Human Services News

December 28, 2006

Many Kids too Fat by Preschool

From Yahoo! News: Top Stories:

Far too many kids are fat by preschool, and Hispanic youngsters are most at risk, says new research that's among the first to focus on children growing up in poverty.

The study couldn't explain the disparity: White, black and Hispanic youngsters alike watched a lot of TV, and researchers spotted no other huge differences between the families.

But one important predictor of a pudgy preschooler was whether the child was still using a bottle at the stunning age of 3, concluded the study being published online Thursday by the American Journal of Public Health.

"These children are already disadvantaged because their families are poor, and by age 3 they are on track for a lifetime of health problems related to obesity," said lead researcher Rachel Kimbro of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Obesity can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, sleep problems and other disorders --- and the problem starts early.

Overweight preschoolers have a five times higher risk of being fat at age 12 than do lean preschoolers, scientists reported last fall.

Thirty-two percent of the white and black tots were either overweight or obese, vs. 44 percent of the Hispanics.

Kimbro checked a long list of factors, from children's TV habits to whether mothers had easy access to grocery stores.

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Posted by Michael at 5:17 PM

Do we need a world health insurance to realize the right to health?

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

There has been growing recognition in the international community that health should be considered a human right, but much less attention has been paid to the ensuing legal obligation to provide international assistance, says a team of authors from Médecins Sans Frontières, led by Gorik Oooms.

"Poor states can blame rich states for not honouring their obligation to provide assistance, thus leaving poor states with insufficient means to meet their core obligations," say Ooms and colleagues.

The second reason is the notion of "progressive realization," i.e. the recognition that economic, social, and cultural rights cannot be fully realized in a short period of time.

Ooms and colleagues say that a "world health insurance" could solve both of these problems by defining rights a nd duties for both rich and poor states.

The creation of the Global Fund, they say, "demonstrates the merits of ambitious thinking: the provision of antiretroviral therapy to people living with AIDS, previously dismissed as unsustainable, became widely accepted as soon as the Global Fund provided a long-term funding perspective.

Ooms and colleagues' framework for a world health insurance involves rich states paying a fair contribution and poor states having the right to assistance according to the health-care needs that they are unable to finance themselves.

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Posted by Michael at 5:01 PM

D.C. to Dedicate Settlement Funds to Health Care

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

The District of Columbia City Council has voted to spend $245 million of its share of the nationwide tobacco settlement on programs aimed at battling chronic diseases and other health priorities, the Washington Post reported Dec. 20.

The money will be used to build new clinical facilities, especially to serve residents of the city's east side, as well as funding emergency services and cancer and diabetes prevention programs.

A forthcoming Rand Corp. study will be used to guide the bulk of the spending.

This is the first time that the District has used its tobacco-settlement money for health-related programs.

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Posted by Michael at 4:47 PM

Overall Youth Drug Use Down in 2006, But Survey Sees Trouble Brewing with Inhalants, Prescription Drugs, Smoking

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

The number of American youths who tell researchers that they used illicit drugs within the last year continues to inch downward, but the annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey also found stubbornly high levels of prescription-drug abuse and an end to the decline in smoking among young teens.

The survey of 50,000 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders found that the overall percentage of U.S. youths using alcohol or other drugs declined modestly in 2006, continuing a decade-long trend.

Lloyd Johnson, Ph.D., principal investigator of the study, expressed particular concern about a decline in perceived risk of using inhalants.

Use of inhalants did not increase in 2006, according to the study, but inhalant use has been rising among American youth in recent years.

Misuse of prescription drugs, which also has risen sharply in recent years, did not increase in 2006, but remained at "unacceptably high levels," according to a press release from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which sponsors the survey.

The Marijuana Policy Project, however, issued a report saying that prohibition of marijuana does not deter youth use of the drug.

University of Michigan researchers also sounded an alarm about youth smoking, saying the MTF findings indicate that the trend toward lower smoking rates among children in their early and middle teens has ended.

Corr called for states to increase tobacco taxes, increase funding for tobacco prevention programs, and pass public-smoking bans, and said Congress needs to pass legislation giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco products and marketing.

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Posted by Michael at 4:38 PM

Youth Exposure to TV Alcohol Ads Rising, CAMY Says

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

A proliferation of liquor and other alcohol ads on cable TV has contributed to a 41-percent increase in youth exposure to television alcohol advertising, according to a new report from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY).

"More spending on television, especially on cable, translates into kids seeing more and more alcohol ads," said David Jernigan, executive director of CAMY.

The report, Still Growing After All These Years: Youth Exposure to Alcohol Ads on TV 2001--2005, found that industry self-regulation standards for TV ads -- including a pledge not to advertise on programs with an underage audience of more than 30 percent -- have provided insufficient protection for young viewers, although fewer ads are now being placed on shows with large youth audiences.

"Twenty state attorneys general and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) have said the alcohol industry needs to do a better job of shielding our kids from its advertising," said Jernigan.

In 2003, the IOM recommended that alcohol ads be banned from shows with youth audiences of 25 percent or higher, and that the industry then move to a 15-percent standard.

"Despite the industry's efforts, youth exposure to alcohol advertising on television is moving in the wrong direction," said Jernigan.

"More effective ad placement standards and ongoing, independent monitoring of alcohol-industry practices will help parents and policymakers make certain that our kids are not overexposed to alcohol advertising."

CAMY said that spending on alcohol ads rose 34 percent between 2001 and 2005, and the number of ads televised increased 34 percent.

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Posted by Michael at 4:32 PM

Bush Signs STOP Act into Law

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

The STOP (Sober Truth on Preventing) Underage Drinking Act, called the most significant piece of underage-drinking prevention legislation passed by Congress in years, has been signed into law by President Bush.

"Today's historic signing into law of our nation's first comprehensive legislation on underage drinking is a significant step toward bringing this national public-health crisis out of the shadows," said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), the lead sponsor of the bill.

"Prior to being elected to public office, I worked for a nonprofit agency which focused on alcohol abuse.

That experience made me realize that, as a nation, we must no longer be complacent about underage drinking and its alarming consequences."

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Posted by Michael at 4:29 PM

Protection Against Cancer may Begin During Pregnancy

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

There may be another reason for pregnant and nursing women to eat a nutritious diet that includes generous amounts of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage -- it could help protect their children from cancer, both as infants and later in life.

A new study by scientists from the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, done with laboratory mice, found that supplements of a key phytochemical found in certain vegetables provided a very high level of protection against leukemia and lymphoma in young animals, and also significantly protected against lung cancer during the rodent's equivalent of middle age.

The research, published in the journal Carcinogenesis, is one of the first of its type to demonstrate that diet may play a protective role in a fight against cancer that may begin -- and could be won or lost -- well before a person is ever born.

"Research of this type is still in its infancy, but it's pretty exciting," said David Williams, an LPI researcher and director of the Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center at OSU.

"There's strong epidemiologic evidence that infant cancers can be caused by exposure of the fetus to carcinogens, either during pregnancy or by nursing," Williams said.

There are particular concerns about common environmental pollutants called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which can be produced by cigarette smoking or the combustion of organic materials such as wood, coal, cooking oil or diesel fuel.

In laboratory studies, researchers exposed pregnant mice to a single high dose of one PAH called dibenzopyrene, a potent carcinogen, and about 80 percent of their 100 offspring died early in life from an aggressive T-cell lymphoma.

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Posted by Michael at 4:26 PM

Risk Factors for Hypertension Start Young

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

By age 10, some black children already have high nighttime blood pressure, an early signal of impending cardiovascular disease, a new study shows.

As they grow up, black children also show greater increases in nighttime blood pressure, according to a study that followed children's blood pressures over 15 years.

The gap between the pressure measurements of whites and blacks also widens as children get older.

One reason for the higher nighttime pressure is some blacks retain more sodium, which increases fluid volume in their bodies and their blood pressure, according to researchers.

To determine pressure differences between black and white children and at what age those differences occur, Dr. Frank Treiber, vice president for research and study co-author measured the ambulatory blood pressures of almost 700 children 12 times during 15 years.

