Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

Connect for Kids Weekly - September 2, 2003

Sep 02, 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
**Second Chances
**Celebrate Families, Everyday!
**Cooking Up Community

CONNECT FOR YOUTH
**Youth Organizing
**The First Time: Characteristics of Teens' First Sexual Relationships
**Increasing Reading Skills Cuts Repeat Offenders
**Youth Service America Seeks Lead Organizations for National Youth Service Day 2004
**How Young People Express Their Political Views
**CLASP September 12 Audioconference on Higher Education

WELFARE REFORM AND REALITY
**Welfare-to-Work in a Weak Economy
**The Unprotected Recession: Record Number of Families Have No Work and No Welfare in 2001

BAD BUDGET OUTLOOK FOR KIDS
**The Budget and Economic Outlook, August 2003
**Truth and Transparency: The Federal Government's Financial Condition and Fiscal Outlook
**Cities Worry the Federal-State-Local Partnerships are Unraveling
**Are Policies that Assist Low-Income Workers Receiving Appropriate Priority?
**Deficit Picture Even Grimmer Than New CBO Projections Suggest
**Advocates' Toolkit: For an Economy that Works for All

ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP
**Environmentalists Oppose Roll-Back of Clean Air Protections
**Are Children Left Behind?: Children's Environmental Health under the Bush Administration

MORE TOOLS FOR ADVOCATES
**Supporting Early Childhood Initiatives: Legislative Strategies for Everyday People
**2003 Advocates' Guide to Housing and Community Development Policy

IMPROVING MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR KIDS
**Predicting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after Childhood Injuries
**Study Finds Medication Helps Major Depression in Children and Teens

INVOLVED PARENTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE
**No More Islands: Family Involvement in 27 School and Youth Programs
**12 Things Every Parent Should Know and Expect Of Their Child's Schools
**Improving Child Care Quality: A Comparison of Military and Civilian Approaches
**Closing the Educational Achievement Gap Campaign

EDUCATION
**Engaged Institutions: Impacting the Lives of Vulnerable Youth Through Place-Based Learning
**Teachers Spend More Time, Money on Work
**MindOH! E-Tools Help Students Calm Down
**E-Rate report

FOCUS ON THE STATES

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NEW ON CONNECTFORKIDS.ORG

**Second Chances
When the boundless optimism of a dog encounters the wary affection of a young man in a juvenile detention center, what happens? Nancy Hill reports on Project Pooch, an Oregon program that pairs young offenders with hard-to-place strays, to the benefit of both.
http://www.connectforkids.org/benton_topics1544/benton_topics_show.htm?doc_id=191976

**Celebrate Families, Everyday!
Want a heads-up on fun and interesting dates that are important for children and families? September 16th, for example, is Stepfamily Day! Celebrating Families is an online resource that has this and much more. Sign up for our free Celebrating Families e-alert for more information.
http://www.celebratingfamilies.org

**Cooking Up Community
Serious fundraising, long a private school specialty, is increasingly common in public schools as budget cuts threaten valued programs. A tireless fundraiser herself, Beyond the Bake Sale author Jean Joachim says that from auctions to bake sales to comedy shows, sustained fundraising efforts can help build a strong school community.
http://www.connectforkids.org/benton_topics1544/benton_topics_show.htm?doc_id=191977


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CONNECT FOR YOUTH

**Youth Organizing
Want to know the secrets to successful youth organizing? The Funders Collaborative on Youth Organizing offers a series of booklets on youth and community organizing, including recent trends, major issue areas (public school reform, criminal justice and environmental justice) and an annotated bibliography.
http://www.fcyo.org/resources.html

**The First Time: Characteristics of Teens' First Sexual Relationships
Teen births are at an all-time low, but almost half of school-age teens report they have had sexual intercourse. Child Trends reports that most teens describe their relationship with their first sexual partner as romantic, not a fling, and the majority say they discuss contraception before sex. Yet, an alarming number experience some kind of physical or verbal abuse. Many, especially younger teens and Hispanics, do not use contraception consistently; a fifth of all teens failed to use contraception in their first sexual relationship.
http://www.childtrends.org/n_firsttime80503.asp

**Increasing Reading Skills Cuts Repeat Offenders
If a juvenile offender can't read, maybe his sentence should include a "reading intervention." A Florida judge is urging a reading program for jailed youth to break the cycle of crime.
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/073103/met_13159809.shtml

