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August 31, 2008State of Working America 2008/2009From Economic Policy Institute: Released in time for Labor Day, the advanced edition of EPI's authoritative volume The State of Working America 2008/2009 is now available. Described as the "most comprehensive independent analysis of the U.S. labor market" by the Financial Times, the 11th edition shows that the business cycle that started in 2001 will be one for the record books. In fact, for the first time on record, middle-class families are at the end of a recovery without ever having regained the ground they lost during the previous recession. Gross domestic product and historically high productivity growth should have raised paychecks up and down the income ladder, but instead the benefits of that growth have bypassed most of the people who made it possible. Prepared biennially since 1988, The State of Working America scrutinizes family incomes, jobs, wages, unemployment, wealth, poverty, and health care coverage, describing the economy's effect on our nation's standard of living. Pre-order your copy of the full 11th edition, and be sure to check out our special online previews. Look to this site for excerpts of the book's findings in the weeks leading up to its final release in January 2009. Also available are materials archived from our 2006/2007 edition. · The advance edition of SWA 2008/2009 has been released. · Several EPI Economic Snapshots featuring data from the forthcoming edition are now available. The State of Working America remains unrivaled as the most-trusted source for a comprehensive understanding of how working Americans and their families are faring in today's economy. Posted by Michael at 9:42 PM | TrackBack Economic and social disadvantage can affect young citizens' voter turnoutFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A study recently published in the Journal of Social Issues illustrates how certain disadvantages experienced in adolescence, such as early pregnancy, dropping out of high school, being arrested, or going to an underprivileged school, contribute to lower voter turnout in young adulthood. In addition, the types of disadvantage vary across racial groups. Julianna Sandell Pacheco and Eric Plutzer of The Pennsylvania State University used data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey to measure disadvantage and voter participation. For White youth, early pregnancy or parenthood leads to dropping out of high school, and the combined impact of these two events resulting in a turnout decline of more than 30 percent. For Blacks, being arrested is associated with dropping out of high school, subsequently decreasing turnout by more than 30 percent. "Rising economic segregation and economic inequality has the potential to increase political inequality in the United States." Journal of Social Issues (JSI) brings behavioral and social science theory, empirical evidence, and practice to bear on human and social problems. Posted by Michael at 7:17 PM | TrackBack Study reveals gap in HIV testing knowledge among college studentsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Most college students understand how they can prevent the transmission of HIV but are less knowledgeable about HIV testing, according to a new University of Georgia study. Su-I Hou, associate professor in the UGA College of Public Health, surveyed more than 500 students and found that they scored higher on general questions related to HIV and AIDS (82 percent correct) than items specifically related to HIV testing (72 percent correct). She explained that most HIV tests do not measure or detect the virus itself but instead look for body's reaction to the virus - the presence of antibodies to HIV. Antibodies generally appear within three months after HIV infection, but it may take up to six months in some people. "We need to make sure our prevention messages are comprehensive," said Hou, whose results appear in the July issue of the Journal of the National Medical Association. HIV disproportionately affects African Americans, who account for 13 percent of the U.S. population but nearly half (49 percent) of the Americans who get HIV and AIDS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To fill this gap, she surveyed 222 black students from 15 historically black colleges and universities and 335 white students. Because people can be reluctant to discuss sensitive information, Hou used an online survey. She recruited the students using flyers, classroom announcements, e-mail and even the social networking site Facebook. While the study found that there were no significant differences between groups in scores related to general or testing-specific knowledge of HIV, it did reveal that African Americans rated significantly higher on their perceived knowledge of HIV. Posted by Michael at 7:17 PM | TrackBack Survey Finds That Most Companies Do Not Report on SustainabilityFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Very few companies have sustainability policies and most do not report on sustainability or corporate social responsibility, according to a survey of chief financial officers and senior-level executive CPAs by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School. CFOs and CPA financial executives serving in business and industry were surveyed for the third quarter 2008 Business and Industry Economic Outlook Survey. In a partnership with UNC Kenan-Flagler, the AICPA survey asked questions about executive CPAs' views of sustainability for the first time. "Sustainability is an important business issue," said Lisa Jones Christensen, an assistant professor who specializes in sustainable business at UNC Kenan-Flagler. - Approximately 32 percent rated their companies highly (4 or 5 on a 5 point scale) when asked to what extent helping the cause of sustainability is an expected part of their jobs, while almost 16 percent said that helping sustainability is not at all an expected part of the job. - However, approximately 66 percent do not engage in sustainability reporting and 52 percent do not engage in corporate social responsibility reporting. The larger study, released on Aug. 14, found that CFO and CPA executives are pessimistic about the U.S. economy. Media representatives are invited to visit the AICPA Online Media Center at http:www.aicpa.org/mediacenter. Posted by Michael at 7:07 PM | TrackBack Teens making poor choices when it comes to riding in vehiclesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Injury prevention experts have long known that teens are less likely than other motorists to wear seat belts while