Human Services News

A family-based weight management program developed by researchers at Yale School of Medicine was more effective at reducing weight, body fat, body mass index (BMI) and insulin sensitivity than traditional clinic-based weight counseling.

Mary Savoye-Desanti, research associate in Yale's Department of Pediatrics, will present the findings at a JAMA media briefing in New York on June 26 at 10 a.m.

Savoye-Desanti, a registered dietician and certified diabetes educator, and her team conducted the one-year clinical trial of 209 overweight children between the ages of 8 and16 to address the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity, especially in the African American and Hispanic population.

Savoye-Desanti and colleagues measured the effectiveness of the weight management program Bright Bodies, in comparison to care provided at a pediatric obesity clinic.

Bright Bodies was created 10 years ago by Savoye-Desanti and combines nutrition education, behavior modification and exercise tailored to the needs of inner-city children.

The eight to 10-year-old group participated in several games such as relay races, obstacle courses and several other games including "Swim Fish Swim."

Both groups played "Dance, Dance Revolution" by Konami.

The study revealed great differences in BMI, body weight, body fat and percent body fat between the control group and the weight management group.

Insulin sensitivity, which measures the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, was increased in the weight management group and decreased in the control group.

"We will focus future studies on cost-benefit analyses, as this would be helpful for pediatric clinicians or health management organizations that are considering offering similar services to overweight children and adolescents," said Savoye-Desanti.

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Mothers' Second-Hand Smoke Exposure Linked to Psychological Problems for Kids

Children whose mothers were exposed to second-hand smoke while they were pregnant have more symptoms of serious psychological problems compared to the offspring of women who had no prenatal exposure to smoke, according to a new University of Washington study.

Writing in the current issue of Child Psychiatry and Human Development, UW psychologists Lisa Gatzke-Kopp and Theodore Beauchaine provide the first evidence linking mothers' second-hand smoke exposure while pregnant to their children's attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder.

Psychologists call these behaviors externalizing psychopathology and their symptoms include aggressive behavior, ADHD, defiance and conduct disorder, which encompasses truancy, fighting, school failure, breaking rules, substance use, stealing and destruction of property.

Gatzke-Kopp and Beauchaine compared patterns psychopathology among three groups of 7- to 15-year-old children, all of whom had significant behavioral and/or emotional problems.

The third consisted of children whose mothers were exposed to second-hand smoke at work or in the home in the last two trimesters during pregnancy.

The UW researchers found that those children whose mothers had been exposed to tobacco smoke either by smoking or by being around smokers when they were pregnant had more symptoms of ADHD and conduct disorder than children whose mothers spent their pregnancies in a smoke-free environment.

She and Beauchaine controlled for a number of other factors including family income, parents' substance use, birth weight and parents' anti-social behavior, but second-hand exposure to smoking persisted as the primary predictor of conduct disorder and ADHD.

Animal studies have shown that nicotine affects brain development during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, causing changes in brain regions critical to the development of externalizing psychopathology in humans.

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June 27, 2007

Outdoor Alcohol Ads Boost Kids' Urge to Drink

In the world depicted in an alcohol billboard, bikini-clad babes clutch icy bottles, frothy beer flows over frosty mugs and the slogan reads, "Life is good."

Ads like these may target adults, but children are getting the message too, a University of Florida and University of Minnesota study shows.

Adolescents attending schools in neighborhoods where alcohol ads litter the landscape tend to want to drink more and, compared with other children, have more positive views of alcohol, researchers report in this month's issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

UF and UM researchers counted the number of alcohol ads within a two-block radius of 63 Chicago schools and compared students' opinions on drinking when they were in sixth grade and again two years later.

About half of all teens sample their first alcoholic drink by the time they are 15, according to the U.S. Surgeon General, which released a report on teen drinking earlier this year.

Prior research has shown that adolescents' intentions and attitudes about alcohol generally predict their later behavior, said Komro, an associate professor of epidemiology and child health policy in the UF College of Medicine.

By eighth grade, the students who attended schools with more alcohol advertising in the surrounding neighborhood had more intentions to drink alcohol and gave fewer reasons for not drinking when researchers surveyed them, the study shows.

"A lot of times advertisers say ads are targeted to people who are already drinking, so we looked at kids who were already drinking in sixth grade and kids who were not," she said.

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Turn Off TV to Teach Toddlers New Words

Toddlers learn their first words better from people than from Teletubbies, according to new research at Wake Forest University.

Children younger than 22 months may be entertained, but they do not learn words from the television program, said Marina Krcmar, associate professor of communication at Wake Forest and author of the study.

"With the tremendous success of programs such as 'Teletubbies' that target very young children, it has become important to understand what very young children are taking away from these programs," Krcmar said.

In the study, Krcmar evaluated the ability of children ages 15 -- 24 months to learn new words when the words were presented as part of a "Teletubbies" program.

"During the early stages of language acquisition, and for children who still have fewer than 50-word vocabularies, toddlers learn more from an adult speaker than they do from a program such as 'Teletubbies,'" Krcmar said.

"We have known for years that children ages 3 and older can learn from programs like 'Sesame Street,'" Krcmar said.

The results confirm the recommendation of the Academy of Pediatrics to avoid television for children under 2 years old.

As part of the study, Krcmar also found that the children were just as attentive to an adult speaker on the small screen as they were to the Teletubbies characters.

