Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

Connect for Kids Weekly - September 15, 2003

Sep 17, 2003

We encourage distribution of this information! If reprinting in whole or part, please attribute it to Connect for Kids (www.connectforkids.org).
NEW ON CONNECTFORKIDS.ORG
**Kids & Politics
**Shakin' It Up
**Boxers or Briefs?

KIDS AND POLITICS
**Senate Passes its Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations
**Senate Finance Committee Passes TANF Reauthorization
**Analysts Say Child Care Funding is Way Short in TANF Bill
**Senator Snowe Announces Fight for Better Childcare Funding on Senate Floor
**Administration Pushing Block Grants for Social Programs
**Child Tax Credit
**Child Welfare: Enhanced Federal Oversight of Title IV-B Could Provide States Additional Information

DRINKING: GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT PREVENTION
**Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility
**Underage Drinking: A Major Public Health Challenge
**Advice for College Students

SAFETY ON THE INTERNET
**NetSafeKids
**"We're Here - Because They're Out There"

GETTING THE MERCURY OUT
**Caught in the Middle: Report Card on New England Mercury Elimination Efforts
**Mother Jones Charges Bush Administration with Dragging Feet

EDUCATION -- THE BEST WAY TO KEEP WORKERS COMPETITIVE
**Child Poverty and Parental Education Fact Sheet
**Standards for What? The Economic Roots of K-16 Reform
**Girls Go Tech

GETTING YOUNG CHILDREN READY FOR SCHOOL
**Head Start: Curriculum Use and Individual Child Assessment in Cognitive and Language Development.

WORK IS NO HEDGE AGAINST HARDSHIP FOR LOW-WAGE FAMILIES
**Living at the Edge: Low-Income and Hardship Among America's Kindergartners
**Out of Reach 2003

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENTS
**Bully Prevention is Crime Prevention
**Making Sense of Leading Schools: A Study of the School Principalship

RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITY BUILDING
**Postcards for Recruiting Mentors
**NLC Organizing Guide for Little Kids, Big Plans Week in October

BEATING OBESITY
**CSPI To Release "Best Snacks, Worst Snacks"
**The Hidden Fat Revealed
**NPR's Marketplace Airs Series on Childhood Obesity
**California Childhood Obesity Prevention Act Ready for Governor's Signature

FOCUS ON THE STATES
**State-by-State News

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PRIVACY POLICY


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NEW ON CONNECTFORKIDS.ORG

**Kids & Politics
September is here--and the political climate is heating up. Starting today, through Election Day 2004, Kids and Politics, a Connect for Kids special project, will track the issues that matter most for kids and families and link you to resources for taking action, nationally and in your state.
http://www.kidsandpolitics.org

**Shakin' It Up
The Richter Scale isn't just for measuring earthquakes anymore. Connect for Kids' Jan Richter is launching her new web blog, The Richter Scale, to share her perspective on the political landscape for America's kids and families throughout this election season.
http://www.kidsandpolitics.org/richterScale.htm

**Boxers or Briefs?
Imagine yourself face-to-face with one of the Democratic presidential candidates. What questions would you ask to get a sense of where he or she stands on the issues that really matter for children? Our Kids & Politics project has some suggestions--take a look at the Questions for Candidates and What's at Stake? sections. Feel free to report candidates' responses back to us.
http://www.kidsandpolitics.org/childcare_q.htm


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KIDS AND POLITICS

**Senate Passes its Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations
On September 10, the Senate passed its Labor--HHS Education bill, the largest of the domestic appropriations bills, with funding that covers many services for children and families -- including Head Start, child care assistance, after-school programs, and funds for low-income schools, students with disabilities, and college tuition assistance for low-income students. The Coalition on Human Needs summarizes the highlights of both the House and Senate versions, and the key areas of controversy for conference committee negotiations.
http://www.chn.org/issues/article.asp?art=1674

Child advocates take note: the Senate rejected Senator Dodd's (D-CT) amendment to increase Head Start funding by $500 million above the Committee-approved level, which provided only a cost-of-living increase of $148 million. A record of the votes is available online. http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00333

**Senate Finance Committee Passes TANF Reauthorization
On September 10, in a party-line vote, the Senate Finance Committee approved its bill to reauthorize Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It is unclear how quickly the full Senate will take up the TANF bill. The Center for Community Change has a summary of the committee's bill and amendments that were approved and rejected. The good news is in the Parents as Scholars, child support and pre-sanction review provisions. The bad news is the paltry childcare funding.
http://www.communitychange.org/pubpolicy/tanfmarksumm.htm