"Most previous studies have looked at a cross section of people and this 15-year study allows us to look at one population over an extended period of time," says Dr. Xiaoling Wang, genetic epidemiologist and the study's lead author.

"That most likely means that the problem is not purely genetic and also is likely caused by environmental factors like salt intake and stress," Dr. Wang says.

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Posted by Michael at 4:19 PM

First-Borns Get More Quality Time with Parents

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

First-born children get more quality time with parents than subsequent children, a Cornell study shows.

Using data from the American Time Use Survey, Joseph Price, a graduate student in economics at Cornell, found that a first-born child receives 20-30 more minutes of quality time each day with a parent than a second-born child of the same age from a similar family.

This leads to an aggregate difference of about 3,000 hours between the times spent with each child.

"Thus, at any age, the second child is receiving less time than the first-born child received at the same age," said Price.

"This birth-order difference is larger when the children are spaced further apart."

Price presented his findings at the meeting of the Society of Labor Economics in May 2006, among several other venues.

His paper is now under review at the Journal of Human Resources.

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Posted by Michael at 4:16 PM

UCLA study finds a need for services that help homeless youth obtain health insurance

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Youth with a history of homelessness are a vulnerable population at high risk for negative health outcomes. The findings suggest that facilitating health insurance coverage for them may lead to increased use of outpatient care services, which may prevent costly emergency room services for conditions that could have been treated in the outpatient setting. There is a need for interventions geared toward this group in facilitating health insurance coverage.

Researchers examined health care service use among a group of newly homeless adolescents who had become homeless two years prior to see if differences existed among those who had returned home and those who remained homeless.

By the end of that period, 63 percent had returned home, with the rest remaining homeless.

The researchers found that most youths in the study sought out health care for sexually transmitted diseases or for reproductive health, regardless of whether they had returned home.

Additionally, males who remained homeless were more likely to seek emergency room treatment for traumatic injuries than were those who had returned home.

Youths who remained homeless were also more likely to seek emergency room treatment for common conditions such as respiratory illnesses and gastrointestinal problems that could have been treated in an outpatient setting.

The most common predictor of outpatient service use was whether the youth had health insurance, which those aged 18 and older were likelier to have compared with their younger peers.

The findings suggest that facilitating health insurance coverage for them may lead to increased use of outpatient care services, which may prevent costly emergency room services for conditions that could have been treated in the outpatient setting.

AUTHORS: M. Rosa Solorio, Sharone Trifskin and Lillian Gelberg of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; Norweeta G. Milburn of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA; and Ronald M. Andersen of the UCLA School of Public Health.

JOURNAL: Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, December issue.

FUNDERS: National Institutes of Mental Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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Posted by Michael at 4:12 PM

Deaths of severely malnourished children: identifying those most at risk

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Severe malnutrition is responsible for the deaths of millions of children every year.

Research published in PLoS Medicine has shown that certain clinical signs in severely malnourished children can predict those who are most likely to die.

This should help health care workers focus their attentions on those who are most at risk.

The international group of researchers work in a hospital in Kilifi District Hospital in Kenya, where 920 children were admitted with severe malnutrition between Septemb er 2000 and June 2002.

Although the children were treated according to guidelines from the World Health Organization, 176 of them (19%) died.

The WHO says that use of the guidelines can reduce the death rate to around 5%, but the Kilifi figures are not unusual for Africa.

The researchers proposed that these findings (together with a number of other features that were associated with the later deaths) could be used to identify three groups of patients differing in their need for emergency care: a high-risk group (with any of the four signs above, or with low blood sugar, among whom mortality was 34%); a moderate-risk group (among whom mortality was 23%); and a low-risk group (mortality 7%).

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Posted by Michael at 4:10 PM

Service sector employment gains in solid jobs report; manufacturing and construction lose jobs

From Economic Policy Institute:

For analysis of the most recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, read EPI's Jobs Picture.

The nation's payrolls expanded by 132,000 jobs last month, according to today's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Unemployment ticked up slightly to 4.5%, in a jobs report characterized by solid employment gains in service industries and losses in factories and construction.

With upward revisions of 42,000 to October and September's job gains, the average monthly gain this year has been 149,000, about the level needed to keep the labor market expanding apace and prevent unemployment from rising.

One additional concern from today's report is the decline in employment associated with non -residential building, as positive job growth here helped to offset residential losses in earlier months.

Businesses in professional services (engineering firms, legal services, computer systems design) continue to expand employment, adding 43,000 last month.

One standout weak sector in services is information, including two sub-industries that appear to be undergoing continuing restructuring: publishing and telecom.

Turning to wages, the hourly wage rate for blue-collar production workers and non-managers in services is up 4.1% over the past year, a growth rate ample enough to solidly surpass recent inflation readings that have been well below 2% (weekly earnings were up 4.4% over the past year).

Finally, most forecasts are for the overall economy to continue growing below trend, likely taking any pressure off wage growth in coming months.

Finally, while today's report is upbeat outside of the troubled sectors noted above, with this release, we now have employment data through the first five years of the current recovery, which began in November 2001.

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Posted by Michael at 4:04 PM

For kids with high blood pressure, surgery can help when medicines fail

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

High blood pressure may seem like something that only adults get, but children can develop it too -- and it can pose serious risks to their hearts, brains and lives. While medications may help some children, a new study shows that for kids with a rare but especially dangerous form of hypertension, surgery is the best option. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 4:03 PM

Protection Against Cancer May Begin During Pregnancy, Nursing

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

There may be another reason for pregnant and nursing women to eat a nutritious diet that includes generous amounts of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage - it could help protect their children from cancer, both as infants and later in life. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 4:00 PM

December 27, 2006

Delinquency Cases in Juvenile Court, 2002

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention:

The number of delinquency cases handled by juvenile courts has increased 41% since 1985.

However, between 1997 and 2002, the nation's juvenile court delinquency caseload decreased 11%.

During this time, the number of person offense cases decreased 2%, property offense cases decreased 27%, drug law violation cases increased 1%, and public order offense cases increased 7%.

Between 1985 and 2002, the growth in cases involving females outpaced the growth in cases involving males in all offense categories.

In the public order offense category, the greatest increase for males was in cases involving obstruction of justice (169%); for females, it was disorderly conduct (241%).

Fifty-eight percent of the delinquency cases processed in 2002 involved a juvenile younger than 16 at referral, compared with 60% in 1990.

In 2002, juveniles younger than 16 were responsible for 64% (249,800) of person offense cases, 60% (376,200) of property offense cases, 41% (80,100) of drug law violation cases, 0 These estimates are based on data from more than 2,100 courts with jurisdiction over more than 75% of the U.S. juvenile and 55% (224,300) of public order offense cases.

In this Fact Sheet, each case represents one youth processed by a juvenile court on a new referral, regardless of the Race number of individual offenses contained in that referral.

Posted by Michael at 11:19 AM

December 21, 2006

2006 Federal Budget Year in Review

National Priorities Project:

The budget process this year began with a whimper and ended with even less, as Congress failed to act on 11 out of 13 appropriation bills and deferred this year's business to next year's Congress.

At the beginning of February, the administration released its budget request for fiscal year 2007.

It proposed deep cuts to the provision of domestic goods and services, while also making permanent the tax breaks that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.

A week later, the administration submitted to Congress yet another request for more war spending.

By the end of the year, Congress left most of the government running on last year's budget allocations but passed more war-related spending and extended corporate tax cuts.

This year more than half of the tax cuts went to the wealthiest 10 percent, and more than one-fourth went to just the top one percent.1 The tax policy changes also represent a drain on federal revenues and are the largest contributor to the significant deficits of the past six years.

Now, the projection for the same period is a deficit of $2.7 trillion.2 While increases in military spending also had a considerable impact on these numbers, the tax cuts are even more important to changing the budget outlook.

Congress passed the request with few modifications, bringing spending on just the Iraq War in FY2006 to $100 billion.

Combined with money already spent or allocated, the total cost of the Iraq War rose to nearly $380 billion.

Posted by Michael at 3:22 PM

Teen Use of Over-the-Counter Cold Medicines Rising

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

Use of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines has become one of the fastest-growing drug abuse problems for youths in California and elsewhere, and much of the increase is being seen in the pre-teen population, the Los Angeles Times reported Dec. 5.