And, the children identified the target words more successfully in response to a video of an adult speaker than to the Teletubbies.

"The idea that television can help teach young children their first words is a parent's dream, but one not supported by this research," she said.

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Alliance for Children and Families Adds Project Director for $2.6 Million Grant

Jonette Arms has joined the Alliance for Children and Families as project director of The New Age of Aging program, a newly-created position at the Alliance, a Milwaukee-based national membership association of nonprofit human service providers.

Arms will be directing the activities of The New Age of Aging, a $2.6 million, five-year grant the Alliance received from The Atlantic Philanthropies to respond to the needs of the rapidly expanding population of older adults by improving the readiness of the nation's nonprofit human services workforce.

Changes sought by The New Age of Aging program across the social services workforce include a sharper focus on aging as a service area, greater staff interest in aging services, stronger commitment to training on aging issues, implementation of new services, and enhanced collaboration among agencies.

Arms has a Master of Science in Human Services and 17 years of experience, including implementing health care services for older adults and working with youth, parents, and professionals in life skills, mental health, and unintentional injury and violence prevention.

Most recently, she was the child abuse prevention project manager at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin - Child Protection Center.

Motivated by a vision of a healthy society and strong communities, the Alliance strengthens the capacities of North America's nonprofit child- and family-serving organizations to serve and to advocate for children, families, and communities.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

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Strong Teens, Strong Neighborhoods

Public/Private Ventures:

Public/Private Ventures is field-testing a new curriculum---Strong Teens, Strong Neighborhoods---designed to increase reading and writing ability during summer hours.

As the name of the program indicates, the curriculum has a community focus; it was created in partnership with Youth Communication, a nonprofit journalism training program in New York City that publishes magazines and books written by and for teens.

During the course of the summer, youth will be engaged in creating their own articles, to be compiled in a book, magazine, newsletter or website.

By the end of the program, each student will have completed one article that will be included in a group anthology, which may be shared at a culminating event to celebrate their success.

Strong Teens, Strong Neighborhoods will be implemented in two youth serving agencies in New York City---Harlem RBI and Groundwork---and will be used in 10 classrooms, reaching 200 7th-9th graders.

Through a grant from the Taconic Foundation, P/PV is collaborating with Johns Hopkins Center for Summer Learning to provide technical assistance for this project to ensure that current best practices in summer learning are reflected in programming, with the goal of eventual replication and dissemination of the curriculum in additional summer programs in future years.

This work is made possible by the generous support of the Altman Foundation, the Clark Foundation and The Pinkerton Foundation.

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June 26, 2007

Program Helps Low-Income or Unemployed Residents Become Bus or Truck Drivers

New York Times:

UNTIL recently, Sandra Castillo, 37, a laid-off factory worker, had never driven anything larger than a car.

But now she was at the wheel of a 30-foot-long school bus.

At her side, with a dual brake if needed, sat Christopher Kaminski, an instructor in a program that was training her to seek a new vocation as a bus driver.

Three other trainees riding in passenger seats on this early June morning would later have their turns at the wheel.

Castillo said, she will seek a job with a school bus company, and later with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the public buses in New York City.

She and the other trainees were enrolled in Red Hook on the Road, a program that helps low-income or unemployed New York City residents become bus or truck drivers.

The program began in 1995 to train residents of the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, and was later expanded to residents of the entire city, said Tracy Anderson, director of program development at Brooklyn Workforce Innovations.

The program aims to place graduates who pass the test with companies that operate trucks, school buses, private coaches, charter buses, airport shuttle buses and transit vans for the disabled.

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Analysis of New Voucher Bill and Audioconference on Voucher Funding

On May 24, 2007, the House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 1851, the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA) by a bipartisan vote of 52-9.

Under Moving to Work (MTW), HUD can grant agencies waivers of voucher and public housing program rules to allow the agencies to experiment with different policies.

Agencies can use those waivers, for example, to raise rents on tenants substantially or to place time limits on assistance, even for working families that cannot afford market-rate housing on their own.

The objective of the changes is to establish a stable, efficient and equitable voucher funding policy.

From 2004 to 2006, voucher funds were allocated using a series of inefficient formulas that gave some agencies less funding than they needed to cover the costs of their vouchers --- forcing them to cut back on assistance to needy families --- while providing other agencies with more funds than they could use.

This change --- which will make use of newly available data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey that allows rent estimates for small areas to be updated more frequently --- will result in voucher payments more closely calibrated to rental costs in local communities.

A key component of this program is funding for staff to counsel participants and to coordinate employment services for participants with social services agencies and other service providers.

The amendments rename the demonstration the "Housing Innovation Program" (HIP), place a number of new requirements and limitations on participating housing agencies, and permit HUD to admit as many as 80 agencies to the demonstration.

Established by legislation in 1996, MTW permits HUD to grant agencies broad waivers allowing them to experiment with a wide range of policies.

To help advocates and agencies better understand how to respond to the 2007 funding awards in light of what Congress may do for 2008, The Center is holding an audioconference on Tuesday, July 17, from 2 - 3:30 EDT. If you would like to participate in the funding audioconference, please send an e-mail reply to Anton Marx marx@cbpp.org.

