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The Center for Community Builders seeks Community Assessment and
Evaluation Tools
From
Urban Strategies Council
The
Center for Community Builders, a practitioner-led community building support
organization, is in the process of developing community-friendly assessment and
evaluation training materials for community residents, organizers, and the
staff of community-based organizations.
The project from the Urban Strategies Council is identifying the best
resources currently available to build upon them and create effective training
materials.
http://www.urbanstrategies.org/Project_Overview_8-25-03.doc
**Children, Youth &
Families
Learning
Skills Greatly Limits Stress for Family Caregivers
Stanford University Medical Center researchers have found that Interventional
skill-building programs ease the depression, anxiety and anger common among
family caregivers coping with a loved one who has
dementia. In the first study of its
kind, the researchers found that female caregivers derived more benefit from
this type of program than from traditional support groups.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-09/sumc-lsg091503.php
Childhood
Abuse Related to Alcoholism in Native Americans
New research from the University
of Arizona on seven Native American
tribes suggests that tribe members who were abused or sent away to school as
children are more likely to have problems with alcohol later in life.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-09/cfta-car091703.php
The
Risk of Intimate Partner Violence Varies by Ethnicity
A longitudinal study in the
September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research has found
that roughly one in five couples have experienced intimate partner violence
(IPV) in the previous year. The research
has found that black and Hispanic couples are two to three times more likely to
report male-to-female and female-to-male partner violence than white couples
do. Impulsivity may be a significant
risk factor for the development of IPV among ethnic minorities. Alcohol consumption appears to be a
significant risk factor among white couples.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-09/ace-tro090803.php
First
Year of Widowhood Most Harmful to Mental Health
According to an article from
the American Psychological Association, one of
the largest prospective and cross-sectional studies conducted on the health of
middle-age women found that first year widows have a substantial drop in their
mental health but do bounce back after a period of time.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-09/apa-fyo090803.php
Marriage
Appears to be Beneficial to Women's Health
According to a study
published in the September issue of Health Psychology women who are in
satisfying marriages have a health advantage over unmarried women or those in
unsatisfying marriages. The study finds
that women in good marriages were less likely to develop risk factors that lead
to cardiovascular diseases.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-09/apa-mat090803.php
**Citizenship Day
Trends
in Naturalization
A brief from the Urban
Institute, based on data from the Current Population Survey, examines changes
in the number of naturalized citizens and rates of naturalization. It also
explores the number and characteristics of immigrants in the U.S. who are now or will soon be eligible to naturalize,
comparing them to recently naturalized immigrants. In addition to national estimates, the brief
provides estimates of the recently naturalized and eligible populations for the
50 states and District
of Columbia.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/NewReports.cfm&PublicationID=8580
On
Citizenship Day 2003, Study Finds 7.9 Million Immigrants Are Eligible to Become
U.S. Citizens
Almost 11 million legal
immigrants are now or will soon be eligible for U.S. citizenship, according to a new study released by the
nonpartisan Urban Institute on Citizenship Day. Some 7.9 million individuals
were eligible to become citizens as of 2002 and 2.7 million more will be able
to do so by 2007.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/NewReports.cfm&PublicationID=8581
**Civil Society
Racial discrimination
continues to play a part in hiring decisions
A recent study shows that
race is still a factor in many employers' hiring decisions. A study from a Northwestern University researcher focused on the likelihood that an
applicant would be called back for a job interview. Not surprisingly, whites without a criminal
record were most likely to be invited back (34%) and blacks with a criminal
record were the least likely (5%). Perhaps most striking, the study found
that only 14% of blacks without a criminal record were called back for an
interview—less than the 17% of whites that did have a criminal record.
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots
Learning about Victims of
Crime: A Training Model for Victim Service Providers and Allied Profession
Fifth
in a series that documents the Victim Services 2000 model and initiatives, this
e-publication describes the efforts of Denver VS2000 to provide training,
education, and technology to victim service providers and allied professionals,
including faith communities, law enforcement, and the legal profession and
shares lessons learned and knowledge gained during development and
implementation of Denver VS2000.