**Analysts Say Child Care Funding is Way Short in TANF Bill
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says the Senate Finance Committee's decision to increase childcare funding by $1 billion for the next five years will lead to 430,000 children losing child care subsidies by 2008. States' flexibility is also restricted by tighter work requirements that increase recipients' required work hours, but limit the vocational training and activities that states can count toward these requirements -- including disability, substance abuse and literacy services.
http://www.centeronbudget.org/9-9-03tanf.htm

**Senator Snowe Announces Fight for Better Childcare Funding on Senate Floor
Senator Snowe (R-ME) will offer a Senate amendment to the TANF bill that increases mandatory child care funding by $5 to $6 billion. "There should be no question that additional mandatory child care funding should be and will be part of this reauthorization effort. And, I am committed to adding significant additional mandatory child care funding once we reach the floor and will offset that amendment to ensure that we do not bust the budget," Snowe said. "The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the low end of the work and child care related costs of this proposal is at least $1 billion. And I happen to believe that we need to do much more than just cover costs. There should be no question that the inability to access affordable, quality child care is a barrier to employment and the financial self-sufficiency that comes with it."
http://www.senate.gov/~snowe/pressap/record.cfm?id=211034

**Administration Pushing Block Grants for Social Programs
From housing assistance vouchers to Head Start, block grant proposals would shift federal authority to the states, but current Bush administration block grant proposals would not ensure enough funding for states to sustain current standards and levels of services. States may find themselves in the position of having more accountability but fewer resources -- a troubling prospect especially at a time of rising needs and record-breaking state budget shortfalls.

The Coalition on Human Needs has summarized the current proposals, where they stand, and the expected impact if approved on families, states, and communities.
http://www.chn.org/pdf/blockgrantchart.pdf

**Child Tax Credit
Provisions regarding a refundable child tax credit were among the provisions in the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that were designed to help low-wage families. The Finance Project summarizes these complicated laws, and reminds us that the amendment to allow minimum-wage families to benefit from a refundable child tax credit is still awaiting action in Congress. A conference committee has yet to meet to reconcile the differing bills approved by the House and Senate.
http://www.financeprojectinfo.org/MWW/childtaxcredit.asp

**Child Welfare: Enhanced Federal Oversight of Title IV-B Could Provide States Additional Information to Improve Services
Under Title IV-B, the federal government funds services to help preserve and reunify families. But, according to the General Accounting Office, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) does not provide the necessary oversight to study how investments in certain types of services affect outcomes for children and to help states identify the service needs of children and families.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03956.pdf

The GAO offers highlights of Title IV-B online.
http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d03956high.pdf


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DRINKING: GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT PREVENTION

**Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility
Underage alcohol use is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, unsafe sex, suicide, educational failure, and other behaviors dangerous to teens and others. Yet the media continues to make drinking look attractive to youth, and many teens find it possible and even easy to get access to alcohol. This joint report by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine proposes a comprehensive strategy to curb underage drinking, a problem that costs the nation an estimated $53 billion annually.
http://www.national-academies.org/topnews#tn0909


**Underage Drinking: A Major Public Health Challenge
This Alcohol Alert describes some of the most harmful consequences of underage drinking as well as prevention and treatment approaches that can meet the unique needs of this age group.
http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa59.htm

**Advice for College Students
Not sure whether you have a drinking problem? This booklet for college students can help -- it provides information and advice on how to limit or stop your alcohol consumption.
http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/facts/cutdrinking.aspx


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SAFETY ON THE INTERNET

**NetSafeKids
This National Academy of Sciences Web site offers practical information and tips for keeping kids safe online -- including sources of sexually explicit content, ways that inappropriate material can reach children and teens, cyberstalking, and the pros and cons of filtering.
http://www.netsafekids.org

**"We're Here - Because They're Out There"
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is mounting a public service campaign to better prevent, identify and respond to the sexual exploitation of children by calling on readers to report these crimes or seek help through the CyberTipline (1-800-843-5678).
http://www.cybertipline.com


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GETTING THE MERCURY OUT

**Caught in the Middle: Report Card on New England Mercury Elimination Efforts
An estimated one in ten women is at risk of delivering an infant with neurological problems due to prenatal exposure to mercury. In 1998, the New England Governors made a commitment to reducing mercury emissions in their region. The New England Zero Mercury Campaign reports their coordinated efforts have led to a 55 percent reduction in mercury emissions so far. But continued success will require hard work and strong political will to counter pressures from industry and budget cuts for pollution prevention measures and public education efforts. In addition, many New Englanders continue to eat mercury-contaminated fish unaware of the potential danger. Do you know the difference between "light" and "white" albacore?
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19797

**Mother Jones Charges Bush Administration with Dragging Feet
Mother Jones magazine charges that calls for the regulation of mercury produced by coal-burning power plants have fallen on deaf ears in the Bush administration.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2003/29/we_479_04.html#three


