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DO NO DAMAGE TO CHILD
NUTRITION
From: Food Research and
Action Center
The
House and Senate both are expected to mark up Child Nutrition Reauthorization
bills during the third and fourth weeks of September, after House hearings on
commodities (Sept. 9) and child obesity (Sept. 16). Congress is on recess until after Labor Day,
which means your members of Congress likely are in their home districts right
now. This is a crucial time to contact your members of Congress with the
message to do no damage to the Child Nutrition Programs.
http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/cnreauthor/overcertalert0819.htm
HELP US PUT A FACE ON THE
NUMBERS
OMB Watch, through its Social
Investment Initiative project, is launching a new website and database to
collect stories about real people or communities and allow searches by issue
area, keywords, city, state, or congressional district. Face on the Numbers is a way to allow the
people you serve to actually tell their story to a nation-wide audience and
make a difference.
http://d1.rtknet.org/sii/faq.php
**Children, Youth &
Families
Nearly 40 Pct. of American Teens Know Someone Who Has Been Shot 
Teens
from Uhlich Children's Advantage Network announced
the release of the 4th Annual Uhlich National Teen
Gun Survey, a nationally representative sampling of teen opinion. In response to 17 questions, America's teenagers let their
viewpoints be known about gun violence and school security in the United States.
http://webx.handsnet.org/webx?13@@.1dcf5c95
African American Teen Mothers Have Greater Risk for Low Birth
Weight and Premature Babies
A study by researchers at the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds that African American
teens living in Baltimore, Md. are twice as likely to deliver low birth weight
babies and 1.5 times more likely to have premature babies than whites. When
compared to pregnant black women of all ages in Maryland, the study found the younger group had almost twice
the infant mortality rate.
http://www.jhsph.edu/Press_Room/Press_Releases/OBrien_birth_outcomes.html
Advice from the Field: Youth Employment Programs and Unintended
Pregnancy
A report from the Center for Law and Social Policy explores the
connection between the fields of youth employment and pregnancy
prevention. It provides “advice from the
field” from five youth employment providers about their efforts to combat
unintended pregnancy and to provide family planning services. In addition, it includes interviews with two
experts in the youth employment and teen pregnancy prevention fields, who
provide advice and essential information for practitioners.
http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1062008662.9/view_html
**Civic
Engagement & Philanthropy
Foundations Paying Millions of Dollars to Their Own Well-To-Do Trustees
Instead of Charities, Study Shows
A
new study released by researchers at the Center for Public and Nonprofit
Leadership analyzing the tax returns of 238 foundations has revealed that in a
single year, they spent nearly $45 million on "trustee fees" -- the
vast bulk of which go to their own predominately wealthy boards of directors
rather than to the charitable causes they were set up to fund.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/0829-06.htm
Closing the Loophole on Foundation Overhead Costs Will Give Nonprofits
New Grant Resources
The
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) issued the third in its
recent series of reports on foundation "payout" rates and the
legislation in front of the House Ways and Means Committee which would increase
foundation grantmaking by excluding private
foundations' administrative and operating expenses from the required minimum 5
percent charitable spending requirements.
NCRP's new report, Closing
the Loophole: Removing Foundation Overhead Costs from Payout, reviews the most
recent research to conclude that foundations could and should pay out at least
5 percent of their endowments annually in grants.
http://webx.handsnet.org/webx?13@@.1dcf5c25
**Community
Development
Outsmarting Smart Growth -- Study Finds Population Growth Key Reason
for Sprawl
A
new study from the Center for Immigration Studies indicates that anti-sprawl
efforts which focus on Smart Growth strategies will have only limited success
in saving rural land because they fail to address a key reason for sprawl
--immigration-driven population growth. Based on data from the Census Bureau
and from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation
Service, the study finds that about half the loss of rural land in recent
decades is attributable to increases in the U.S. population, while
changes in land use account for the other half.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2003/sprawl.html
**Economic
Security
New Census Data Show An Increase In Poverty
An analysis from The Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities discusses the new poverty figures released
today by the Census Bureau. These figures are based on the American Community
Survey but are not as informative as the national income and poverty data that
will be released later this month based on a different Census survey.
http://www.cbpp.org/9-3-03pov.htm
Low-Income American
Workers Need Congressional Investment
Goodwill Industries is
calling on Congress to strengthen the 1998 Workforce Investment Act (WIA).
