffing, increased physician presence, additional training and better
reimbursement rates. American Association Retired Persons.
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2004-05/04-064.html
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