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EDUCATION -- THE BEST WAY TO KEEP WORKERS COMPETITIVE

**Child Poverty and Parental Education Fact Sheet
Nearly two-thirds of low-income children have parents without any college education, according to the new National Center on Children in Poverty fact sheet on the effects of parental education on income.
http://www.nccp.org/pub_pei03.html

**Standards for What? The Economic Roots of K-16 Reform
Today's economy demands workers with skills beyond a high school education. The Education Testing Services says that failure to connect disadvantaged students with needed training not only keeps them from securing a good job, but also is a missed opportunity to sustain economic growth and to move toward equal opportunity for all. Just adding years after high school is not enough, however -- students need more choices and opportunity for both work and learning. School reform efforts must take on the difficult task of aligning standards and learning with the requirements of the future workplace.
http://www.ets.org/research/dload/standards_for_what.pdf

**Girls Go Tech
Women represent 46 percent of the total workforce, but only 25 percent of the IT workforce, and just 10 percent of the nation's top technology jobs. Girl Scouts is working to educate the public and policymakers on what it takes to keep the doors open to science and technology careers for girls, who typically lose interest in science and math by age 12.
http://www.girlscouts.org/girlsgotech/adcouncil.html


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GETTING YOUNG CHILDREN READY FOR SCHOOL

**Head Start: Curriculum Use and Individual Child Assessment in Cognitive and Language Development.
In its review of local Head Start programs' curricula, mentoring, and individual child assessments, the GAO finds that most Head Start programs met their performance standards for overall curriculum and cognitive and language development.
Almost 90 percent of Head Start children received individual assessments in cognitive and language development.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-1049


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WORK IS NO HEDGE AGAINST HARDSHIP FOR LOW-WAGE FAMILIES

**Living at the Edge: Low-Income and Hardship Among America's Kindergartners
12 million children live below the official poverty threshold of $18,400 for a family of four -- but 27 million more, or 40 percent of all America's children, live in low-income families with incomes under $36,800, which is what most families of four need to meet basic needs. The National Center for Children in Poverty reports that low-wage work is no hedge against hardship, especially for young children. Among 5-year-olds in low-income families, one in eight have moved three times or more in the last year, almost one in five have not been to a dentist and eight percent lack health insurance. While most children in the United States rarely go without meals, children in low-income families frequently do not get the nutrition they need, and one in ten live in families reporting difficulties in buying enough food.
http://www.nccp.org/media/lat03c-text.pdf

**Out of Reach 2003
Rising rental costs have outstripped wage increases and little or no new affordable housing is being built. The result: millions of American families cannot afford safe and decent rental housing. Many are living in substandard conditions, are homeless, or are forced to do without health care, child care, or other basic necessities. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition offers a side-by-side comparison of wages and rents in every U.S. county, metropolitan area and state, documenting a dramatic 37 percent jump in the hourly wage necessary to meet fair market rent increases from 1999 to 3003...
http://www.nlihc.org


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SCHOOL IMPROVEMENTS

**Bully Prevention is Crime Prevention
Three out of ten children is either a bully or a victim of bullying, or both. Bullying is not just sad, it's dangerous. Bullying is linked with later crime, violence and suicide. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids identifies programs that have cut bullying by as much as half -- including programs that engages parents and teachers to watch for and intervene when bullying takes place, and those that reward coping and problem-solving strategies for children as young as two. The report notes that common strategies -- peer mediation, telling victims to "stand up to bullies," and zero tolerance policies that suspend bullies -- are not effective.
http://www.fightcrime.org

**Making Sense of Leading Schools: A Study of the School Principalship
A principal's job description may read like a jack-of-all-trades, but this Center on Reinventing Public Education survey of real principals finds that there are many different styles and skills that can result in effective school leadership and management. The key is not a rigid job description, but a good match between the principal's strengths and the school's needs.
http://www.crpe.org/pubs/introMakingSensePortin.shtml


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RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITY BUILDING

**Postcards for Recruiting Mentors
January 2004 is National Mentoring Month. To celebrate, the National Mentoring Center has designed a mentor recruitment postcard that local programs can give to their existing mentors to pass on to people they feel would make good mentors. The site also has tips for making your mentor recruitment campaign a success.
http://www.nwrel.org/mentoring/postcard.html


**NLC Organizing Guide for Little Kids, Big Plans Week in October
During the week of October 19-15, 2003, local officials nationwide will convene a variety of community forums focused on early childhood. These events offer will raise awareness about the importance of early childhood development, celebrate existing programs, or launch new initiatives to improve outcomes for young children. Get a guide to help your community get involved!
http://www.nlc.org/nlc_org/site/programs/institute_for_youth_education_and_families/index.cfm