driving. Now, researchers from the Meharry-State Farm Alliance at Meharry Medical College have discovered lack of seat belt use by teen passengers may be an even bigger problem. In the first ever direct comparison of the differences between driver and passenger seat belt use for a nationally representative teen population, the Meharry researchers found that 59% of teens always buckled up in the driver seat but only 42% always wore seat belts as passengers. The study population comprised over 12,000 African American, white, and Hispanic public and private high school students ages 16 or older who participated in the 2001 and 2003 National Youth Risk Behavior Surveys. The surveys are conducted every two years by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track the leading causes of death and disability among U.S. teens. Upgrade state seat belt laws to uniformly require that teen motor vehicle occupants in the rear seat be secured in seat belts. Upgrade state seat belt laws from "secondary" (law enforcement officers can ticket motorists for seat belt law violations only after stopping them for another offense) to "primary" (law enforcement officers can stop and ticket motorists solely for seat belt law violations). The Meharry-State Farm Alliance, established in 2002, unites the historically black academic health sciences center and the nation's largest automobile insurer in a drive to save lives on the nation's highways. Posted by Michael at 7:02 PM | TrackBack Smoking during pregnancy a 'double-edged sword' in SIDSFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Premature infants whose mothers smoked during pregnancy may be at even higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than preemies whose mothers did not smoke, according to new research out of the University of Calgary. In the first-ever experimental study to compare the breathing reflexes of preemies of smokers versus non-smokers, researchers found that babies whose mothers had smoked showed a number of signs of impaired respiratory function. "Smoking during pregnancy is a double-edged sword with respect to SIDS," said Shabih Hasan, M.D., a staff neonatologist and professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of Calgary, and the principal investigator of the new study. "Preterm babies are known to have increased breathing difficulties in proportion to their prematurity and cigarette smoke is known to increase apneas in full-term babies," said Dr. Hasan. They obtained baseline readings on the infants' breathing patterns in normal conditions, assessing breathing rate, pauses in breathing, recovery period and heart rate. The cigarette-smoke exposed infants showed increased heart rate during the hypoxemic period compared with their baseline values, but there was no difference in heart rates was observed in control infants, indicating that the oxygen depletion put their bodies under more stress than the control groups. Regardless of the mechanism, the study has immediate clinical relevance: "Since preterm infants continue to have significant cardiorespiratory events after discharge from the hospital, our study may help identify the infants at risk for attenuated recovery from hypoxemic episodes while at home," said Dr. Hasan. "Furthermore, it might help distinguish the infants, who will arouse in response to hypoxemia. Posted by Michael at 6:53 PM | TrackBack Americans show little tolerance for mental illness despite growing belief in genetic causeFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new study by University of Pennsylvania sociology professor Jason Schnittker shows that, while more Americans believe that mental illness has genetic causes, the nation is no more tolerant of the mentally ill than it was 10 years ago. Prior medical-sociology studies reveal that public beliefs about mental illness reflect the dominant mental-illness treatment, the changing nature of media portrayals of the mentally ill and the prevailing wisdom of science and medicine. Schnittker's study, "An Uncertain Revolution: Why the Rise of a Genetic Model of Mental Illness Has Not Increased Tolerance," attempts to address why tolerance of the mentally ill hasn't increased along with the rising popularity of a biomedical view of its causes. His study finds that different genetic arguments have, in fact, become more popular but have very different associations depending on the mental illness being considered. In the case of schizophrenia, genetic arguments are associated with fears regarding violence," Schnittker said. "In fact, attributing schizophrenia to genes is no different from attributing it to bad character --- either way Americans see those with schizophrenia as 'damaged' in some essential way and, therefore, likely to be violent. The study explores tolerance in terms of social distancing: unwillingness to live next door to a mentally ill person, have a group home for the mentally ill in the neighborhood, spend an evening socializing with a mentally ill person, work closely with such a person on the job, make friends with someone with a mental illness or have a mentally ill person marry into the family. Posted by Michael at 6:50 PM | TrackBack Labor Day Employment Outlook: Best Paying States, Wage Growth & MoreFrom PR Newswire: LOS ANGELES, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- This Labor Day, as employment falls an average 66,000 jobs per month and unemployment is expected to rise to six percent by year's end, many people are wondering, "Where's the money?" According to IBISWorld, the industry to outpace all others in terms of average annualized growth in wages is Voice Over Internet Protocol Providers (VoIP); set to hit 21.8 percent by 2012. IBISWorld also expects to see strong job growth in physical therapy, interior design, retirement communities, ambulance services, IT support, customer relationship management and business process services. Recognized as the nation's most trusted independent source of industry and market research, IBISWorld offers a comprehensive database of unique information and analysis on every U.S. industry. With an extensive online portfolio, valued for its depth and scope, the company equips clients with the insight necessary to make better business decisions. Headquartered in Los Angeles, IBISWorld serves a range of business, professional service and government organizations through more than 10 locations worldwide. For more information visit http://www.ibisworld.com or call 1-800-330-3772. Posted by Michael at 6:43 PM | TrackBack European group aims to make maths teaching more rigorous and inspiringFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: An attempt to re-energise mathematics teaching in Europe is being made in a new project examining a range of factors thought to influence achievement. Mathematics teaching is as vital as ever both in support of key fields such as life sciences, alternative energy development, or information technology, and also through its unique ability to develop widely applicable problem solving skills. The new project was discussed at a recent workshop organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF), which brought together experts in different areas of mathematics education. "It was agreed that we would begin the process of developing a comparative project, involving between fifteen and twenty European countries, to examine the interrelatedness of the mathematics-related beliefs of teachers and students, teacher practices and student cognition," said Paul Andrews, the workshop's convenor and Senior Lecturer in Education at the Faculty of Education of Cambridge University in the UK. "To assume that the development of enthusiasm is sufficient to guarantee achievement would be naïve as there are countries in which students have little enthusiasm for mathematics but achieve relatively highly and, of course, vice versa," pointed out Andrews. European countries have to date resolved this tension in different ways, with the UK being at the vocational end of the spectrum, while Hungary has taken the purest approach with its traditions for mathematical rigour. "One of the problems of English education is that students experience a fragmented and procedural conception of mathematics, due to underlying notions of vocationalism, and so rarely come to see the subject as a coherent body of concepts and relationships which can be worth studying for the intrinsic satisfaction it can yield," said Andrews. Posted by Michael at 6:37 PM | TrackBack Higher Education Groups Receive Grants to Help Students with DisabilitiesFrom Education Newsfeed: The U.S. Department of Education today announced the award of $6.7 million in grants to 23 higher education organizations to help them develop pilot projects for students with disabilities. The three-year grants support projects that provide technical assistance and professional development to faculty and administrators who teach and counsel students with disabilities at institutions of higher education. The grants help to ensure that these students receive a quality education, improve student achievement and increase their completion rates. Some of the activities include distance learning; summer institutes; in-service training; assistive and educational technology; and conducting research on accommodating and teaching postsecondary students with disabilities. Posted by Michael at 6:36 PM | TrackBack Crossing the Medicaid-Private Insurance Divide: The Case of EPSDTFrom The Commonwealth Fund: By providing children with preventive care that promotes their healthy development, the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit has contributed significantly to the quality of care received by low-income children enrolled in Medicaid. Recent legislation, however, could threaten this benefit, warn the authors of a Commonwealth Fundsupported paper. The Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 alters the structure of the EPSDT benefit and allows states to fundamentally redefine the meaning of Medicaid coverage for children. "The potential de facto loss of EPSDT as Medicaid's pediatric coverage standard has major implications for the quality of pediatric care, particularly for children with special health care needs," write Sara Rosenbaum, J.D., and Paul H. Wise, M.D., Ph.D., of George Washington University and Stanford University, respectively. It was structured to reflect the professional pediatric standard of care, and emphasize early and preventive health care to optimize child development. In 1989, Congress enacted legislation to further strengthen EPSDT. Created in 1997, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) represented a dramatic departure from Medicaid's pediatric coverage principles: states were now allowed to substitute private health insurance principles for EPSDT coverage design. Under SCHIP, states can link coverage to benchmarks drawn from the employer-sponsored health insurance market or build their own benchmark equivalents, which are subject only to a handful of cost-sharing, actuarial, and well-child coverage rules. EPSDT is the country's signature social policy effort to translate pediatric principles into health care financing, the authors write. "To sacrifice this vision for the sake of insurance markets is to lose not only coverage but the ethical basis of child health financing," they add. Posted by Michael at 6:32 PM | TrackBack Newly-defined factors may prevent postpartum smoking relapseFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Although many women quit smoking during pregnancy to protect their unborn children from the effects of cigarettes, half of them resume the habit within a few months of giving birth. According to the study, women with a live-in partner who shared some of the burden of child-rearing were more likely to remain smoke free, while women who were single mothers or who lacked the social and financial resources to deal with being a new parent were more likely to relapse. "In the future we can look at these and other factors in women who quit smoking during pregnancy to assess who is at low or high risk of relapse," said Carol E. Ripley-Moffitt, MDiv, research associate in UNC's department of family medicine and the study's lead author. Smoking during pregnancy increases the risks of pregnancy complications, decreased birth weight and SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), Ripley-Moffitt said. She noted that the past 15 years have seen a steady decrease in the number of women who smoke while pregnant, in part because of an overall decline in smoking rates among all women of childbearing age and in part because of interventions targeting women during the prenatal period. "But more needs to be done because over 50 percent of women who quit the habit during pregnancy are smoking again at six months postpartum," Ripley-Moffitt said. The UNC study, which appears in the August issue of the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, is the first to examine not only the factors leading to relapse but also those leading to a smoke-free life after pregnancy. Posted by Michael at 6:31 PM | TrackBack Jumping for joy ... and stronger bonesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: High impact activities such as jumping and skipping that