Replication is encouraged by others with similar initiatives.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/bulletins/VS2000trainingmodel/welcome.html
**Community
Development
Strengthening Communities of Color through Leadership Development
A
new report from PolicyLink explains why there are so few leaders of color
making policy, why their presence is important, and what must be done to
increase their numbers. The report
describes the barriers to participation of leaders of color in local and
national public policy development and the strategies that can be used to
remove the barriers so that leaders can use their expertise and experience to
benefit low-income communities of color and the nation.
http://www.policylink.org/leadership.html
Out of Reach 2003: America's Housing Wage Climbs
The
National Low Income Housing Coalition has released a side-by-side comparison of
wages and rents in every county, Metropolitan Statistical Area, combined
non-metropolitan area and state in the United States. Despite
the emphasis on homeownership and the marginalization of renters, renter
households still make up fully one-third of the households in the United States – nearly 36 million households. For each jurisdiction, the report calculates
the amount of money a household must earn in order to afford a rental unit at the
area’s Fair Market Rent.
http://www.nlihc.org/oor2003/
**Economic
Security
EPI launches JobWatch.org
The Economic Policy Institute
introduced a new initiative designed to clearly track current trends in the U.S. labor market, offering up-to-date analysis of
national and state data. The August
Bureau of Labor Statistics data represents the first opportunity to compare the
Bush Administration's claims for job creation resulting from its "Jobs and
Growth Plan" tax cuts. In the first month alone the plan fell 437,000 jobs
short of its job growth projections for August.
http://jobwatch.org/index.html
Religion
Helps Shape Wealth of Americans
A new national study from Ohio State University shows that religious affiliation plays a powerful
role in how much wealth Americans accumulate, with Jews amassing the most
wealth and conservative Protestants the least.
Mainline Protestants and Catholics fall in between and are about average
with the rest of the population in terms of overall wealth. Moreover, people
who attend religious services regularly build more wealth than those who don't,
the study found.
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/relgwlth.htm
**Education
Out-of-School Time Evaluation Snapshots
Harvard
Family Research Project has just released the first two publications in a new
series which distills the wealth of information compiled in the Harvard Family
Research Project Out-of-School Time Program Evaluation Database (http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/afterschool/evaldatabase.html).
The
first Snapshot in the series, is a descriptive review of 27 quasi-experimental
and experimental OST evaluations and provides an overview of the impact of OST
programs on an array of academic, prevention, and youth development outcomes. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/afterschool/resources/snapshot1.html
The
second Snapshot 2 examines the range and scope of activities being implemented
in current out-of-school time programs to set a context for understanding the
links between program activities and positive outcomes for youth.
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/afterschool/resources/snapshot2.html
AAUW Invites Applications
for Two-year Community Action Grants
American Association of
University Women invites applications for two-year Community Action Grants
designed to stimulate projects focused on K-14 (including two-year colleges)
girls' achievement in math, science or technology. The grants provide seed
money to individual women, AAUW branches, AAUW state organizations, and
community-based nonprofit organizations and range from $5,000 to $10,000.
Applicants must be women who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Applications are due
Jan.
15, 2004.
http://www.aauw.org/fga/fellowships_grants/community_action.cfm
Public High School Graduation Rates by
State
With
a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Center for Civic
Innovation at the Manhattan Institute has prepared a report entitled Public
High School Graduation and College Readiness Rates in the United States. The center also computed the percentage of
students graduating with college-ready transcripts, using three screens to
calculate the minimum requirements necessary to enroll in the average four-year
college.
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/ewp_03.htm
**Health
HHS Awards $13.7
Million to Support Community Programs to Prevent Diabetes, Asthma and Obesity
The
Department of Health and Human Services awarded 12 grants totaling $13.7
million to promote community initiatives to promote better health and prevent
disease. The grants will help to
implement community action plans targeting border populations, Hispanics and
Latinos, Native Americans, African-Americans, Asians, immigrants, low-income
populations, the disabled, youth, senior citizens, uninsured and underinsured
people and people at high risk.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030918.html
New Report Finds Health Care System's 'Quality Gaps' Cause 57,000
Deaths Annually
A new report shows that the
nation’s health care system is riddled with "quality gaps" that
prevent millions of Americans from receiving "best practice"
care. These gaps, the result of factors
such as poor use of technology and irrational payment systems, lead to more
than 57,000 avoidable deaths each year. National Committee for Quality Assurance annual State of Health Care Quality report also documents the enormous financial toll of
commonplace failures to deliver appropriate care—nearly 41 million sick days
and more than $11 billion in lost productivity could be avoided annually if
well known "best practices" were more widely adopted.