A study published in the December issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that while abuse of the ingredient dextromethorphan (DXM) is most common among 15- and 16-year-olds in California, growth in DXM abuse is driven by the 9-to-17 age group.

Use of DXM is more popular among 12- and 13-year-olds than among 18-year-olds, according to the study, based on a review of 1,382 calls to the California Poison Control Center over six years.

"I did not expect 12-year-olds to be abusing it," said the study's senior author, Ilene B. Anderson, a toxicology management specialist for the state poison control system.

Use of large quantities of dextromethorphan can lead to elevated blood pressure and heartbeat, with some users becoming agitated and others lethargic.

Possible life-threatening side effects include seizures and elevated body temperature.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, representing makers of over-the-counter medicines, is seeking to minimize misuse of the ingredient by pushing for federal legislation to ban online sales of pure DXM in powdered form and to close websites that encourage recreational use of the drug.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:46 PM

Sleep Medicine Ambien Abused by Teens

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

Some adolescents are misusing the prescription sleep medication Ambien, which they say causes hallucinations and blackouts. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:12 PM

Addiction Recovery Includes Brain Benefits

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

Abstinence from drinking allows the brains of chronic drinkers to regenerate, and the sooner problem drinkers quit the more brain function they are liable to recover. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:09 PM

Study Warns of Hunger Among Hispanics

From washingtonpost.com:

Nearly one in five Hispanics lacks sufficient access to nutritious food and one in 20 regularly goes hungry, posing serious health and economic risks to the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority group, according to a new study.

As with African Americans, poverty appears to be the main factor limiting Latinos' access to nutritious food.

About 22 percent of Latinos and 25 percent of non-Hispanic blacks are poor, compared with 8 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

In 1996, Congress disqualified legal immigrants from nearly all forms of government assistance.

Although a 2002 law restored access to certain programs for many categories of immigrants, including all otherwise eligible immigrant children, many Latinos appear unaware of the change.

For instance, slightly more than half of eligible Latinos participate in the national food stamp program, compared with more than 70 percent of eligible blacks.

"For a lot of our immigrant families, there's either a lack of understanding of the system or fear, due to their immigration status," of approaching authorities, said Beatriz Otero, director of Centro, a nonprofit child-care center in the District that has helped many Latino parents apply for federal assistance.

Only about half of such children participate in the food stamp program, compared with more than 80 percent of eligible children who are U.S. citizens but whose parents are also U.S. citizens.

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Posted by Michael at 11:55 AM

Many Youths Admitted to Hospitals for Alcohol or Drug Dependence Don't Receive Treatment

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

Forty percent or more of the youths ages 20 or younger admitted to U.S. hospitals for substance dependence or related psychoses in 2000 had no documentation of receiving alcohol or drug treatment during their stay, according to an analysis of data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Some of these substance abuse admissions were transferred to other facilities which may have provided substance abuse treatment.

They note that the low rates of treatment may be due to "a lack of access to capable therapists with adolescent expertise" as "severe shortages of specialty-certified and trained providers are reality in most of the U.S."

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:51 AM

Overall Drug Use Down in 2006, But Survey Sees Trouble Brewing with Inhalants, Prescription Drugs, Smoking

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

The number of American youths who tell researchers that they used illicit drugs within the last year continues to inch downward, but the annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey also found stubbornly high levels of prescription-drug abuse and an end to the decline in smoking among young teens.

The survey of 50,000 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders found that the overall percentage of U.S. youths using alcohol or other drugs declined modestly in 2006, continuing a decade-long trend.

"They are getting the message that dangerous drugs damage their lives and limit their futures," said Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

Use of inhalants did not increase in 2006, according to the study, but inhalant use has been rising among American youth in recent years.

Misuse of prescription drugs, which also has risen sharply in recent years, did not increase in 2006, but remained at "unacceptably high levels," according to a press release from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which sponsors the survey.

The Marijuana Policy Project, however, issued a report saying that prohibition of marijuana does not deter youth use of the drug.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy, meanwhile, chose to tweak the drug czar's office, putting out a tongue-in-cheek chart noting that drug use has decreased at about the same rate as funding for ONDCP's antidrug media campaign has declined.

University of Michigan researchers also sounded an alarm about youth smoking, saying the MTF findings indicate that the trend toward lower smoking rates among children in their early and middle teens has ended.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:39 AM

Louisiana Slow To Distribute Aid From FEMA

From washingtonpost.com :

Louisiana lags behind Mississippi in forwarding federal aid to cash-strapped communities after Hurricane Katrina, lending support to complaints by local officials in the New Orleans area that the state is holding up money they need for repairs and rebuilding.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has paid Louisiana about $5.1 billion to reimburse local officials for infrastructure projects after Katrina landed on Aug. 29, 2005, but only 38 percent of that money has reached communities nearly 16 months later, FEMA spokesman Aaron Walker said Tuesday.

A greater percentage of federal dollars has flowed to communities in Mississippi, where the state has distributed just under half of around $2.2 billion that FEMA has paid for repairs to roads and public buildings, debris removal and other projects, Walker said.

Walker said he can't compare how quickly and efficiently the two states are doling out FEMA public assistance money because Hurricane Rita also struck Louisiana about a month after Katrina hit.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:30 AM

Employment, Social Security, and Future Retirement Outcomes for Single Mothers

Urban Institute:

Employment rates for single mothers with dependent children have been rising, partly because of welfare reform and expansions in the Earned Income Tax Credit.

The results show that employment and earnings gains for single mothers during the late 1990s will translate into modestly higher Social Security benefits and better retirement outcomes when they reach later life, assuming these trends persist.

However, most single mothers will fare worse in retirement than other women, primarily because they generally earned low wages over their lifetimes and many lack financial support from spouses.

This paper examines this recent increase and analyzes the implications for future retirement security.

Using the most recent longitudinal data available, the authors model employment, hours of work, and wages for women raising children outside of marriage.

During the same period, employment rates for men and other women declined or held steady, while real wages among nonblack workers grew only half as fast for men and other women as for single mothers.

For women born between 1984 and 1988 who spend at least 10 years raising children outside of marriage, the labor market gains of the late 1990s will increase real lifetime earnings by only 5 percent and will raise Social Security benefits by only 4 percent.

These gains are driven primarily by increases in educational attainment among single mothers and strong growth in real wages for all workers that the Social Security trustees project over the next 50 years.

Posted by Michael at 10:55 AM

Cultural Vitality in Communities: Interpretation and Indicators

Urban Institute:

This report introduces a definition of cultural vitality that includes the range of cultural activity people around the country find significant.

We use this definition as a lens to clarify our understanding of data necessary, as well as the more limited data currently available, to document arts and culture in communities in a consistent, recurrent and reliable manner.

We develop and recommend an initial set of arts and culture indicators derived from nationally available data, and compare selected metropolitan areas based on these measures.

The first three of these---the presence of opportunities to participate, participation in its multiple dimensions, and support systems for cultural participation---are appropriate for indicator measurement and make possible a more comprehensive understanding of impacts of arts and culture (the fourth domain).

Tier one refers to quantitative data that is publicly available, free or of minimal cost, collected at least annually, able to be disaggregated geographically to the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) level or smaller, and nationally comparable.

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration.

Posted by Michael at 10:51 AM

Survey of Students' Out-of-School Time

Chapin Hall:

This report provides a descriptive overview of what students in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) do in their out-of-school time, based on responses to a questionnaire administered to ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders.

For the past 3 years, Chapin Hall has collected information from CPS high school students on their after-school and weekend activities.

The availability of after-school opportunities and the characteristics and dynamics of life in the neighborhoods in which students live appear to be critical barriers to participation for many young people.

For example, 55 percent of the students in the survey said that they have no safe places like parks or community centers to go to in their out-of-school time.

The survey is part of a larger Chapin Hall project that includes in-depth interviews with youth and a survey of youth-serving agencies that provides information on the availability of programs and the dynamics of provision in several Chicago communities.