can easily be incorporated into warm-ups before sports and physical education classes, have been shown to benefit bone health in adolescents. The 10 minute school-based intervention, provided twice a week for about eight months, significantly improved bone and muscle strength in healthy teenagers compared to regular warm-ups. Physiotherapist Ben Weeks said the warm-up which included tuck jumps, star jumps, side lunges and skipping with gradually increasing complexity and repetitions, was specifically designed to apply a bone-stimulating mechanical load on the skeleton. "Eighty per cent of bone mass is accrued in the first 20 years and especially around puberty due to the circulating hormones. The study of 99 adolescents with a mean age of almost 14 years found boys in the intervention group improved whole body bone mass while the girls' bone mass specifically improved at the hip and spine. Mr Weeks said the gender-specific response to the exercise program may be related to the different rates of physical development with girls reaching maturity at an earlier age than boys. "Peak height velocity is at different ages in boys and girls. He said the improved bone strength at the hip and spine in girls was promising as those were the typical sites for osteoporotic fractures in the elderly. While the study showed that a simple, practical exercise intervention can result in worthwhile skeletal benefits in adolescents, Mr Weeks said larger, longitudinal studies were required to determine whether the beneficial effects could persist into adulthood and reduce the risk of future bone fractures. Mr Weeks is a member of the Bone, Muscle and Movement Group within the Griffith Institute of Health and Medical Research. Posted by Michael at 6:29 PM | TrackBack Physical and sexual abuse linked to asthma in Puerto Rican kidsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Children who are physically or sexually abused are more than twice as likely to have asthma as their peers, according to a recent study of urban children in Puerto Rico. In fact, physical and sexual abuse was second only to maternal asthma in all the risk factors tested, including paternal asthma and indicators of socioeconomic status. The article was published in the first issue for September of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a publication of the American Thoracic Society. "We already know that there is a high prevalence of asthma in Puerto Rican children, and many studies have linked stress and exposure to violence to health problems in childhood, including asthma." They used validated questionnaires to elicit information about stress and violence in the children's lives (whenever possible, without the parent present), and used doctor-diagnosed asthma, allergic rhinitis, use of prescription medication for asthma and physician visits for asthma and/or allergic rhinitis within the previous year to assess the children's asthma/allergy status. "Children with a history of abuse had higher frequencies of all outcomes of interest than those without a history of abuse," wrote Dr. Cohen. "After adjusting for relevant covariates, history of abuse was associated with an approximate doubling of the odds of current asthma, healthcare use for asthma, and allergic rhinitis." For example, whereas 15 (20 percent) of the 75 children with a history of abuse had current asthma, 128 (11.5 percent) of 1,117 children without history of abuse had current asthma. The investigators postulate that abuse may alter the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which in turn may depress the glucocorticoid response, resulting in decreased suppression of airway inflammatory responses. Posted by Michael at 6:28 PM | TrackBack Highlights from the September 2008 Journal of the American Dietetic AssociationFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: In May 2006, an agreement was reached by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and the American Beverage Association on voluntary sales restrictions on "competitive foods" such as soft drinks at schools. However, researchers at Pardee Rand Graduate School say limiting the availability of soft drinks at school may not be enough to affect overall consumption among elementary school children. In a study of more than 4,000 children, the researchers found limiting soft drink availability at school is associated with a 4 percent decrease in overall consumption; 26 percent of children who have access to soft drinks at school drink them; and low-income and black non-Hispanic children consume more soft drinks at school and more soft drinks overall. The researchers conclude: "Greater reductions in children's consumption of soft drinks will require policy changes that go beyond food availability at school...Such polices may include zoning regulations on food outlet types in residential or school areas and promotion of more healthful substitutes such as milk and fruit juice." The Journal of the American Dietetic Association is the official research publication of the American Dietetic Association and is the premier peer-reviewed journal in the field of nutrition and dietetics. Conclusions of research studies do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the American Dietetic Association, and ADA does not assume responsibility for opinions expressed by authors of Journal articles. The American Dietetic Association is the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. ADA is committed to improving the nation's health and advancing the profession of dietetics through research, education and advocacy. Posted by Michael at 6:27 PM | TrackBack Designing a Marriage Education Demonstration and Evaluation for Low-Income Married CouplesFrom MDRC: In recent decades, there has been a widening gap between higher rates of marital instability for economically disadvantaged couples and lower rates for nondisadvantaged couples. In addition, out-of-wedlock birth rates have risen, while evidence has grown that children fare better, on average, when raised by both of their parents in stable low-conflict households. All of these trends were important rationales for the development of a federal Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI) within the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Through grants to a range of state and local agencies, the HMI emphasizes provision of marriage education, a voluntary preventive service aimed at providing interested couples with skills and information that may help them to develop and sustain successful marriages and relationships. In this working paper, we introduce the Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM) evaluation --- the first large-scale, multisite experiment that tests marriage education programs for low-income married couples with children. The SHM conceptual framework recognizes multiple sources of relationship strength and weakness, and the project's program model has followed this framework closely in adapting the content and delivery of marriage education services for low-income married parents. SHM is testing a relatively intensive and comprehensive form of marriage education designed specifically for low-income families. Its year-long program model packages a series of marriage education workshops with additional family support, including case management, supportive services, and referrals to outside services as needed. The evaluation includes two interrelated substudies --- one focusing on sites' experiences in implementing the SHM model and the other measuring program impacts on marital quality and stability, child well-being, and a range of other outcomes. Posted by Michael at 6:24 PM | TrackBack August 30, 2008Evaluating Children's Advocacy Centers' Response to Child Sexual AbuseChild sexual abuse investigations can place enormous stress on victims and their families. Prior to the 1980s, child abuse investigators had no model for conducting interviews and coordinating investigations. The first Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) was established in 1986 to create a sensitive environment for child abuse interviews, provide victims and their families with medical and child protection services, and coordinate abuse investigations. The model has gained popularity in the past 20 years. As of 2006, the National Children’s Alliance had certified more than 600 centers. This Bulletin describes the findings of a study by researchers at the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center that evaluated the effectiveness of the CAC model in four prominent Children’s Advocacy Centers and nearby comparison communities. Findings demonstrate the important role these centers can play in advancing child abuse investigations and suggest ways in which the model could be improved in the future. Posted by Michael at 1:38 AM | TrackBack August 28, 2008Women's Health Insurance Coverage 1980-2005From The Commonwealth Fund: In the past two decades, women established a firm foothold in the U.S. labor market, dramatically increasing their chance of obtaining employment-based health insurance. At the same time, changes in Medicaid policy greatly expanded the number of low-income women eligible for public health insurance. Higher health care costs, say the authors, wiped out any gains in access to health insurance that women might have realized through greater participation in the work force and expansions of Medicaid policy. The avenues through which working-age women obtained health insurance remained constant, with employment-based health insurance the largest source of coverage and a smaller percentage of working-age women obtaining health coverage through Medicaid and the private nongroup insurance market. Many states raised the income thresholds for pregnant women and expanded eligibility to include low-income families in which the head of the household was unemployed. Employers responded by shifting their growing health care burden to the work force, in the form of sharp increases in the required annual employee contributions for single and family coverage. These increases, coupled with similar increases in required contributions for family coverage, resulted in sharp declines in the uptake of employment-based insurance. Married women, still more likely than men to choose spousal insurance despite steady increases in full-time employment, were disproportionately affected by rising contributions to employment-based coverage. "As holds true for men, declines in the propensity of workers to obtain coverage, for themselves or their spouses, through employment, has been the major factor leading to declines in coverage since 1980," say the authors. Posted by Michael at 9:57 PM | TrackBack Saving lives through smarter hurricane evacuationsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Hundreds of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars could potentially be saved if emergency managers could make better and more timely critical decisions when faced with an approaching hurricane. Michael Metzger's software tool, created as part of the research for his PhD dissertation, could allow emergency managers to better decide early on whether and when to order evacuations --- and, crucially, to do so more efficiently by clearing out people in stages. By analyzing data from 50 years of hurricanes and detailed information on several major ones, and by comparing the information available at various times as a hurricane approached with data from the actual storm's passage, Metzger said he was able to produce software that provides a scientifically consistent framework to plan for an oncoming hurricane. His approach uses the best available hurricane track models developed over the years, but even these can be wrong half of the time --- a degree of uncertainty that further complicates the job for local emergency managers. For example, a poorly planned evacuation could cause roadway gridlock and trap evacuees in their cars --- leaving them exposed to the dangers of inland flooding. With his system, officials would get the information needed to "pull the trigger earlier, and phase the evacuation," he says, and thus potentially save many lives. Metzger, who is a research assistant in the MIT Engineering Systems Division's Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals, and a PhD student in the Operations Research Center, received a second-place award out of more than 100 entries from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security earlier this year for the work. Posted by Michael at 9:51 PM | TrackBack HUD CHARGES NEW YORK LANDLORDS WITH DISCRIMINATING AGAINST A DISABLED RESIDENTFrom HUD Press Releases: The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that is has charged the owners and board of directors of an apartment building in Rockville Centre, New York, with housing discrimination for refusing to allow a woman with disabilities to keep a pet for emotional support. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodation may be necessary to afford a person with disabilities equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. "We understand that no-pet policies are put into place for various reasons but sometimes you have to stop and consider how such a policy would impact disabled residents who may need a waiver to enjoy their homes as others do," said Kim Kendrick, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. The HUD charge will be heard by a United States Administrative Law Judge unless any party to the charge elects to have the case heard in a federal district court. If an administrative law judge finds after a hearing that discrimination has occurred, he may award damages to each complainant for actual loss as a result of the discrimination, as well as damages for emotional distress, humiliation, and loss of civil rights. 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 9:50 PM | TrackBack SECRETARY PRESTON AND GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER ANNOUNCE $105 MILLION FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN CALIFORNIAFrom HUD Press Releases: U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced that the California State Program will receive more than $105 million to support community development and produce more affordable housing in the GoldenState. HUD's annual funding will also provide downpayment assistance to first-time homebuyers; assist individuals and families who might otherwise be living on the streets; and offer real housing solutions for individuals with HIV/AIDS. Since 1974, HUD's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program has provided more than $120 billion to state and local governments to target their own community development priorities. Annual CDBG funds are distributed to communities according to a statutory formula based on a community's population, poverty, and age of its housing stock, and extent of overcrowded housing. The program was created to assist low-income first-time homebuyers in purchasing single-family homes by providing funds for downpayment, closing costs, and rehabilitation carried out in conjunction with the assisted home purchase. These grants also provide transitional housing and a variety of support services designed to move the homeless away from a life on the street toward permanent housing. This block grant program, along with more than $14 million HUD awarded New Orleansand Jefferson Parish by competition, helps thousands of local homeless assistance programs to help those who would otherwise be living on the streets. 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. Posted by Michael at 9:48 PM | TrackBack HUD SECRETARY AND MAYOR MCCRORY ANNOUNCE $10 MILLION LOAN GUARANTEE TO CHARLOTTEFrom HUD Press Releases: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston today announced that he is approving a $10 million loan guarantee to the City of Charlotte to purchase 70 acres in the Double Oaks neighborhood. This purchase will complete the site assembly of 98 acres in preparation for the eventual development of 108,000 square feet of retail space and 940 new apartments, condominiums and single-family homes. HUD's loan guarantee will leverage $15 million in other public funding and $95 million in private sector investment to stimulate development of a new mixed-use community including a new grocery store, retail establishments, office space and mixed-income housing. "Today, we take another step forward in a new vision for this neighborhood," said HUD Secretary Steve Preston. "This latest HUD partnership allows Charlotteto implement our ambitious plans to invest in the Double Oaks neighborhood and to continue the revitalization of the Statesville Avenue corridor," stated Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory upon learning of the loan guarantee from HUD Secretary Preston. HUD's Section 108 Loan Guarantee Assistance Program enables local governments to borrow money from private investors at reduced interest rates to promote economic development, stimulate job growth and improve public facilities. The City of Charlotte requested HUD's loan guarantee to assist the Charlotte Mecklenburg Housing Partnership to purchase the 70 acres, partially occupied Double Oaks Apartment Complex and to assemble this site with an additional 28 acres for mixed use development in the Double Oaks neighborhood. According to the City's plans, the retail development is expected to generate 270 full-time jobs, more than half of which will be made available to low-and moderate-income persons. Posted by Michael at 9:47 PM | TrackBack Pregnancy situations have impact on brain development in pre-term infantsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Brain development in infants who are born very prematurely is still incomplete. Factors that cause premature birth may have an impact on the development of the premature infant's brain both during pregnancy and later on after birth. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 9:46 PM | TrackBack Pre-school age exercises can prevent dyslexiaFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A typical characteristics of children's linguistic development are early signs of the risk of developing reading and writing disabilities, or dyslexia. New research points to preventive exercises as an effective means to tackle the challenges children face when learning to read. The results achieved at the Centre of Excellence in Learning and Motivation Research were presented at the Academy of Finland's science breakfast on 21 August. The researchers followed intensively the development of the predisposed children, from their birth through to school age. According to Lyytinen, the predictors of reading and writing difficulties are evident primarily in two contexts: on the one hand as a delayed ability to perceive and mentally process the subtleties of speech sound, on the other hand as a sluggishness in naming familiar, visually presented objects. The CoE in Learning and Motivation Research has developed computer game-like learning environments to aid preventive training, and made them available on the internet free of charge. They are especially recommended for children with a perceived risk of developing reading and writing disabilities or who have had a hard time learning to read already in first grade. "The best time to start these exercises is the latter part of the pre-school age, but it's not too late even after the children have started school. Researchers at the CoE in Learning and Motivation Research have made good use of a wide range of scientific disciplines in creating the learning environment. Apart from psychology, the exercises include elements from phonetics, mathematics and information technology. Posted by Michael at 9:45 PM | TrackBack Jump-Starting Collaboration: The ABCD Initiative and the Provision of Child Development Services Through Medicaid and CollaboratorsFrom The Commonwealth