http://www.ncqa.org/Communications/News/sohc2003.htm
HHS Issues Report
on the Impact of Poor Health on Businesses
The
Department of Health and Human Services released
a new report highlighting the significant economic toll that preventable
diseases take on businesses, workers and the nation. The report summarizes key research findings
about the prevalence and cost of chronic diseases where prevention and health
management can make a difference -- including cardiovascular disease, diabetes,
and asthma. Individual choices that lead to overweight and obesity, lack of
physical activity and smoking greatly increase the risk of these diseases.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030916.html
Gains
in Public Health Insurance Offset Reductions in Employer Coverage among Adults
Analysis by the Urban
Institute of data from the 2002 National Survey of America's Families shows
that 17 percent of adults were without health insurance in 2002--similar to the
rate in 1999. The number of adults without health insurance rose by 2.0 million
to 29.1 million in 2002.
Employer-sponsored coverage of adults fell from 72.2 to 70.5 percent
while public coverage of adults increased from 4.7 to 5.7 percent. Uninsurance for Hispanics and poor adults increased by 3 percent. Uninsurance for
blacks decreased by 3 percent and was unchanged for whites.
http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&NavMenuID=3&Template=/TaggedContent/NewReports.cfm&PublicationID=8582
Children in Medicaid
Managed Care Get Lower-Quality Care
A Commonwealth Fund-supported
study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that
Medicaid-insured children enrolled in managed care plans had lower immunization
rates and fewer well-child visits than commercially insured children in such
plans.
Summary – PDF: http://www.cmwf.org/programs/insurance/thompson_childrencommercial_itl_676.pdf
JAMA Abstract:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/290/11/1486
New
Commonwealth Fund Analysis Compares Candidates' Health Care Reform Proposals
A new analysis by The
Commonwealth Fund of health care reform proposals of major presidential
candidates reveals a range of strategies to extend health insurance coverage to
millions of uninsured Americans, with most plans building on the current U.S. system of group health insurance. The report
recommends questions the public might pose to candidates about their plans,
including how many uninsured would be covered, the cost, and how easy the plans
would be to administer.
Summary – PDF: http://www.cmwf.org/programs/insurance/collins_reformagenda_bn_671.pdf
Full Report – PDF: http://www.cmwf.org/programs/insurance/collins_reformagenda_671.pdf
Overlooking
Racism may Lead to Undiagnosed Mental Health Disorders
A
new report from Vanderbilt University suggests that mental
health professionals may be missing at least five novel mental health problems
because the impact of racism is not considered when determining mental
health. The report asserts that standard
mental health criteria may fail to capture a true picture of problems across
racial groups. That failure in turn, leads to some psychological problems going
unclassified and undiagnosed.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-09/vu-orm091503.php
**Hunger and Nutrition
Food Stamp Participation
Increases in June 2003 to More Than 21.8 Million Persons
Participation in the Food
Stamp Program in June 2003 increased by 235,647 persons from the previous
month, to 21,782,834 persons, according to analysis from Food Research and
Action Center of monthly data from USDA.
The June 2003 level of Food Stamp Program participation represented a
rise of nearly 2.5 million persons compared to the June 2002 level, more than
4.3 million persons compared to June 2001, and almost 4.9 million persons since
July, 2000.
http://www.frac.org/html/news/fsp/03june.html
The Emergency Food Assistance System: Findings from the Client Survey
The
Department of Agriculture reports that food pantries and emergency kitchens
play an important role in feeding America's low-income and needy
populations. This report finds that,
during a typical month in 2001, food pantries served about 12.5 million people,
and emergency kitchens served about 1.1 million people. Although these
organizations serve a diverse clientele, almost three-fourths of those served
are food insecure.
Full
Report-PDF: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/efan03007/efan03007.pdf
Executive
Summary-PDF: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/fanrr32/fanrr32.pdf
**Welfare and Welfare Reform
The Senate Finance Committee's TANF
Reauthorization Bill
The Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities has revised its paper which analyzes the TANF reauthorization
bill that passed the Senate Finance Committee on September 10.
http://www.cbpp.org/9-9-03tanf.htm
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