**Youth Service America Seeks Lead Organizations for National Youth Service Day 2004
Your organization can apply to be a lead agency for the 16th Annual National Youth Service Day -- April 16th-18th, 2004 -- and receive a $2,000 grant, media exposure, outreach, and year-round service planning support. The deadline to apply is October 15, 2003.
http://www.ysa.org/nysd/nysd_involvement_parent.cfm

**How Young People Express Their Political Views
Few young Americans engage in traditional civic involvement, but they are active in other ways. According to this Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement fact sheet, young Americans were roughly twice as likely to say they had taken the time and effort to run, walk or cycle for a cause than they were to have written a simple letter to the editor. Authors speculate the difference may be in the sense of efficacy -- in mass activities, participants are in large groups of like-minded people where they can see themselves making a difference.
http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/expressviews.pdf

**CLASP September 12 Audioconference on Higher Education
Will the federal student aid system be updated to reflect the needs of the new majority on college campuses: nontraditional students who are older, have children, are working, or are ethnic or racial minorities? How could the system better meet the occupational goals and financial realities of working families??”especially as public programs have shifted to a work-first philosophy? The Center on Law and Social Policy is hosting an audioconference on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, September 12, 12:30-1:30 pm (ET)
http://www.claspstore.org/AudioConference/2003/2003AudioConferenceBrochure.htm


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WELFARE REFORM AND REALITY

**Welfare-to-Work in a Weak Economy
Welfare reauthorization is on the table as Congress returns. Reviewing what we've learned from the 2002 data of the Urban Institute's "Snapshots of American Families," researcher Sheila Zedlewski says the facts offer a reality check for lawmakers -- countering false assumptions that jobs are easy to find, a one-size-fits-all approach can work, and all low-wage parents are able to work a 40-hour week.
http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=900648

**The Unprotected Recession: Record Number of Families Have No Work and No Welfare in 2001
How do struggling families manage in a welfare-to-work system when jobs disappear? Badly, reports the Children's Defense Fund (CDF). In the late 1990's, when the economy was booming, more than a million parents moved from welfare to work, with the help of work supports like child care assistance. But when welfare's strict emphasis on work collided with widespread job losses and severe cutbacks in state services, help for thousands of the nation's most vulnerable families vanished, leaving them jobless and struggling to meet their children's basic needs. According to CDF, 2001 data show a steep increase in the worst of child poverty rates coinciding with the largest one-year jump in female-headed families with children who were without work or welfare -- and the early figures for 2002 don't look better.
http://www.childrensdefense.org/pdf/no_work_no_welfare.pdf


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BAD BUDGET OUTLOOK FOR KIDS

**The Budget and Economic Outlook, August 2003
Factoring in the 2003 tax cut package and emergency defense spending, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) now estimates the federal government will incur deficits of $401 billion in 2003 and $480 billion in 2004. CBO warns that a projected surplus in the later years of the decade could turn out to be a steep deficit if the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are renewed after they expire. As the baby-boom generation retires, spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will rise sharply, which could lead to unsustainable levels of national debt. The CBO also had bad news about jobs, estimating that the official unemployment rate will average 6.2 percent for calendar years 2003 and 2004 -- partly because of expected caution on the part of employers and displaced workers resuming more active job searches as the economy picks up.
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=4493&sequence=0

**Truth and Transparency: The Federal Government's Financial Condition and Fiscal Outlook
It is not just liberals who are worried about the where the federal deficit is headed. David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), has announced a major speech for September 17. Advance billing says: "our nation??™s long-term fiscal outlook is seriously out of balance due primarily to known demographic and health care costs. At the same time, there are a variety of government policies, programs and operations...that serve to build in costs for the future." Walker urges all Americans to speak up about what they want government to do, and how much they are willing to pay for it, and calls on Congress and the Administration to remember their obligations to future generations of Americans. The talk is not available yet, but you can look at charts that show the trajectory of deficits from a recent presentation on government accountability. (Keep clicking on the "next" button to get to the charts.)
http://www.gao.gov/cghome/agachicago/img1.html

**Cities Worry the Federal-State-Local Partnerships are Unraveling
City leaders, who see the consequences of federal cut-backs in their neighborhoods, are concerned that a weaker federal role, current proposals to convert federal programs to block grants, unfunded federal mandates and record federal and state budget deficits threaten local programs and the people they serve.
http://www.nlc.org/nlc_org/site/newsroom/nations_cities_weekly/display.cfm?id=55631276-D2F8-48A7-A4D6BA6BE1C060EC