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Make It Your Own Awards - Opportunities to Engage in Democracy

Case Foundation:

The Youth Policy Action Center has been working closely with the Case Foundation to help them shape a new approach to philanthropy. The Make It Your Own Awards, a new initiative from the Case Foundation, launched on June 26, 2007, is about giving grants, tools, and recognition to people who are coming together to discuss what matters, form solutions, and take action. Twenty semi-finalists will each receive $10,000 grants to start bringing their ideas to life. Four final grant recipients will then be chosen by the public using an online voting system. These finalists will each be awarded an additional $25,000 grant.

We'd love for some of the winners to be young people, so if you are young and have a great idea (or if you are less young but have a great idea for working with young people), you should apply! As long as you are at least 14 years old, you are eligible to win! Click below to learn more and to apply. Don't delay -- applications are due on August 8th!

www.casefoundation.org/make-it-your-own/awards?source=partnerNL_YPACTR

Posted by Michael at 9:06 AM | TrackBack

June 25, 2007

Nonprofit Governance in the United States: Findings on Performance and Accountability

Urban Institute:

Nonprofit boards are increasingly a focus of those interested in greater accountability and transparency, including policymakers, media, and the public.

To help inform current policy debates and initiatives to strengthen nonprofit governance, in 2005 the Urban Institute conducted the first ever national representative survey of nonprofit governance, with over 5,100 participants.

Attention to the influence of organizational environments on boards has declined significantly in the board research literature, and when attention is given, it is typically to the financial context.

As organizational theorists remind us, nonprofits face normative pressures to adopt certain policies and practices in order to demonstrate their public legitimacy.

This study draws attention to the relationships between the public policy environment and nonprofits.

A major point of this study, however, is that the impact of public policy extends beyond legislative proposals aimed specifically at nonprofits.

Developments in the corporate sector not only shape wider expectations about governance that influence nonprofits, but as our findings show, board members that sit on both corporate and nonprofit boards serve as a channel through which corporate practices are brought into the nonprofit world.

Another major purpose of this study is to identify factors associated with promoting or impeding boards' performance of basic stewardship responsibilities related to overseeing and supporting the organization and its mission.

Posted by Michael at 10:48 AM | TrackBack

VoiceNation Launches Care2Call Initiative to Provide Free Voicemail Services to NonProfits Nationwide

VoiceNation:

VoiceNation, the full service voice communication solution provider, Has announced the launch of its "Care2Call" program for charities and non-profits.

"Our goal is to help charities slash costs while gaining efficiencies," said Jay Reeder, President of VoiceNation.

"These non-profits are dedicated to improving our communities and our world, and we want to help them do that through what we know best - voice communications."

VoiceNation will provide voicemail and faxmail services free of charge to qualified applicants, allowing these organizations to reduce their operating costs while increasing efficiencies.

"Many charities have a staff of only one or two people, and if you do not have an excellent communications system, important calls from donors or those in need are missed," says Reeder.

"This system will allow the smallest of staffs the freedom to do their jobs knowing their important calls are either forwarded to their off-site location or to voicemail.

No more worrying about missed calls, and now limited budgets do not have to account for voicemail systems."

This means charities enjoy one number flexibility just like high tech corporations.

Additionally, VoiceNation will offer their other services, such as disaster recovery, at cost to qualified recipients.

Non-profits and charities maintaining a non-profit tax-exempt certification interested in applying for the Care2Call program can contact Graham C. Taylor for more information.

VoiceNation is a nationwide provider of voice communications, including voicemail, live answering services and disaster recovery services.

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June 22, 2007

Foundation With Real Money Ventures Into Virtual World

New York Times

For the first time, one of the nation's largest foundations is venturing into virtual worlds to play host to activities and discussions and explore the role that philanthropy might play there.

The goals are to gain insight into how virtual worlds are used by young people, to introduce the foundation to an audience that may have little exposure to institutional philanthropy and to take part in and stimulate discussions about the real-world issues that it seeks to address.

"This is not just some fad or something new and interesting that we've grabbed onto," said Jonathan Fanton, MacArthur's president.

Second Life says it has more than seven million members, about one-third of them Americans.

Each member uses a virtual self, known as an avatar, to navigate the virtual world.

The MacArthur foundation, perhaps best known for the so-called genius grants it hands out each year, has given the Center on Public Diplomacy of the University of Southern California $550,000 to stage events in Second Life, including discussions of how foundations can address issues like migration and education.

Mr. Rosedale said making grants in the virtual world offered a way for foundations to explore concepts and develop programs before rolling them out.

Charities and other nonprofit groups are also beginning to migrate into the so-called metaverse, seeking ways of attracting new donors and hoping to educate a broader audience about the issues they address.

The American Cancer Society has had success in raising real money with virtual walkathons in Second Life.

More than 30 nonprofits have opened offices in a virtual business incubator in Second Life called the Nonprofit Commons that is operated by TechSoup, a group that helps other nonprofits with technology.

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National Symposium Forges Discussions on Poverty

Community Action Partnership:

The Community Action Partnership recently held the National Symposium on Poverty and Economic Security, part of a multi-year anti-poverty initiative to help Community Action Agencies and other organizations identify strategies for a national anti-poverty plan.

Held May 29-31,2007 in Bethesda, Maryland, the Symposium brought together a cross section of practitioners, policymakers, foundations, and researchers for a discussion on the causes and conditions of poverty, and solutions and new strategies for ending it.