Posted by Michael at 10:36 AM

Characteristics of Youth Activists

Chapin Hall:

Concerns about declining political participation in the United States have once again raised the question of how young people get involved in politics.

This project focuses on engaged youths and explores the personal trajectories, people and institutions that encouraged them to become engaged with their communities.

In-depth interviews were conducted with young people in Chicago, who were identified by directors of community organizations as the most engaged youths in their civic engagement projects.

Most youth interviewed have a parent who respects them and listens to their ideas, and are involved in community and school organizations that provide opportunities for engagement.

The young people have a keen sense of themselves as youths, even as other social identities such as race, nationality and gender play a role in their sense of self.

Combating the negative stereotypes of youth, in particular the stereotypes of Latinos and African Americans, is central to their political activism, since they feel that such stereotypes can silence their political voices.

Posted by Michael at 10:31 AM

Analyzing Racial Disparity in the Foster Care System

Chapin Hall:

Although the rate of racial disproportionality in foster care placement is relatively low in Tennessee when compared to other states, African American children are nevertheless overrepresented in Tennessee's foster care system.

The study seeks to analyze that variation to better understand disparities in the use of foster care and to point to strategies that may bring greater equity to the delivery of child welfare services.

The first part of the analysis focuses on entry rates and differences in the likelihood that children will enter foster care.

African American placement rates are closer to white placement rates in counties with higher concentrations of adults without a high school degree and female-headed families.

The second part of the report examines exit patterns in order to assess how length of stay and exit type influence disproportionality.

After adjusting for other attributes, among children who are either reunified or adopted, white children exit more quickly.

Posted by Michael at 10:29 AM

December 18, 2006

Addressing the Needs of Juvenile Status Offenders and Their Families

Juvenile Justice Teleconference Website

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, in conjunction with the American Bar Association's Commission on Youth at Risk, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Family and Youth Services Bureau presents the videoconference "Addressing the Needs of Juvenile Status Offenders and Their Families."

Status offenses are nondelinquent/noncriminal offenses that are considered illegal for underage persons, but not for adults.

In 2004, police made 403,800 arrests of persons under the age of 18 for status offenses (about 18% of juvenile arrests made in 2004).

On any given day in 2003, approximately 4,800 status offenders were in custody in a juvenile justice facility, accounting for 5% of juvenile offenders in residential placement.

Research on the pathways, causes and correlates of delinquency have clearly linked status offending behavior with later delinquency, highlighting the importance of an early, appropriate intervention with these youth.

This live satellite/Internet videoconference will focus on the factors that may lead a status offender to become more deeply involved in serious risk behavior, offending, and the juvenile justice system.

The broadcast will highlight programs, practices, and policies around the country that have shown promise in intervening with status offenders by reducing further offending, providing needed support to their families, and steering them toward a positive future.

Posted by Michael at 1:29 PM

December 14, 2006

Improving Hospital Care for Children with Limited English Proficiency

Commonwealth Fund:

Effective communication between patients and providers is critical to high-quality health care.

When patients are children, parents or guardians must step in to ensure a full and open exchange of information.

When parents do not speak English, however, children may not receive high-quality---or even safe---care.

As part of a larger project supported by The Commonwealth Fund and directed by Lisa Simpson, a research team led by Christina Bethell conducted focus groups to examine communication-related hospital quality and safety issues for children from Spanish-speaking families with limited English proficiency (LEP).

According to, "Quality and Safety of Hospital Care for Children from Spanish-Speaking Families with Limited English Proficiency" (Journal for Healthcare Quality, May/June 2006), parents, providers, hospital staff, and quality improvement (QI) professionals agree that language and cultural differences lead to communication issues that can have a pervasive, negative impact on the quality and safety of care children receive, but disagree about what exactly needs to change.

To identify priorities and strategies, the researchers conducted 12 focus groups with 72 individuals at children's hospitals in South Florida and Southern California.

The groups consisted of: Spanish-speaking parents with limited English proficiency (LEP) whose children had recently been hospitalized; physicians, nurses, or other hospital staff who came into direct contact with families; and QI professionals.

Problems and Priorities During the focus group discussions, 12 overarching themes emerged about how language and cultural differences contribute to communication problems and, consequently, how these differences affect quality and safety of care.

Hospitals should provide more medically trained interpreters through each phase of the hospital stay and ensure continuity of interpreters for families and providers.

Posted by Michael at 6:41 PM

School Readiness, Full-Day Kindergarten, and Student Achievement

RAND:

Recent research shows that large gaps exist, even before children enter kindergarten, in their school readiness.

Because the skills and knowledge that children have upon entering school predict later achievement, this is an issue of serious concern to educators and policymakers.

To address these differences in school readiness, some advocate full-day kindergarten; but critics say the costs and uncertainties about the benefits of full-day kindergarten should rule it out.

Using longitudinal survey data to examine how children's skills and knowledge at kindergarten entry predict achievement in later grades, this study addresses two research questions: the relationship between school readiness skills at kindergarten entry and reading and mathematics achievement through the fifth grade, and kindergarten program factors that predict nonacademic school readiness skills.

Findings show that both academic and nonacademic school readiness skills at entry to kindergarten were significantly related to reading and mathematics achievement in fifth grade.

As in earlier studies, these findings suggest that full-time kindergarten programs may not enhance achievement in the long term.

Investing in developing the nonacademic school readiness skills of minority children at an early age may raise overall achievement and may narrow the achievement gap between minority and white students.

Home background variables, including family involvement and resources, predicted nonacademic school readiness; child participation in extracurricular activities is also associated with development of these readiness skills.

To guide future decisions on effective programs, cost-benefit analyses should be conducted to compare full-day kindergarten to other interventions that claim to enhance nonacademic readiness.

Posted by Michael at 6:36 PM

Who are America's Poor Children? The Official Story

National Center for Children in Poverty:

Nearly 13 million American children live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level, which is $20,000 a year for a family of four.

There are 1.3 million more children living in poverty today than in 2000, despite indications of economic recovery and growth.

Children living in families with incomes below this level---for 2006, $40,000 for a family of four---are referred to as low income.

This fact sheet details some of the characteristics of American children who are considered poor by these official standards.

Data collected in the 1950s indicated that families spent about one-third of their income on food.

Yet food now comprises far less than a third of an average family's expenses, while the costs of housing, child care, health care, and transportation have grown disproportionately.

On the expense side, the official poverty measure does not include the cost of payroll and income taxes or work-related expenses, such as child care and transportation.

Across the states, child poverty rates range from 7% in New Hampshire to 27% in Mississippi.

In the 10 most populated states, rates of child poverty among Latino children range from 20% in New Jersey, Florida, and Illinois to 35% in Texas.

Having immigrant parents increases a child's chances of being poor.

20% of children under age 6---1 in 5---live in poor families; 16% of children age 6 or older live in poor families.

In the 10 most populated states, the percent of poor children who lack health insurance ranges from 12% in Michigan to 28% in Florida and Texas.

Posted by Michael at 6:30 PM

HUD Unveils New Generation of Migrant Housing at Florida Expo

HUD News Release:

WASHINGTON - The Department of Housing and Urban Development today unveiled a new generation of affordable storm-resistant housing for migrant farm workers.

HUD joined the University of Florida to reveal the HUD Migrant Worker Prototype House at the Florida Agriculture Expo in Balm, Florida.

The HUD-funded prototype is the result of two years of work by Florida producers and others to develop quality, cost-effective housing for migrant farm workers that can withstand the unpredictable Florida weather.

"After the 2004 hurricanes, we wanted to begin the process of bringing a new generation of safe, secure and comfortable housing to our workforce."

Taylor originally brought the idea to IFAS after watching a presentation about the homes while he was chairman of the board of the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.

"HUD believes this prototype housing may have multiple uses beyond the Gulf Coast communities suffering from recent hurricanes," said Inez Banks-DuBose, Director of HUD's Office of Departmental Operations and Coordination.

"This safe, efficient prototype also illustrates how public and private entities can successfully partner to develop innovative and affordable housing.

The prototype house features many interesting details in its construction.

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS.

The Department also promotes economic and community development, and enforces the nation's fair housing laws.