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BEATING OBESITY

**CSPI To Release "Best Snacks, Worst Snacks"
The Center for Science in the Public Interest's School Foods Tool Kit is a manual for parents and educators. It includes a list of the best and worst snacks for vending machines, along with success stories on how schools officials and parents have improved school foods without losing revenue.
http://www.cspinet.org/schoolfoods

**The Hidden Fat Revealed
Scientists have known for a while of the dangers of trans-fatty acids from fast food and baked goods with partially hydrogenated oil as an ingredient. The Washington Post looks at the process of regulating food labeling to inform consumers. (September 10, 2003.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47139-2003Sep9.html

**NPR's Marketplace Airs Series on Childhood Obesity
National Public Radio's "Marketplace" aired a three part series on childhood obesity with segments on school lunch, physical activity and TV/movie marketing. (Scroll down for the childhood obesity segment.)
http://www.marketplace.org/morning_report/2003/09/02_mmr.html

**California Childhood Obesity Prevention Act Ready for Governor's Signature
The Childhood Obesity Prevention Act prohibits the sale in elementary schools of beverages, other than water, milk, 100 percent fruit juices, or fruit-based drinks that are composed of no less than 50 percent fruit juice and have no added sweeteners. Middle and junior high schools can sell some electrolyte replacement (sports) beverages. Approved by the state legislature, Governor Davis supporters say he will likely sign it into law. The text of the bill is online.
http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_0651-0700/sb_677_bill_20030828_enrolled.html


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FOCUS ON THE STATES

**State-by-State News

Alabama
The fall-out from last week's defeat of revising the tax code will be felt immediately, as Alabama's classrooms will likely not receive any state money to buy textbooks, library books or supplies. In it's September 12, 2003 article, "Richardson: No New Books, Fewer Teachers Expected Now," the Birmingham News reports that next year, 6,000 employees could lose their jobs.
http://www.ecs.org/html/offsite.asp?document=http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/106335822286250.xml

California
State legislators will consider six bills aimed at increasing the health insurance options for California's 6.7 million uninsured. The California Budget Project analyzes and compares the proposals in its "Legislature Considers Proposals to Cover the Uninsured" brief.
http://www.cbp.org/2003/bb030807LegUninsured.pdf

A new Los Angeles County Program will be providing free or low-cost services to all children under age 6, reports the Kaiser Network.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19819

District of Columbia
Want to be a child advocate in DC? DC Action for Children is hosting a workshop just for you! Or order your copy of "What's in it for Kids? FY 2004" for a new analysis of the ways the budget impacts children, youth and families in the District. For the workshop or the toolkit, e-mail your name, organization, address, and phone number to Susie Cambria at scambria@dckids.org

Florida
Children's Rights, Inc., is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Florida appeals court decision that bars abused or neglected children in state custody from having their day in federal court over overcrowding, inadequate supervision and other dangerous conditions while they are in Florida state care.
http://www.childrensrights.org/press_releases/09-04-03.htm

Maryland
The seventh annual Maryland Children's Action Network (MD CAN) Children's Agenda convention is being held September 18 to set priorities for action in 2004.
http://www.acy.org/calendar.shtml

New Hampshire
Following the example of its neighbor Maine, the state of New Hampshire, under Governor Craig Benson, is introducing a program to bring laptop computers to all 7th graders and teachers in up to five pilot schools.
http://www.state.nh.us/governor/pr09_02_03laptop.html

Pennsylvania
Across the United States, an estimated two million children ages 5 to 18 have a parent who is incarcerated in a federal or state prison or a local jail. This Public/Private Ventures evaluation traces the history and lessons learned from the Amachi project in Philadelphia, bringing together volunteers from local churches to mentor children of parents in prison.
http://ppv.org/content/faith1.html

Texas
School districts in Texas have a lot of flexibility in calculating the number of their students who drop out. They can use any one of about 30 "leaver" codes to explain a student's disappearance. About 20 of the codes, ranging from pursuit of a GED to imprisonment, exempt a student from being counted as a dropout, which, along with standardized test scores, is used to determine a district's annual accountability rating by the Texas Education Agency.
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=1051740

Virginia
In early September, Governor Warner outlined plans for a lifelong learning program to help students from pre-kindergarten to beyond high school and increase public schools' financial accountability. Many education experts say his emphasis on making the 12th grade a period of intense work toward college or a technical career and other features could be a model for other states.
http://loper.org/~george/archives/2003/Sep/982.html

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that even schools with high marks on Virginia's Standards of Learning tests have been deemed "failing" by No Child Left Behind measures.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/frontpage/MGB7XZLKHKD.html

Washington
The Children's Alliance Advocacy Camp will be held September 29 through October 1. Apply today.
http://www.childrensalliance.org/whatwedo/advocacy-camp.htm