Fund: A recent study addressing that question pointed to The Commonwealth Fund-supported Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) program as an example of successful collaboration among Medicaid and other state agencies. In the initial phase of the ABCD program, which ran from 2000 to 2003, the Fund provided grants to four states---North Carolina, Utah, Vermont, and Washington---to enhance the delivery of developmental services to low-income children. In "Jump-Starting Collaboration: The ABCD Initiative and the Provision of Child Development Services Through Medicaid and Collaborators" (Public Administration Review, May/June 2008), researchers led by Carolyn Berry, Ph.D., of New York University find that the program was successful: all states made changes to their policies, regulations, or reimbursement mechanisms to achieve their goals. The analysis included informant interviews and site visits, document reviews, and observation of meetings and conference calls among participants. Although the benefits of collaboration may seem clear, government agency leaders must choose to work together in the face of significant challenges. While states had differing approaches, they had a common goal and were able to share resources to accomplish it. Furthermore, financing and technical support provided by the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) helped states overcome resource constraints, lent legitimacy to the project, and mitigated the risks of a new venture. "The ABCD initiative inspired a notable degree of interagency cooperation and coordination in all four states," the authors note. NASHP convened a consortium of program participants across the states, allowing them to share practical advice and information, discuss goals, and vent frustrations when confronting obstacles. Posted by Michael at 9:44 PM | TrackBack Trying to satisfy too many agendas slows school reformFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Despite investments, community goodwill and some good ideas, a vexing question remains in the age of school reform: Why has so much hope and effort led to disappointment? Beginning in the late 1980s, the Chicago Public Schools, like many urban schools systems, launched a series of initiatives to reorganize schools, improve teaching and encourage parental participation. The changes in Chicago not always have met the expectations of proponents, wrote Charles Payne in his new book, So Much Reform, So Little Change: The Persistence of Failure in Urban Schools A lack of trust among teachers and principals and parents frequently creates dysfunction in schools, noted Payne. Tension among members of the business community, who promote sound management and accountability, and progressive educators, who favor a student-centered agenda, also has left the promise of reform unfulfilled. The Consortium on Chicago School Research (at the University of Chicago) is the closest thing we have to a Manhattan Project on urban schools, and from its inception, it has maintained a commitment to combining quantitative and qualitative work, affording its work a complexity that cannot be achieved when the two are separated," Payne said. It led to a relationship between the schools and research community rarely seen among the nation's largest school systems. Payne, who is a member of the University's Committee on Education, uses findings from the consortium, his research and reporting by the city's media to explore the problems that plague this school system and others. In his visits to schools, Payne learned that social relationships were key to student success. Posted by Michael at 9:43 PM | TrackBack John F. Kennedy University Announces First Fully Accredited Counseling Psychology Program Focusing on Latino/Hispanic Cultural Competence TrainingFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: On Aug. 20, 2008, John F. Kennedy University (JFKU) received final approval of its new counseling psychology master's program from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), the accrediting body for California colleges and universities. This program is the first fully accredited counseling psychology program focusing on cultural competence training in mental health and counseling skills for serving the Latino/ Hispanic community. Classes begin this fall. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 9:42 PM | TrackBack What Women Want, What the Country Needs: Grassroots Activists, Journalists and National Leaders Shine Spotlight on Women's Priorities and Community-Based Solutions at DNCFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The Ms. Foundation for Women today brings together grassroots activists, national policy advocates and journalists at the Democratic National Convention to promote women's community-based solutions to address our country's most pressing needs. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 9:41 PM | TrackBack Columbia Business School Executive Education Partners With International Nonprofit; Executives Will Provide Extensive Consultation to Economic Opportunity Initiative for Survivors of Unexploded Ordnance in VietnamFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Columbia Business School's Executive Education division announced today that it will launch its first Positive Impact Project in partnership with the Humpty Dumpty Institute (HDI), a New York-based nonprofit that pursues innovative solutions to humanitarian problems. Each year, the School will join forces with a local, national or international nonprofit organization to offer a project of global significance to students in the Columbia Senior Executive Program (CSEP), an intensive four week leadership development program that brings together executives from around the globe. This year's CSEP class will develop the business plan for HDI's Mushrooms with a Mission (MwM) initiative, a Vietnam-based enterprise that will provide added income to survivors of unexploded ordnance (UXO). Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 9:39 PM | TrackBack August 26, 2008Tobacco control programs reduce health-care costsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Tobacco control programs not only reduce smoking, but reduce personal health care costs as well, says new research published in PLoS Medicine by Stanton Glantz and colleagues at the University of California San Francisco. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:35 PM | TrackBack California tobacco control program saved billions in medical costsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: California's state tobacco control program saved $86 billion -- in 2004 dollars -- in personal healthcare costs in its first 15 years, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:34 PM | TrackBack Statement from Karen Davis: New Census Data on Uninsured AmericansFrom The Commonwealth Fund: Today, the Census Bureau released the latest data on the number of Americans without health insurance. The number of uninsured individuals fell to 45.7 million in 2007 from 47.0 million in 2006. Posted by Michael at 11:32 PM | TrackBack Grant Community Clinic: Case Studies of Patient- and Family-Centered Primary Care PracticesFrom The Commonwealth Fund: Grant Community Clinic is one of 12 primary care practices featured in Commonwealth Fund case studies of patient-centered practices. The site visit was conducted by Dale Shaller. Posted by Michael at 11:29 PM | TrackBack Uninsured patients receive unpredictable, rationed access to health careFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A case study of three health care institutions with different ownership models found that self-pay patients must navigate a system that provides no guarantees medical centers will follow their own policies for providing uncompensated care. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:15 PM | TrackBack Goodwill Puts People to WorkFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Goodwill Industries sees more people turning to Goodwill looking for a bargain in retail stores and for help finding a job. For the first six months of 2008, Goodwill store sales nationally were up more than 6 percent as compared to the same timeframe last year. Anecdotal evidence suggests the number of people benefiting from Goodwill job training programs will likely match or exceed 2007's 20 percent growth rate. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:12 PM | TrackBack Rockefeller Brothers Fund Appoints Senior Program Advisor for the Peace and Security ProgramFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) has engaged Randa Slim to serve as senior program advisor to its Peace and Security Program. As senior adivsor, reporting directly to the vice president for programs, Dr. Slim will conduct an assessment of the Peace and Security program portfolio and advise the RBF on grantmaking opportunities. Dr. Slim's initial focus will be on the portion of the Peace and Security portfolio that aims to build bridges between the global Muslim community and the West. She also will advise the Fund on its efforts to advance responsible approaches to U.S. global engagement as related to the Fund's interests in sustainable development and democratic practice and its work in the Western Balkans, Southern China, and South Africa. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:11 PM | TrackBack Refundable Credits Have Cut Taxes for Low-Income HouseholdsFrom Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch: In 1979, federal taxes claimed 8 percent of the income of households in the lowest quintile of the income distribution.1 Over the following three decades, the average effective tax rate (ETR) taxes as a percentage of income fell by nearly half to 4.3 percent in 2005. Most of the decline resulted from a sharp drop in the individual income tax, primarily due to expansion of the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit (CTC). Because the EITC is refundable and the CTC is partially refundable, they can reduce a households tax liability below zero and generate a net payment. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:07 PM | TrackBack New joint Israeli-American study sheds light on impact of terrorism on adolescent depressionFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: In a study on adolescent depression following terror attacks, Professor Golan Shahar of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel, and Professor Christopher Henrich of Georgia State University, report that social support experienced by these adolescents seems to protect against depression. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:07 PM | TrackBack A Updated Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Tax Plans: Executive Summary - August 25, 2008From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch: Both John McCain and Barack Obama have proposed tax plans that would substantially increase the national debt over the next ten years, according to a newly updated analysis by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Compared to current law, TPC estimates the Obama plan would cut taxes by $2.9 trillion from 2009-2018. McCain would reduce taxes by nearly $4.2 trillion. Obama would give larger tax cuts to low- and moderate-income households and pay some of the cost by raising taxes on high-income taxpayers. In contrast, McCain would cut taxes across the board and give the biggest cuts to the highest-income households. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:06 PM | TrackBack 75 percent of athletes' parents let their child skip exams for a gameFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Three quarters of parents of young athletes let their child forgo an exam for an important game, a new study conducted at the University of Haifa has found. In comparison, only 47 percent of parents of young musicians will agree to their child choosing a performance over an exam. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:06 PM | TrackBack 80 percent of adolescents who play sports don't smokeFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A research work carried out in sample of adolescents aged between 13 and 18 from Granada, Madrid, Murcia, Santander and Zaragoza has analyzed the relationship between sport activity and tobacco consumption.According to this work, 59.2 percent of the Spanish adolescents are physically active, although there are significant differences according to sex (71.1 percent of boys, as against 46.7 percent of girls). Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:05 PM | TrackBack New poverty, income, and health coverage analysisFrom Economic Policy Institute: Given the weakening job market last year, the median income of working-age households (those headed by someone less than 65) rose insignificantly in 2007, and was $2,010 below its 2000 level. While last year's overall income gains are good news, the longer-range view is quite different. The Census figures show that the economic cycle that began in 2000 and ended late last year was one of the weakest on record for working families, despite strong overall economic growth during the same period (see | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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