Posted by Michael at 6:27 PM

FRAC Special Analysis: 2006 U.S. Conference of Mayors/Sodexho Survey on Hunger and Homelessness

Food Research and Action Center:

During the last year, requests for emergency food assistance in survey cities increased an average of 7 percent, with 74 percent of survey cities reporting an increase, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM).

The U.S. Conference of Mayors/Sodexho Survey on Hunger and Homelessness reported data for 23 cities for the period November 1, 2005 through October 31, 2006.

The annual survey, released on December 14th, also documented increased needs among families with children and elderly persons as well as insufficient resources to fully meet needs in many cities.

Sixty-three percent of the cities' emergency food assistance facilities have had to decrease the number of bags of food provided and/or the number of times people can receive food.

The leading causes of hunger cited in order of frequency by survey cities are: unemployment and other employment-related problems; high housing costs; poverty or lack of income; medical or health costs; mental health problems; substance abuse; utility costs; transportation costs; high child care costs; and lack of education.

Posted by Michael at 6:18 PM

2006 Hunger and Homelessness Survey

U.S. Conference of Mayors:

As emerging priorities unfold under new Congressional leadership, The U.S. Conference of Mayors and Sodexho, Inc. released the 2006 Hunger and Homelessness Survey.

For more than 20 years, The U.S. Conference of Mayors has reported on the shortage of emergency services --food, shelter, medical care, income assistance and energy assistance -- in the nation's cities.

For the fourth year, Sodexho, Inc. joins The U.S. Conference of Mayors in bringing national attention to the factors that impact hunger and homelessness in metropolitan areas in the United States.

"This survey represents real people with real needs in cities all across our nation," said U.S. Conference of Mayors President Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer.

"As mayors of cities in the richest and most powerful nation in the world, we cannot simply stand by as our residents -- families with children -- continue to suffer.

We have a responsibility to work together with our federal partners, as well as the private sector to turn the tide of those most in need in America."

Highlights of the survey show that overall requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of seven percent over the last year, with 74 percent of the survey cities registering an increase.

Additionally, 100 percent of the survey cities reported that families and individuals relied on emergency food assistance facilities both in emergencies and as a steady source of food over long periods of time.

Also, requests for emergency shelter assistance increased by an average of nine percent over the last year, with 68 percent of the survey cities showing an increase.

This year mental illness and the lack of needed social services are considered the leading causes of homelessness by city officials.

Amid a growing debate on the federal level on the use of the term 'hunger', Congressman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Co-Chair of the Congressional Hunger Caucus has argued that to call 'hunger' by any other name will make it more difficult to get the political backing and action that is needed to deal with this issue.

We are an activist company with more than 110,000 U.S. employees, and we make it our business to understand the effects of hunger and to practice hunger-reducing activities in our communities," said Rod Bond, President of Sodexho, Inc. School Services Division.

Officials in the survey cities estimate that during the past year requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of seven percent, with 74 percent of the cities registering an increase.

Requests for food assistance by families with children also increased by an average of five percent.

Requests for emergency food assistance by elderly persons increased by an average of 18 percent during the last year, with 74 percent of the cities reporting an increase.

Others causes of hunger cited, in order of frequency, include high housing costs, poverty or lack of income, medical or health costs, substance abuse, utility costs, transportation costs, and the lack of education.

Seventy-five percent of cities say it is too early to say what impact their plans will have on ending chronic homelessness especially with regard to cost savings spent on a chronically homeless person.

Requests for assisted housing by low-income families and individuals increased in 86 percent of the cities during the last year.

The primary roles of the Conference of Mayors are to promote the development of effective national urban/suburban policy; strengthen federal-city relationships; ensure that federal policy meets urban needs; provide mayors with leadership and management tools; and create a forum in which mayors can share ideas and information.

Headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., Sodexho proudly serves as the official food service provider for the U.S. Marine Corps.

Posted by Michael at 6:13 PM

Congress Delays SCHIP Funding Shortfalls in 2007 by Several Months

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

The provision will redistribute existing unspent federal SCHIP funds to some of the 17 states that face shortfalls.

The provision will provide only about one-fifth of the funds needed to fully close the shortfalls for the full fiscal year; it is designed to delay the onset of the funding shortfalls for several months.

Otherwise, the 17 states will have to scale back their SCHIP programs, placing several hundred thousand low-income children at risk of losing health care coverage, unless they can come up with new state funds to fully plug the hole.

Passage of the SCHIP provision of H.R. 6164 is a welcome development, particularly since Congress had, only the day before, appeared ready to ignore the SCHIP shortfall issue when it removed a similar SCHIP provision from the tax extenders package.

In the final days of the Congressional session, some members of Congress cited the lack of offsetting savings in entitlement spending and/or of offsetting revenue increases to ensure no increase in the deficit as a reason to reject SCHIP measures that would fully close the 2007 shortfalls.

We note that the estimated $921 million shortfall in 2007 highlighted in our November analysis assumes the redistribution of 2004 funds consistent with this prior practice.

Posted by Michael at 5:46 PM

State of Childhood Asthma, United States: 1980-2005

CDC:

A new report on childhood asthma released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that death rates for asthma among children under age 18 have declined since 1999, while doctor visits for the condition have more than doubled over the past decade.

The percentage of children who had asthma more than doubled between 1980 and 1995, from 3.6 percent to 7.5 percent.

In 2001, CDC introduced a more precise measurement of asthma and the five years since then the trend has remained stable at historically high levels.

After increasing steadily between 1980 and 1998, asthma death rates among children have for the most part declined since 1999.

A change in the way causes of death are coded resulted in a sizable one-year decline between 1998 and 1999, but since then the asthma death rate for children has fallen from 3.2 deaths per 1 million children under age 18 in 1999 to 2.5 deaths per 1 million in 2004.

Among race/ethnic groups, Puerto Rican and non-Hispanic black children were reported to have the highest percentages of asthma (19.2 and 12.7 respectively).

According to 2003 data, children with at least one asthma attack in the previous year (nearly 4 million children) missed a cumulative total of 12.8 million school days due to asthma.

Among the 37 states for which data were available, the states with the highest percentage of children with asthma were: Massachusetts, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Maryland, and Rhode Island.

The states with the lowest percentage of children with asthma were: Utah, California, Iowa, Tennessee, and Washington.

"The State of Childhood Asthma, United States: 1980-2005" is available at www.cdc.gov/nchs.

Posted by Michael at 5:40 PM

A Profile of the Foreign-Born in the Louisville Metropolitan Area

Urban Institute:

This profile of immigrants in the Louisville metropolitan area ("Louisville") is intended to help local officials, policy makers and service providers better understand the size, characteristics and needs of the region's immigrant population.

This report uses the 2000 Census and more recent data where available to produce a demographic portrait of the immigrant population, with a special focus on refugees.

Immigrants---also described as "foreign-born" in the report---are people born outside of the United States, excluding United States citizens born abroad to American parents, or in United States territories such as Puerto Rico.

Employers, elementary and secondary schools, universities, job training centers, hospitals and social service providers are among the many important public and private institutions that must grapple with how to serve this fast-changing population.

Louisville's immigrants are more diverse in their origins than immigrants nationally; they include large numbers of Latin American immigrants as well as refugees from all over the world.

Refugees are resettled in Kentucky through the Wilson-Fish Program, a public-private partnership that provides benefits and social services during refugees' initial years in the United States.

In 2000, Louisville foreign-born adults age 25 and over were considerably more likely to have a four-year college degree than native-born residents of the metropolitan area (33 versus 19 percent).

Latin American immigrants, the least educated group, still had a four-year college rate just below natives (17 versus 19 percent).

Even when they have high levels of formal education, immigrants often face other barriers to employment, such as lack of English proficiency and difficulty transferring credentials from their home countries.

Posted by Michael at 5:32 PM

Charities and Software Firms Partner on Groundbreaking Charitable Giving Survey

Urban Institute:

An annual Fundraising Effectiveness Survey is being launched by a partnership of research, charitable, professional, and service organizations to help nonprofits increase overall charitable giving from current and potential donors.