It also incorporated findings from state and local town hall meetings hosted by Community Action Agencies and state Community Action associations that fight poverty on the local level.

Successful anti-poverty programs were featured during the "Marketplace of Ideas," a day-long workshop session that included presentations from Community Action Agencies, Howard University, Cato Institute, Center for American Progress, Economic Policy Institute, and Catholic Charities USA.

Throughout the event, participants worked in small groups to begin crafting the framework for the first draft of the Community Action network's new national agenda to end poverty.

This input---which consists of national goals, accountability measures and suggested strategies---will be expanded upon at the Community Action Partnership 2007 Annual Convention in San Diego this summer.

"The Symposium featured a myriad of proven programs and new ideas for ensuring that all Americans can achieve economic security," said Tim Donnellan, board chair of the Community Action Partnership.

"We look forward to building on its success and working with our national partners to finalize a national anti-poverty plan to help American families prosper."

CAAs care about the entire community and are dedicated to helping people help themselves and each other.

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June 21, 2007

Graduation Promise Act

Jobs for the Future:

For much of the 20th century, rising high school graduation rates in an increasingly diverse U.S. society were a source of national pride.

With U.S. global competitiveness and the economic self-sufficiency of our citizens at stake, the dropout problem no longer can be ignored.

It is time for an aggressive national effort to pursue a new, dual agenda for high school reform---one that embraces high standards and high graduation rates.

Educators in urban districts ranging from New York City to Portland, OR, are designing research-based interventions for keeping students on track, especially in the first year of high school, and are developing new options and pathways to get dropouts back on track to high school graduation.

The mismatch of educational aspirations and attainment has serious consequences for young people, their families and communities, the states, and the nation.

Congress can play a vital role by passing the proposed Graduation Promise Act of 2007.

This Act would establish a federal commitment to partner with states, districts, and schools to raise graduation rates.

Congress is about to start the reauthorization process for NCLB, but the legislative process promises to be long and complex.

Moreover, it is unclear whether Congress will adequately address the complexity of secondary education and the full range of issues underlying low graduation and high dropout rates.

This will require a powerful and systemic effort to align policies, recalibrate accountability systems to include meaningful dropout and graduation measures, and develop an array of evidence-based strategies that schools and districts can employ to put policies into practice.

Posted by Michael at 6:40 PM | TrackBack

High Standards and High Graduation Rates

Jobs for the Future:

Two national organizations presented ambitious recommendations for creating an education pipeline capable of moving all Massachusetts high school students through an advanced level of skills and credentials that will connect young adults to the well-paying jobs being created in Massachusetts.

"In today's economy, our young people need to graduate ready to succeed in postsecondary education and with career-ready skills," according to JFF CEO and President Marlene B. Seltzer.

"The consequences for those who are not prepared for college and careers are grim, including higher rates of unemployment, substantially lower earnings, and even a lower likelihood of good health."

Each leak along the education pipeline results in significant losses in tax revenue and significant government costs for health care and other social benefits for the Commonwealth."

"Massachusetts has much of the architecture in place for achieving a 'dual agenda' of high standards and high graduation rates," explains JFF Associate Vice President Adria Steinberg and a contributor to the report.

"Now is the moment to focus on the challenge that remains: closing the graduation and achievement gaps, especially between low-income young people and their more affluent peers."

However, the 20 percent of students who do not complete a high school diploma on time are concentrated disproportionately in low-income communities across the state, where high school graduation rates average 62 percent and some districts report rates of 50 percent or lower.

Moreover, about one out of every three low-income students fails to graduate on time and nearly 40 percent of the state's public school graduates need to take remedial coursework in public higher education institutions.

Posted by Michael at 6:31 PM | TrackBack

Senate Considers New Aid for Rural Homeless

Housing Assistance Council:

A proposed Rural Housing Stability Assistance program could help address homelessness in rural America, the director of a prominent rural housing organization told Senators at a hearing today.

"Homeless people in rural areas typically experience precarious housing conditions," said Moises Loza, executive director of the Housing Assistance Council, "moving from one extremely substandard, overcrowded, and/or cost-burdened housing situation to another, often doubling or tripling up with friends or family."

Far fewer homeless people live outdoors in rural places than on city streets, Loza added, and their relative invisibility contributes to the scarcity of services in rural areas.

To meet rural needs, Loza testified, the Housing Assistance Council supports the addition of the Rural Housing Stability Assistance program to the Community Partnership to End Homelessness Act, which would provide federal government aid for homeless people nationwide.

Finally, it would allow community groups to use a portion of their funding for capacity building: staff training, equipment purchases, and the like.

"As an intermediary organization for 36 years," Loza testified, "HAC has seen repeatedly that strengthening the capabilities of local rural housing organizations can provide immense benefits to rural communities."

In short, he said, the new program would enable local rural housing organizations to "both address and prevent homelessness in their communities."

A national nonprofit corporation headquartered in Washington, D.C., and founded in 1971, the Housing Assistance Council helps local organizations build affordable homes in rural America by providing below-market financing, technical assistance, research, training, and information services.

HAC's programs focus on local solutions, empowerment, reduced dependency, and self-help strategies.