Goodwill recommends that the new iteration of WIA include measures that
dramatically improve access to training and work opportunities that lead people
to self-sufficiency. Lawmakers are expected to debate WIA reauthorization when
they return from their August recess, at a time when unemployment rates are at
an all-time high.
http://www.goodwill.org/index_gii.cfm/537/?objectID=0F7D787F-62B9-46C9-82AF1E229CAC4B21&method=display
WIA Reauthorization Recommendations on Title I Youth Provisions
A
paper from the Center for Law and Social Policy provides a short summary of
Workforce Investment Act (WIA) reauthorization recommendations related to the
youth provisions and includes a separate document that discusses the rationale
for each recommendation. The WIA of 1998
redirected the focus of youth programming from short-term programs to longer
comprehensive interventions. Congress is scheduled to reauthorize the WIA
legislation by September 30, 2003.
http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1062103393.36/view_html
Are Policies That Assist Low-Income
Workers Receiving Appropriate Priority?
An analysis from The Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that in a wide range of national and
state policy decisions, low-income workers and their families have fared poorly
this year, and upcoming federal decisions may reduce child care and housing
assistance. There are concrete steps Congress can take this fall to improve
this record, paid for by reducing the new tax cuts for high-income households
or curbing corporate tax abuses.
http://www.cbpp.org/8-29-03tax.htm
The Language of Opportunity: Expanding Employment Prospects for
Adults with Limited English Skills
A
report from the Center for Law and Social Policy describes the demographics and
economic circumstances of low-income adults with limited English proficiency
(LEP) as well as the language and job training services available to them. The authors summarize lessons from scientific
evaluation research on employment programs for low-skilled adults and provide
recommendations for policy and practice that would increase opportunities for
LEP adults to gain access to higher-paying jobs.
Report
- PDF: http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1062102188.74/LEP_report.pdf
Policy
Brief – PDF: http://www.clasp.org/Pubs/DMS/Documents/1062101599.5/LEP_brief.pdf
**Education
Afterschool Program Directors, Parents, Kids Across
the Nation Gear Up for Largest Ever Rally for Afterschool on Oct. 9
The
fourth annual Lights On Afterschool!, sponsored by the Afterschool Alliance and
the JCPenney Afterschool Fund, will bring together
community leaders, policy makers, parents, neighbors and kids for the nation's
largest annual rally for afterschool programs. The event will call attention to
afterschool programs and the resources required to keep the lights on and the
doors open.
http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/loa_2003/index.cfm
As School Year Begins, Number One Concern of Working Moms is Kids'
Safety in After-School Hours
A
new, nationwide survey from Fight Crime: Invest in Kids of the concerns of
working mothers showed their number one concern is the safety of their
children, especially in the after-school hours. These fears even outranked
concerns over the quality of their children's education or education funding.
http://www.fightcrime.org/releases.php?id=64
**Health
HHS Awards 204 Grants Worth $56.1 Million to
Extend Health Care Services to Low-Income and Uninsured Americans
The
Department of Health and Human Services announced its intention to award 204
grants worth $56.1 million that will increase health care services to hundreds
of thousands of low-income and uninsured Americans. The grants will create new
service sites in the nation's network of health centers and expand the range of
health care services offered at existing health centers. The awards include 79 "new access
point" grants, totaling almost $43 million, to help communities establish
new health center sites that will provide comprehensive primary health care
services to an estimated 416,000 people, including many without health
insurance.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030826.html
**Welfare and Welfare Reform
HHS Releases Data Showing Continuing Decline in Number of People
Receiving Temporary Assistance
The
Department of Health and Human Services announced that both the number of
individuals and the number of families receiving assistance under the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program declined between March 2002 and
March 2003. Totals for these quarters
show that the number of recipients (defined as individuals) in March 2003 was
4,963,771, a decline of 4.3 percent since March 2002 and 59.5 percent since
August 1996, when the TANF law was signed into law.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030903.html
Falling TANF Caseloads Amidst Rising Poverty Should Be A Cause Of Concern
The Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities comments on the September 3rd, HHS press release calling
continued declines in the TANF cash assistance caseload "encouraging"
while failing to mention that federal statistics issued the same day by the
Census Bureau showed a marked increase in child poverty. This analysis
describes recent research and data that strongly suggest that falling caseloads
during a time of rising poverty should be a cause for concern.
http://www.cbpp.org/9-4-03tanf.htm
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