The debut survey, which started November 1, asks charities to compare their 2004 and 2005 fundraising results.

"For decades, research has indicated enormous untapped giving potential in the United States," said Elizabeth Boris, director of the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute.

The survey will fill the data gap by measuring fundraising gains and losses in categories that have not been the focus of earlier studies-new donors, lapsed donors, and donors who have increased or decreased their gifts.

The survey is the initial activity of the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP), which is also working on fundraising data standards and performance indicators.

FEP's sponsors are the Urban Institute's Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, and the National Committee on Planned Giving.

Working with the donor software community will increase charities' response rate many times over, greatly improve the accuracy of the data gathered, provide significant savings in data-entry and other costs associated with completing the survey, and speed data analysis.

In subsequent surveys, the FEP plans to collect more detailed information, including costs (by fundraising method) and gift type (annual, capital, and planned gifts).

Posted by Michael at 5:26 PM

December 12, 2006

Building Bridges Between Healthy Marriage, Responsible Fatherhood, and Domestic Violence Programs

From Center for Law and Social Policy:

This guide summarizes the lessons learned at the Building Bridges Wingspread Conference, held in May 2006. This conference brought together leaders from three fields--healthy marriage, responsible fatherhood, and domestic violence--to discuss current tensions and concerns; identify common ground; and discuss possible avenues for cooperation, collaboration, and joint action, avenues that would result in better outcomes for children and adults alike.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 8:31 PM

Calif. Reports Rising DXM Abuse Among Adolescents

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

Dextromethorphan, a cough medicine ingredient known colloquially as DXM*, is landing an increasing number of California youths in hospitals, according to a report from the state's poison-control center.

Researchers found that adverse reactions among DXM users ages 9-17 accounted for most of the calls.

They suggested that misuse of dextromethorphan-based drugs could be limited by placing them behind pharmacy counters rather than allowing youths to purchase the drugs off store shelves.

The research appears in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 8:27 PM

American Students Should Be Studying One or More of the Disciplines of Social Studies in the Classroom Every Day

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

"Every Student should be studying one or more of the disciplines of the social studies every day," said Peggy Altoff, president of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), in her opening remarks to the 86th annual conference in Washington, D.C., Dec. 1-3.

This year's conference was a huge success with nearly 5,000 attendees.

The conference is the largest gathering of social studies educators, classroom teachers, teacher educators, researchers, school officials, authors, textbook publishers, and newsmakers in the nation.

The theme of this year's conference "Social Studies: Promise and Practice," reflected the organization's commitment to uniting and enhancing educators' capacity to teach history, economics, civics, geography and the other social sciences and humanities that comprise social studies.

This would mean that social studies teachers would no longer be restricted in what they can teach by NCLB requirements that do not recognize social studies as a core subject.

Altoff encouraged attendees to fulfill the promise and potential of social studies by continually improving their practice, emphasizing that their students depend on them to do so.

The Conference is the largest national annual event for the development of social studies professionals.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 8:24 PM

AFI Selects Convio to Increase Membership and Fundraising

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

Convio is the leading provider of online constituent relationship management solutions (eCRM) for nonprofits.

The company's on-demand software and services help organizations use the Internet for developing strong constituent relationships to drive fundraising and other forms of enduring support.

AFI will use Convio Internet tools to communicate more effectively online with the institute's large and diverse constituency.

Convio's eCRM solution will help the institute better use the Internet to learn more about the organization's constituents, such as their motivations for giving or potential interest in the institute's various programs.

AFI then can use such information, which now will be stored in a centralized online database, to more efficiently communicate with current and potential members using email, as well as aid in creating Web site content that is more relevant to individual constituent interests.

Convio is a strategic Internet partner that will help us stay ahead of the curve with our marketing and fundraising needs."

With Convio, AFI also will be able to conduct more effective integrated marketing campaigns.

As the largest nonprofit exhibitor in the United States, AFI ON SCREEN encompasses the annual AFI FEST presented by Audi: AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival-as well as year-round programming at ArcLight Hollywood and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, including SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival.

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Posted by Michael at 8:14 PM

Study Reinforces Findings on Risks of Youthful Drinking

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

A study of U.S. Marine Corps recruits conducted in San Diego adds further weight to previous findings that early-age drinking increases the risk of problem drinking later, MedPage Today reported Dec. 5.

The study looked at 41,482 male recruits and found that those who had begun drinking at age 13 or earlier were 5.5 times more likely to be engaging in risky drinking.

Other factors associated with risky drinking included engaging in smoking, coming from a rural or small-town community, enduring childhood sexual or emotional abuse, and experiencing alcohol abuse or mental illness in the household.

Study results were published in the December issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

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Posted by Michael at 8:13 PM

Medicare Links Doctors' Pay to Practices

From NYT > Health:

After years of trying to rein in the runaway cost of the Medicare program, Congress has decided to use a carrot instead of a stick to change doctors' behavior.

Doctors had been fearing a pay cut under Medicare, the health care program for 43 million elderly and disabled, but Congress instead has offered doctors a small bonus with big strings attached.

Lawmakers approved the change as one of their final acts before adjourning early Saturday morning, and proponents said it would improve the quality of medical care.

But the plan immediately raised concerns among some doctors and lawmakers who specialize in health issues.

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Posted by Michael at 7:59 PM

More people in US dealing with financial burden of health care costs

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

An estimated 50 million people younger than 65 years in the US live in families that spend more than 10 percent of their family income on health care, an increase of more than 10 million people in the past decade, according to a study in the December 13 issue of JAMA. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 7:30 PM

Less help at home -- Female support for new Moms on the decline

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Mothers of young children have experienced a significant decline in the presence and availability of other women in the household over the last 120 years, according to new research by Brown University sociologist Susan E. Short.

Analyzing U.S. census data from 1880 to 2000, the researchers examined patterns of coresidence for mothers with children aged zero to five years old.

They focused on the household presence of females who traditionally helped mothers with childcare, such as the women's mothers and mothers-in-law, other female relatives and non-relatives, and older daughters.

"This work adds to current discussion of work-family balance issues and the "burden" young mothers experience while trying to balance time demands by looking beyond the young mothers' own time-demands and the contributions made by fathers," Short explained.

For example, in 1880, 24 percent of mothers lived with a female age 10 or older that was not attending school or employed outside the home (therefore, making them more available to assist with childcare).

By 2000, that number fell to only 5 percent.

The researchers then decomposed this decline into two parts -- changes in living arrangements and changes in schooling or work -- and found that about half the decline was due to the de-creased likelihood of living with other females and half the decline was due to increases in school or work involvement among co-resident females.

The overall decline in having an older daughter around the house to help with the younger children is mostly due to the increase in the likelihood that the older daughters were attending school.

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Posted by Michael at 7:25 PM

The Potential of Title I for High-Quality Preschool

From Center for Law and Social Policy:

In 1965, Congress approved a sweeping array of education programs, including Head Start, guaranteed student loans and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the centerpiece of which was, and remains, Title I---the largest source of federal education aid to states for lowincome students.

When NCLB was passed, Congress provided funding authorization levels commensurate with the law's accountability and other requirements.

Between 2002 and 2005, however, the gap between what Congress promised and what Congress provided for NCLB programs was $27 billion.

While Title I was increased by 3% in fiscal year 2005, the number of children living in poverty increased by 6%---further limiting the Title I dollars available for each poor child.

Funds for the year have not yet been appropriated.

This has the effect of cutting or freezing funding for 90% of districts in 2006-2007 (Center on Education Policy).

Title I funds can be used for preschool or to supplement or expand other early childhood education programs, such as state-funded prekindergarten, Head Start, Even Start, or Early Reading First.

Title I funds may be used in conjunction with existing programs, including communitybased child care programs, and the Child Care and Development Block Grant.

Dollars are flexible: Communities can use the funds to best meet their own needs---to improve quality, provide comprehensive services, expand opportunities, or lengthen the day for low-income children.

NCLB pressures may be driving dollars away from preschool exactly when early investments will pay off the most and help states and local communities meet their 3rd-grade goals.