Posted by Michael at 11:16 AM | TrackBack

Research Links Childhood Social Skills and Learning Abilities

While federal programs such as No Child Left Behind emphasize the importance of academic skills to school success and achievement, there is growing interest in how social skills develop and how they contribute to learning.

Research presented at the 2007 meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development by a team of Michigan State University researchers indicate that a child's social skills at age three could predict his or her future social and academic performance.

"Early intervention is an important tool for enhancing and supporting early development," said Holly Brophy-Herb, an associate professor of family and child ecology who led the research team.

Early Head Start is a national intervention and support program for income-eligible families and provides comprehensive services to families prenatally until the child is three years old.

The Brophy-Herb led group is currently working with EHS providers in six Michigan counties to evaluate an infant/toddler curriculum, targeting early social and emotional development that was developed by the MSU team and their EHS partners.

The MSU research team is also part of a National Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Consortium, which has been engaged in a study of EHS eligible children and their families since 1996.

Overall, EHS children performed better on measures of cognition, language and social-emotional functioning than their peers at age three.

In addition, they were less likely to be in the "at risk" category of cognitive and language functioning.By age five children who had received EHS programming as infants and toddlers continued to show fewer behavior problems and more positive approaches to learning.

Posted by Michael at 12:13 AM | TrackBack

Bipartisan Entrepreneurial Development Bill Promotes Minority, Women Business Ownership, Assistance

From PR Newswire:

Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) will introduce comprehensive legislation to improve entrepreneurial development programs.

In particular, the bill expands women and minority small business ownership opportunities by boosting Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs), Women's Business Centers (WBCs), SCORE, and other programs.

In Massachusetts alone, SBDCs served over 8,500 entrepreneurs last year and our Center for Women and Enterprise has generated 15,000 jobs over the last 10 years," said Kerry, Chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

"By investing in assistance and development programs that create small business opportunities for women and minorities, we are paving the way for all Americans to improve their entrepreneurial skills," said Senator Snowe, Ranking Member of the Committee.

-- Creates a Native American small business development program, an Office of Native American Affairs within the Small Business Administration (SBA), and a Native American grant pilot program to foster increased employment and expansion of small businesses in Indian Country through business counseling services;

-- Seeks to address the small business health insurance crisis by creating a competitive, pilot grant program for SBDCs to provide counseling and resources to small businesses about health insurance options in their communities;

-- Establishes a pilot program to assist small businesses in complying with federal and state laws and regulations; and

-- Creates a Minority Entrepreneurship and Innovation pilot program to provide competitive grants to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges to create a curricula focused on entrepreneurship.

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | TrackBack

June 20, 2007

1 in 100 11-year-Olds Use Drugs to Enhance Performance in Sport

More than one per cent of eleven year olds admit using performance enhancing drugs to do better in sports reports a study published online ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

While 62% of eleven years olds used doping agents less than once per month, at 15 the same proportion were using them at least every week and 24 per cent daily.

The children filled out questionnaires every six months which asked about use of doping agents, tobacco, alcohol and cannabis; involvement in sports; and assessed self-esteem and anxiety.

The drug most commonly used to improve sporting prowess was salbutamol, which was taken by 45% of users.

Health problems, including becoming violent, change to the voice and loss of consciousness, were experienced by 4% of the users.

Boys were more likely to take the drugs than girls.

Training for more hours, low-self esteem and signs of anxiety were also linked to increased use.

The authors say: 'Young athletes who are tempted to use doing agents are more likely to be boys, invest much more time in training, are ready users of psychoactive substances, and, importantly, they appear to be in some distress.

Furthermore at least six months previously, they have said that they had been tempted to try a prohibited drug.

Adults responsible for young people should be alerted by these signs.

Posted by Michael at 8:52 PM | TrackBack

Insight and Analysis About the Supreme Court Ruling on School Integration Plans

The highly anticipated ruling from the U.S. Supreme court over the constitutionality of racial school integration plans in Louisville, Kentucky and Seattle, Washington could precipitate the biggest change to school integration policy since the decision in Brown vs. Board of Education.

Should school districts look to find new ways to integrate by race?

Should the districts turn to integration by socioeconomic status as in Raleigh, North Carolina and San Francisco, California?

One of the nation's most distinctive voices on school integration, he can provide fresh perspective and skillful analysis for your stories about the consequences of the Supreme Court's decision.

He is the author of a book on socioeconomic school integration, entitled "All Together Now: Creating Middle-Class Schools through Public School Choice" (Brookings Press, 2001).

Previously, Kahlenberg was a Fellow at the Center for National Policy, a visiting associate professor of constitutional law at George Washington University, and a legislative assistant to Senator Charles S. Robb (D-VA).

He is the author of the soon to be published book "Tough Liberal: Al Shanker and the Battles over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy," as well as "The Remedy: Class, Race, and Affirmative Action"; and "Broken Contract: A Memoir of Harvard Law School."

His articles on education, school desegregation and affirmative action have been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New Republic, and elsewhere.

Posted by Michael at 8:44 PM | TrackBack

Medicare Part D Plans Vary, but Most Appear to Cover Common Medications at Low Co-Payments

An examination of Medicare Part D plans in California and Hawaii reveals wide variations in drug formularies, but indicates that for many classes of drugs, it is possible to find at least one or more drug that is covered by nearly all Part D plans, according to a study in the June 20 issue of JAMA.

Nearly 23 million of the 43.9 million eligible Medicare beneficiaries have enrolled in the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, according to background information in the article.

Because of the number and variety of plans, clinicians often find it difficult to know which drugs are covered by Part D plan formularies.

Previous studies indicate that two-thirds of clinicians say they lack familiarity with Part D formularies, and three-fourths have been asked by pharmacies or patients to change a prescription to a different drug so that it would be covered by the patient's plan.

Chien-Wen Tseng, M.D., M.P.H., of the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, and colleagues conducted a study to determine whether Part D formularies in California (the state with the most Medicare beneficiaries) and Hawaii have at least one drug within each of eight treatment classes for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and depression that can be identified for clinicians as "widely-covered" by the vast majority of Part D plans.

In an analyses of 72 formularies, the researchers found that coverage for 75 specific drugs ranged from 7 percent to 100 percent of formularies and averaged 69 percent across all drugs.

Posted by Michael at 8:39 PM | TrackBack

Tobacco Tax: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle; Why A Tobacco Tax Should Be Included in Health Care Reform

The American Cancer Society of California today released the following advisory.

- - - -WHAT: Health care advocates will release a recent, bipartisan poll showing that conservative, moderate and liberal voters strongly support including a tobacco tax in the state health reform proposals under debate at the Capitol.

Advocates will also release data that shows that smoking is rising among youth smokers, reversing a decades long trend.

WHY: States across the country are raising tobacco taxes to reduce smoking and to fund health programs.

Meanwhile the California Legislature has never passed a significant tobacco tax, and in the midst of the biggest debate over health care ever, the Governor and legislators are not even discussing it.

Voters prefer a tobacco tax over other revenue options, such as an employer fee and a provider fee.

Posted by Michael at 8:28 PM | TrackBack

Millennium development goals: Are we on track?

In April 2007, the General Assembly of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations convened to discuss progress made towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Patrick Webb, PhD, dean for academic affairs at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, presented on the status of the Millennium Development Goal One (MDG1): radically reducing extreme poverty and hunger.

There are three priority issues to be tackled in seeking to address the second objective (on hunger) --- removing the 'invisibility' of hunger by better measuring and highlighting areas making limited progress, promoting innovations in programming, and integrating mainstream lessons from successful action in humanitarian settings (saving lives and reducing acute malnutrition) into development interventions.

"Progress in one target area does not guarantee progress in the other areas," says Webb.

Speaking on behalf of the three Rome-based agencies of the United Nations (the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)), Webb argued that governments should engage more seriously in measuring their own progress towards agreed goals.

In order to tackle the problem it is not possible to focus on just agriculture or just health; in order to be successful the many facets of the problem must all be addressed."

Posted by Michael at 8:24 PM | TrackBack

Teagle Foundation Announces New Grants to Further Faculty-Led Assessment of Student Learning

The Teagle Foundation today announced 15 new grants totaling just under $500,000 to fund collaborative projects involving over 35 colleges, universities, and educational institutions. Much of the funding will extend the Foundation's Outcomes and Assessment initiative, which explores the potential of faculty-led value-added assessment. In addition to 12 collaborative planning grants in assessment, one grant will support the Council for Aid to Education as it convenes a consortium of 40 research universities to forward its Collegiate Learning Assessment project. A further grant to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for its "Template Project" will fund the development of an information structure for the humanities, similar to what has long existed for the sciences. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 8:22 PM | TrackBack

Race, Not Space, Key to Lower Black Male Employment Rate

A new study finds that in areas where low-skilled jobs are predominantly held by whites, black men who live nearby are less likely to get hired.

"The problem is not lack of jobs at appropriate skill levels where blacks live, but lack of jobs available to blacks," said UC Irvine economist David Neumark, co-author of the study.

For years, it's been widely accepted that space is a primary barrier to employment -- meaning there are not enough low-skill jobs where less-skilled black workers live.

But by analyzing the employment, education level and location of more than 533,000 black males across the United States, Neumark and his colleagues found that the issue is not simply whether jobs are available nearby, but whether they are available to one's own race.

Jobs for low-skilled workers are often advertised informally through word of mouth in social networks, such as among friends or church members, Neumark explained.

Neumark and his colleagues call this effect "racial mismatch," a new spin on the term "spatial mismatch," which has been used to describe the lack of the right jobs in the right place.

Posted by Michael at 8:20 PM | TrackBack

Courageous Children Call on Congress to Champion Children's Health Care

From PR Newswire: Government and Policy:

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 8:18 PM | TrackBack

Learning a Sense of Community Online

Children and their teachers are already benefiting from online learning communities such as the Oracle Education Foundation's Think.com, but there is a real opportunity for richer learning with such systems that is yet to be tapped.

Elizabeth Hartnell-Young of the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Nottingham and freelance statistician Karen Corneille of Victoria, Australia, writing in the International Journal of Web Based Communities, describe how they have taken Think.com as a case study and investigated how a free, password-protected online community can support children's learning.

As part of their assessment of the online learning community, the team defined the process of learning as not simply rote learning of events and objects but the creation of knowledge products, including information, principles and theories.

The researchers also point out that modern teaching does not simply involve a teacher imparting knowledge to students but a more creative process in which teachers lead students and help them build knowledge.

The boundaries provided by a protected online learning system allows teachers to mediate the learning process in a secure and safe way, the researchers explain.