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Posted by Michael at 7:19 PM

Pediatric Quality Advocates Pledge Support to Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 5 Million Lives Campaign

From U.S. Newswire Releases:

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) today announced, with the support of prominent leaders in American health care, a national campaign to dramatically reduce incidents of medical harm in U.S. hospitals.

The 5 Million Lives Campaign will ask hospitals to improve more rapidly than before the care they provide in order to protect patients from five million incidents of medical harm over a 24-month period, ending December 9, 2008.

This represents a continuation of the largest improvement effort undertaken in recent history by the health care industry.

The Campaign was announced by IHI President and CEO Donald Berwick, MD, MPP, speaking before thousands of health care professionals attending the organization's 18th National Forum, held in Orlando.

The new Campaign -- which will be sponsored principally by America's Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans -- builds upon the success of the 100,000 Lives Campaign, in which 3,100 participating hospitals reduced inpatient deaths by an estimated 122,000 in 18 months through overall improvement in care, including improvement associated with six interventions recommended by the initiative.

Joining Dr. Berwick at his announcement were leaders of America's Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans, the American Hospital Association (AHA), the American Nurses Association (ANA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), each pledging that their organization will act as national champions and clinical advisors for the critical work ahead.

Also present on stage was Sorrel King, a patient safety activist whose daughter died from a medical error in 2001.

The 5 Million Lives Campaign will promote the adoption of 12 improvements in care (detailed below) that can save lives and reduce patient injuries, and it aims to enroll even more hospitals than participated in the previous Campaign.

"No one in health care can feel comfortable with the magnitude of infections, adverse drug events, and other complications that hospital patients endure.

This Campaign joins those efforts, and seeks leverage and scale that our nation has never had before to make care safe -- everywhere," said Dr. Berwick.

Several preeminent authorities on patient safety and health care improvement have reviewed and endorsed this estimate and the Campaign's aim.

Prevent pressure ulcers...by reliably using science-based guidelines for prevention of this serious and common complication.

The 5 Million Lives Campaign is made possible through the generous leadership and support of America's Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans.

Dozens of facilities have reported that they have gone over a year without a Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia, a leading killer among all hospitalacquired infections, demonstrating that this sort of complication is not inevitable.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 7:17 PM

Increasing Opportunities: Creating and Expanding Transitional Jobs Programs for TANF Recipients Under the Deficit Reduction Act

From Center for Law and Social Policy:

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) increased work participation rate requirements and narrowed definitions of allowable work activities.

Administrators have two options: Focus on designing programs to meet the increased participation rates, regardless of the impact on families; or focus on increasing work participation rates through the creation and expansion of programs that improve longterm employment outcomes, such as Transitional Jobs (TJ) programs.

As before, states must ensure that 50 percent of families with an adult recipient---and 90 percent of two-parent households receiving assistance---are participating in a set of work activities (defined in the law) for a set number of hours.

Under TANF, there are 12 categories of work activities that count toward work participation rates; nine of these are considered "core" activities, while the other three are considered "non-core" and are countable only upon completion of at least 20 hours per week of core activities.iii Prior to the passage of the DRA, there were no standard definitions about what could be considered under each activity, giving states the ability to craft their own definitions.

However, the DRA directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue regulatory definitions.

The regulatory definition of on-the-job training (OJT), however, is much broader and can be thought of somewhat differently than traditional OJT programs; it captures the elements of TJ programs more fully.

Finally, the preamble to the interim final rule states that, in the case of subsidized employment and OJT, the employer is "expected to retain the participant as a regular employee without receiving a subsidy" at the conclusion of the subsidy or training period.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 7:16 PM

December 7, 2006

Mixed Situation for Vulnerable Children

Urban Institute:

Some of the most significant challenges facing children in vulnerable families improved over the past decade, while others remain of concern.

"Children in Vulnerable Families: Facts and Figures," a new fact sheet from the Urban Institute, looks at child maltreatment, domestic violence, children's disabilities, substance abuse, and parental mental illness.

The number of children waiting to be adopted dropped from 132,000 in 2000 to 114,000 in 2005.

The number of school-age children with disabilities receiving federally funded services rose from 4,500,000 in the 1991--92 school year to 5,800,000 by 2000--01.

In 1990, 2.3 million children were investigated for abuse or neglect by child welfare agencies, a number that increased to 3.5 million in 2004.

For instance, over a quarter of low-income children have parents reporting poor mental health, more than double the share of children in higher-income families.

The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization that examines the social, economic, and governance challenges facing the nation.

Posted by Michael at 7:39 PM

Two Steps Back: City and Suburban Poverty Trends 1999-2005

Brookings Institution:

In 1999 large cities and their suburbs had nearly equal numbers of poor individuals, but by 2005 the suburban poor outnumbered their city counterparts by at least 1 million.

Still, the percentage of all people in poverty rose in both cities and suburbs between 1999 and 2005, following the national trend.

In 2005, the poverty rate in large cities (18.8 percent) was twice as high as in suburbs (9.4 percent).

Poverty rates rose significantly in Midwestern and Southern metropolitan areas, but remained steady in the West and Northeast.

In the Midwest, where job losses were concentrated in the first half of the decade, poverty rates rose in 18 of 20 metropolitan areas.

In the West, by contrast, only seven of 23 metro areas experienced poverty rate increases, and poverty actually fell in five.

Nearly half of large cities nationwide saw a significant rise in their poverty rates, versus about one-third of their suburbs.

Six of the ten cities with the largest povertyrate increases were located in the Midwest, including Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, and Columbus.

New York City and the Greater Los Angeles area actually experienced small poverty-rate declines over this period.

In cities and suburbs where overall poverty rates rose from 1999 to 2005, child poverty rates rose faster.

The cities and suburbs of Houston, Dallas, and Cleveland ranked among those experiencing the greatest increases in child poverty during this period.

These findings emphasize that federal and state labor market supports like the Earned Income Tax Credit and unemployment insurance can act as powerful tools for helping families suffering the effects of economic downturns.

Posted by Michael at 7:34 PM

Drug, Alcohol and Cigarette Use While Alone Puts Eighth-Graders at High Risk for Later Problems

RAND:

Adolescents who use alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana while alone are more likely to have health and behavioral problems as young adults than their peers who consume the substances only in social settings, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

Solitary alcohol, cigarette and marijuana users are less likely to graduate from college, more likely to have substance use problems as young adults, and tend to report poorer physical health by age 23 than their peers who were social substance users, according to the study by the nonprofit research organization.

"While substance use is a problem in itself, these findings suggest that risk among solitary users is especially high," said Joan Tucker, a RAND psychologist and lead author of the study.

The RAND Health study, published in the December edition of the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, is the first to study adolescent solitary substance users and track their functioning over time.

The results come from a study of about 6,000 adolescents from California and Oregon enrolled in a program to evaluate Project ALERT, a drug use prevention program developed by RAND for middle school children.

Posted by Michael at 7:27 PM

Adolescent Asian Immigrants Improve Their Good Health Habits Over Time; Latinos' Nutrition Grows Worse

RAND:

The good health habits of adolescent Asian immigrants improve with each generation born in the United States, but health habits among adolescent Latino immigrants generally remain poor or become worse in succeeding generations, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

In a study of California adolescents, the nonprofit research organization found that behaviors designed to prevent health problems --- such as engaging in physical activity and using bicycle helmets, seat belts and sunscreen --- increased among the first two generations of Asians born in the United States.

While the nutritional habits of immigrant Latino teens were better than those of whites, those behaviors grew worse over time, according to the study published online by the American Journal of Public Health.

In 2000, one in five children in the United States was an immigrant or born to immigrants, yet relatively little is know about the preventive health behaviors of this group, according to researchers.

The RAND Health study is the first to compare an array of health habits across generations for adolescents from the nation's two largest immigrant groups.

Researchers say the nutritional trends are particularly troubling because they may contribute to high rates of obesity seen among the Latino community.

Allen said more research is needed to compare family, school and community influences on health behaviors to better understand why there are differences among racial and ethnic groups with high immigrant populations, even after considering differences in socioeconomic status.

RAND Health is the nation's largest independent health policy research program, with a broad research portfolio that focuses on health care quality, costs and delivery, among other topics.