They assessed how such a system encourages a range of "digital" literacy, through enabling students to create their own material, and cases of interaction and collaboration between users in different learning tasks.

They found that the best way that teachers and facilitators could help students reap the rewards of using an online community is by encouraging their active engagement by designing accessible and provocative online activities, managing access to useful resources and, most of all, asking relevant and thought-provoking questions that challenge the students.

Posted by Michael at 8:17 PM | TrackBack

Curbing the Obesity Epidemic

The obesity epidemic has become a major public health problem in both industrialized countries and the developing world.

The fact that obesity is mainly determined before puberty implies that preschool detection of children at risk is essential along with individual prevention programs provided by the school health services in liaison with specialists.

In June 20th issue of PLoS ONE, a Swedish study reports a protocol that detects with high precision 30% of all obese pre-adolescent children already at age 5 using only weight and height data.

The protocol selects boys having a body mass index (BMI) above the international standard for obesity at both age 4 and age 5, and girls having a BMI higher than 20 at the age 5 for individual weight-reduction programs.

This extension of the protocol is likely to require inclusion of new observation in the routine health monitoring of pre-school children, such as family heredity for obesity and eating behaviours.

Posted by Michael at 8:17 PM | TrackBack

Children of smokers have 5 times higher levels of a nicotine toxin

Children who have at least one parent who smokes have 5.5 times higher levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine, in their urine, according to a study published online ahead of print in Archives of Disease in Childhood. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 8:16 PM | TrackBack

'Segregated' Schools Hinder Reading Skills

The majority of black and Hispanic children in the United States attend "minority segregated" schools, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The study, by the FPG Child Development Institute (FPG) and the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, examined reading development from kindergarten to third grade for 1,913 economically disadvantaged children.

"Good instruction is essential, but it's not enough," said Kirsten Kainz, an investigator at FPG, senior research associate in the School of Education and author of the study.

"Most current reading instruction initiatives and policies are aimed at improving classroom instruction," Kainz said.

"This research shows that characteristics of the child, the home, the classroom and the school influence reading development, and that maximally effective reading policy should address all four systems simultaneously."

Kainz and her colleagues found that classroom and school characteristics had a larger affect on low-income students' long-term reading abilities than the method of instruction or a child's background, such as the parents' employment patterns or size of the household.

The study also showed that the percentage of struggling readers in a classroom negatively influenced every student's reading performance, erasing any benefits of comprehensive literacy instruction.

Children attending kindergarten classrooms with higher percentages of students reading below grade level demonstrated constrained performance in reading at the end of kindergarten.

Children were assessed in basic reading skills, vocabulary and comprehension.

Data was collected as part of a survey via telephone interviews and written questionnaires with caregivers, teachers and administrators in 48 states and Washington D.C.

Posted by Michael at 8:14 PM | TrackBack

June 19, 2007

Moving from Punishment to Problem Solving in Juvenile Justice

Chapin Hall:

Rob Allen's report From punishment to problem solving: A new approach to children in trouble was published by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies in September 2006 as part of the Centre's Whose Justice? project.

The report, which is republished as Chapter 1 of this monograph, calls for a fundamental overhaul of the current youth justice system. It identifies the unnecessary criminalisation of young people, the failure of mental health and education services to provide appropriate services to children and young people at risk, the need for a less blame-centered approach and an exploitation of the benefits of recent developments in restorative justice.

The Crime and Society Foundation, which is based at the Centre for Crime
and Justice Studies, held a seminar in October 2006 to debate Rob Allen’s key recommendations. Rob, who had just stepped down from the Youth Justice Board after serving eight years, allowed his report to be dissected by leading academics, policy makers and practitioners in the field of youth justice.

The result was a fascinating and fierce debate. Many of the attendees voiced their interest in continuing the debate and opening it up to others in the field.

Posted by Michael at 7:54 PM | TrackBack

Making Pre-kindergarten Work for Low-income Working Families

From Center for Law and Social Policy:

As of 2006, 38 states and the District of Columbia had pre-kindergarten programs, which vary considerable in their design. While low-income children stand to gain the most from early care and education initiatives, working families may not be able to access programs that are not responsive to their needs.

This paper discusses research supporting the need to review initiatives to ensure maximum access for children in working families, especially low-income children; highlights key strategies to address the needs of low-income working families; and examines the extent to which state pre-kindergarten policies currently do so.

This paper is based on research conducted for the CLASP report All Together Now: State Experiences in Using Community-based Child Care to Provide Pre-Kindergarten.

Posted by Michael at 9:09 AM | TrackBack

Rockefeller Foundation to Provide $2.2 Million for New Orleans 'Rebuilding' Fellowships

The Rockefeller Foundation announced today a $2.2 million grant to fund a series of fellowships to advance the redevelopment process in New Orleans.

The Rockefeller Foundation Redevelopment Fellowships, to be administered by the Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania, will enable key redevelopment organizations in New Orleans to recruit talented urban redevelopment professionals both from New Orleans and from around the country to work on the rebuilding process currently underway there.

"The Rockefeller Foundation's New Orleans Fellowships will allow us to attract the best and brightest urban development professionals, so that the city can accelerate its recovery and rebuilding efforts," said Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Edward Blakely, the Director of the city's Office of Recovery Management, said, "The Rockefeller Fellowships will be critically important in helping the city build the necessary human capital to assist in New Orleans' recovery."