Posted by Michael at 7:24 PM

GAO Slams Administration for Children and Families for Lapse in Supervision of Abstinence-Only Programs

Advocates for Youth:

The Government Accountability Office called the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to task for failing to provide adequate oversight of the information disseminated through federal abstinence-only programs.

The GAO specifically stated that ACF, which supervises two multimillion dollar abstinence-only programs "does not review its grantees' education materials for scientific accuracy and does not require grantees of either program to review their own materials for scientific accuracy."

This newest revelation about ACF comes on the heels of last month's program announcement instructing states to refocus their abstinence-only programs to include unmarried adults up to the age of 29 and a GAO decision that under the Public Health Act "medically accurate information about condoms" must be included in abstinence-only programs.

In September 2005, Advocates for Youth and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States filed a legal challenge with ACF questioning the quality of information disseminated through abstinence-only programs.

"Clearly, the ACF needs to take some responsibility," added Wagoner.

Posted by Michael at 7:19 PM

Struggling Despite Hard Work: Low-Income Families in Michigan and Detroit

National Center for Children in Poverty:

Child poverty is a growing problem in Michigan.

But not all low-income families receive the benefits for which they are financially eligible.

This fact sheet examines employment among low-income families as well as their use of work support benefits.

It presents information for Michigan as a whole and for Detroit, where 20 percent of the state's low-income children live.

Findings show that while most low-income children have parents who work, many do not receive assistance from the supports designed to help low-income families make ends meet.

The FRS calculates resources and expenses for a hypothetical family that the user "creates" by making a series of choices about: city and state, family characteristics, income sources, assets, debts, and benefit participation.

Posted by Michael at 7:13 PM

FHA Brings the Holidays Home with a Special Homes Sales Event

HUD News Release:

To help increase homeownership opportunities during this holiday season, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is launching its special "FHA Brings the Holidays Home" sales campaign.

This campaign is especially designed for low- to moderate-income families that may believe homeownership is out of their reach, by offering special incentives on the sale of HUD-owned single-family properties across the country.

"Buying a home is always an important event for a family," said Federal Housing Commissioner Brian D. Montgomery.

"We want to make the homebuying process even more special this holiday season, by helping more families realize the American dream."

The incentives are effective for HUD homes sold between Friday, December 8, 2006 and Friday, January 5, 2007 to homebuyers who intend to occupy the property as their primary residence for at least 12 months and who do not currently have an FHA-insured mortgage.

In addition to the special holiday sales incentives, buyers may also receive a credit for up to three percent (3%) of closing costs, a benefit HUD provides on most of its home sales.

More information about this initiative is available by calling 1-800-CALL-FHA, or on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS.

The Department also promotes economic and community development, and enforces the nation's fair housing laws.

Posted by Michael at 7:08 PM

School Breakfast Scorecard 2006

Food Research and Action Center:

Participation in the School Breakfast Program continued its steady increase, with a record 7.7 million low-income children receiving free and reduced-price breakfasts on an average day during the 2005-2006 school year.

The Food Research and Action Center's School Breakfast Scorecard 2006 finds accelerating growth in school breakfast participation by low-income children -- up by 622,000 children (8.7 percent) over the past two school years.

Studies continue to demonstrate the links between breakfast and learning, making the case stronger for more schools to expand breakfast participation and make sure all children participate.

There are now 44.6 low-income children receiving breakfast for every 100 eating lunch, compared to 31.5 for every 100 when FRAC first began the scorecard in 1991, and 43.1 per 100 during the 2003-2004 school year.

To measure the reach of the School Breakfast Program, FRAC compares the number of schools and low-income children that participate breakfast as compared to the broadly utilized National School Lunch Program.

If states were able to increase participation in the program so that there were 60 children eating breakfast for every 100 eating lunch, a very attainable goal, 2.7 million more low-income children would be eating school breakfast around the nation.

Posted by Michael at 7:04 PM

Center On Education Policy: The London Challenge

Center On Education Policy:

The London Challenge serves as a model for school reform that is not only applicable to the London region, but also to the many communities in the United Kingdom and elsewhere that seek significant change in education.

It strongly emphasizes the importance of community support from business and non-profit organizations and promotes networking and partnerships between many schools and teachers.

In 2003, the Blair government created the London Challenge as a five-year initiative to improve underachieving secondary schools in the London region.

The Challenge was implemented to speed up the improvement of these schools as a complement to a nationwide drive for better education.

Additionally, there is a high annual mobility rate of 14.2% among students, which means there is almost constant pupil turnover within some schools.

For leaders, the London Leadership Strategy focuses on the development needs of school leaders and on improving all aspects of leadership capacity in London secondary schools.

Student test scores have improved, but this change cannot be directly attributed to the Challenge's efforts, as a full evaluation has not yet been completed.

The Institute of Education is producing a booklet inspecting specific aspects of the Challenge, and further study subsequently will be conducted.

Many schools around the world have characteristics similar to schools in the London region.

London is rich in diversity and possesses many assets as one of the leading capitals in the world.

The Challenge could serve as a model for other communities looking to improve their schools in a systematic and detailed manner.

Supporting Leadership and Securing Quality: An evaluation of the impact of aspects of the London Leadership Strategy.

Posted by Michael at 6:55 PM

Catholic Charities USA Urges Congress to Protect Vital Health Care Programs for Low-Income Children, Families

Catholic Charities USA:

Catholic Charities USA is urging members of Congress to protect health coverage for the most vulnerable among us, including foster care youth, low-income children, and working families before it adjourns for the year.

Extend the Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA) program for families moving off welfare into the workforce.

TMA, which is set to expire this year on December 31, is an essential work support that provides needed continuity in health coverage.

It allows families moving off welfare and into work to temporarily keep Medicaid health coverage for six to twelve months.

Fix the State Childrenâ¬(TM)s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funding shortages.

The program faces an $800 million shortage in funding for the coming fiscal year.

This is equivalent to giving 530,000 low-income children vitally needed health care.

Continue Medicaid protection for foster care youth, who are most at risk of mental health problems and other health issues.

The Deficit Reduction Act, the budget passed by Congress earlier this year, introduced a citizenship documentation requirement for U.S. citizens.

It requires original documentation, (e.g., original birth certificates) to enroll in Medicaid.

Foster care children, who are often transitioning between homes, are exceedingly unlikely to carry original documents such as birth certificates.

Yet they are in greatest need of medical and mental health care.

With the 109th Congress adjourning permanently this week, it is critical that Congress address these issues before it ends its session, said Catholic Charities USA today.

For more than 275 years, local Catholic Charities agencies have been providing a myriad of vital services in their communities, ranging from day care and counseling to food and housing.

Posted by Michael at 6:39 PM

December 6, 2006

The Challenge of Supporting Change

From MDRC:

The Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (BASRC, now called Springboard Schools) in San Francisco, California, is a grant-making organization that supports districtwide efforts to improve the quality and equity of student outcomes.

This report discusses the "focal strategy," which targeted selected "focal districts" in the Bay Area, beginning in the 2002-2003 school year, and was designed to increase the intensity of earlier BASRC reforms by creating more opportunities for district and school administrators to interact with BASRC staff.

Instead, it promotes a vision of culture change, relying on three key features: coaching of district and school leaders; evidence-based decision-making at all levels of the system; and networking within and across schools to share experiences and lessons.

It compares progress in the focal districts during the three years of the strategy's implementation to progress in a set of carefully chosen comparison districts in the same area over the same period.

The evident lack of a substantial, pervasive association between the BASRC focal strategy and student achievement may not be surprising given that the strategy primarily targeted district leadership, was not sustained at the school level, and did not specify particular instructional practices or supports at the school or classroom level.

Overall, the implementation research suggests that, in practice, the intensity of the intervention, the consistency of focus on improving teaching and learning, and the connection between the district-level focal reforms and changes in daily school life were not sufficiently realized.

Findings from this report indicate that the BASRC focal strategy had limited capacity to improve student performance and close achievement gaps beyond trends that were already in motion.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 8:40 PM

Prescription Drug Misuse More Common in Drinkers

From Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News:

Few studies have examined the relationship betwe