In the past, the Center has successfully recruited and placed teams of fellows with top urban redevelopment organizations nationwide.

"Our Penn community is proud that talented professionals from our School of Design's Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence will be applying their knowledge, their energy, and their hearts to rebuilding New Orleans," Penn President Amy Gutmann said.

These include for-profit and non-profit development organizations, government agencies, financial institutions investing in affordable and mixed-income housing and other firms directly involved in the redevelopment process.

Foundation investments include major support for the development of the Unified New Orleans Plan, a comprehensive rebuilding and recovery plan, that was recently approved by the New Orleans City Planning Commission.

Posted by Michael at 8:17 AM | TrackBack

June 18, 2007

USC Annenberg Conference on Bridging the Political Divide

Bridging the Political Divide," the inaugural conference of the Center on Communication Leadership at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, opens today in Los Angeles with a major speech by New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg at a dinner hosted by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at Getty House, the official residence of the Mayor of Los Angeles.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will deliver the conference's keynote address on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 in the Ray Kurtzman Theater at the new headquarters of Creative Artists Agency in Century City.

Other confirmed speakers include Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, former Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, former governor Gray Davis, former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan, philanthropists Lauren Bon and Sherry Lansing, producer Kevin Wall, political strategist Matthew Dowd, Governor Schwarzenegger's chief of staff Susan Kennedy, and journalists Margaret Carlson, Jay Carney, Michael Kinsley, Lawrence O'Donnell, Juan Williams and Judy Woodruff.

"We want to highlight leaders from both parties who have succeeded in getting things done by building consensus around some of the nation's toughest problems," said Geoffrey Cowan, dean of the USC Annenberg School and director of the school's Center on Communication Leadership.

Located in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California, the USC Annenberg School for Communication (annenberg.usc.edu) is among the nation's leading institutions devoted to the study of journalism and communication, and their impact on politics, culture and society.

AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations.

Posted by Michael at 7:38 PM | TrackBack

Oregon's New Smoke-Free Law is a Historic Step for Health

From PR Newswire: Government and Policy:

The Oregon Legislature has delivered a historic victory for health and the public's right to breathe clean air by passing legislation to make all workplaces, including restaurants and bars, smoke-free.

This adds to the growing momentum across the country and around the world to protect all workers and the public from the serious health hazards of secondhand smoke.

Oregon joins 21 other states, plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, that have passed smoke-free laws that cover restaurants and bars.

Four other states -- Florida, Idaho, Louisiana and Nevada -- have smoke-free laws that include restaurants but exempt stand-alone bars.

The Surgeon General found that secondhand smoke is a proven cause of lung cancer, heart disease, serious respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis and asthma, low birth weight and sudden infant death syndrome.

Posted by Michael at 7:36 PM | TrackBack

Kaiser Permanente Participating in Medicare Study

From PR Newswire:

Kaiser Permanente announced it is partnering with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in a project that will help inform Medicare beneficiaries about the benefits of using online health tools to manage their health.

The pilot project, set to begin June 18, will promote the use of online personal health records (PHRs) to Medicare patients, as well as reporting on the use of such tools.

Kaiser Permanente is a leader in online personal health management services.

Already, over one million Kaiser Permanente members have accessed "Your Health Record" online at its Web site, kp.org.

Currently, the organization has more than 1.4 million members connected online, more than any other integrated health system in the world.

"Our online services help patients get better access to their health information, while making it more convenient for those who would rather not leave work or home to manage their health," says Kate Christensen, MD, medical director for kp.org.

"In the KP system, a patient can view her cholesterol test online, talk with her doctor by e-mail about the result and treatment plan, and then join an online nutrition program.

They can now access their personal health information by activating their account on kp.org and accessing "Your Health Record".

Posted by Michael at 7:34 PM | TrackBack

Office of Inspector General Report Confirms Devastating Impact of Pending Changes to Medicaid Pharmacy Reimbursement

From PR Newswire:

With the deadline for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to issue guidelines for the Medicaid prescription drug reimbursement formula fast approaching, the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) today pointed to the release of the Office of Inspector General in the Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) report as further evidence that the proposed policy must be changed.

The OIG report, along with a December 2006 Government Accountability Office's (GAO) report on CMS' proposed Average Manufacturing Price (AMP) for Medicaid reimbursement, provide irrefutable proof as to why patient access to community pharmacies, especially in underserved areas, will be jeopardized.

The OIG report issued last week concludes that the new Federal Upper Limit (FUL) based on AMP for Medicaid reimbursement may force states to underpay pharmacy providers for the generic medicines they dispense under Medicaid.

When you factor in that pharmacies' cost to dispense is not adequately covered by state Medicaid programs, the loss to pharmacists is even greater.

The findings are consistent with the GAO's report that AMP will fall on average, 36 percent below pharmacy acquisition cost.

"The OIG report adds to the overwhelming evidence that Medicaid cuts are threatening consumer access to medications and pharmacy services as a result of the Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement formula," said Bruce Roberts, RPh, NCPA Executive Vice President and CEO. "By underpaying community pharmacies for dispensing Medicaid prescription drugs, initial saving will lead to enormous expenses later on when patients are unable to go to community pharmacies for their medications.