**Are Policies that Assist Low-Income Workers Receiving Appropriate Priority?
Despite the rhetoric about helping struggling families, Congress has largely ignored low-income families in 2003, reports the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and decisions pending this fall could make things worse by reducing child care and housing assistance. The Center identifies specific, and modest, steps Congress could yet take in unemployment insurance, health care policy, child care funding and housing assistance to improve the economy and conditions for the low-wage workforce.
http://www.cbpp.org/8-29-03tax.htm

**Deficit Picture Even Grimmer Than New CBO Projections Suggest
The CBO must by law base its analysis on current law. Using the same figures -- but factoring in assumptions of what lawmakers are likely to actually do with tax cuts and spending -- the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities warns deficits could total $5.1 trillion over the next 10 years. Instead of putting our finances in order before the baby boomers retire, we are headed deeper into debt, primarily due to tax cut decisions. If Congress rules out restoring taxes and keeps spending at current levels in Social Security, Medicare, defense and homeland security, balancing the budget by 2008 would require cutting all remaining federal programs by 41 percent. That means unsustainable cuts in critical programs, including education, law enforcement, transportation and infrastructure, unemployment compensation, child care, school lunch, food stamps and children's health programs.
http://www.centeronbudget.org/8-26-03bud.htm

**Deficit Picture Even Grimmer Than New CBO Projections Suggest
The CBO must by law base its analysis on current law. Using the same figures -- but factoring in assumptions of what lawmakers are likely to actually do with tax cuts and spending -- the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities warns deficits could total $5.1 trillion over the next 10 years. Instead of putting our finances in order before the baby boomers retire, we are headed deeper into debt, primarily due to tax cut decisions. If Congress rules out restoring taxes and keeps spending at current levels in Social Security, Medicare, defense and homeland security, balancing the budget by 2008 would require cutting all remaining federal programs by 41 percent. That means unsustainable cuts in critical programs, including education, law enforcement, transportation and infrastructure, unemployment compensation, child care, school lunch, food stamps and children's health programs.
http://www.centeronbudget.org/8-26-03bud.htm

**Advocates' Toolkit: For an Economy that Works for All
"Today's ??˜Grab and Go' economy is undermining our country and threatening the future of our children." "Some people think that short-term profits are mort important than long-term gain." These are some of the messages from this Douglas Gould and Co. toolkit to help advocates make a stronger case for better job training for workers, improved access to early care and learning, better working conditions for the low-wage workforce so workers can take care of family responsibilities without jeopardizing their jobs and other policies that help make the economy work for everyone.
.http://www.economythatworks.org/toolkit.htm


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ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP

**Environmentalists Oppose Roll-Back of Clean Air Protections
The American Lung Association and others say the new rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency on August 27 would roll back key provisions of the Clean Air Act, charging that the rule is the latest in a series of steps that undermine large parts of the most effective environmental law in the United States.
http://www.lungusa.org/press/envir/air_082703jlk.html

**Are Children Left Behind?: Children's Environmental Health under the Bush Administration
Protecting children from environmental hazards may soon be a topic at the Senate hearings to approve Governor Leavitt as the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency. The Children's Environmental Health Network reports that, with some notable exceptions like an EPA proposal to limit diesel-related pollution from off-road diesel engines and proposed improvements to the cancer risk assessment process, the Bush administration's environmental decisions have reduced protections for children's health in favor of boosting protections for business interests. (Released May 8, 2003.)
http://www.cehn.org


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MORE TOOLS FOR ADVOCATES

**Supporting Early Childhood Initiatives: Legislative Strategies for Everyday People
Most of us may feel inclined to leave it to the "other guy" when it comes to encouraging lawmakers to invest in high-quality supports and services for young children and their families. But now there's no excuse. This Finance Project guidebook has practical tips and lessons for working with policymakers to get things rolling.
http://www.financeprojectinfo.org/Publications/LegislativeStrategies.pdf

**2003 Advocates' Guide to Housing and Community Development Policy
Housing takes a huge chunk of the family budget, especially for low and moderate-income parents -- and a safe neighborhood with job opportunities makes a big difference for families. It's not always easy to understand the different federal programs that help families and communities improve their housing options and their neighborhoods. This National Low-Income Housing Coalition toolkit can help.
http://www.nlihc.org/advocates/index.htm


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IMPROVING MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR KIDS

**Predicting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after Childhood Injuries
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has developed a simple screening tool to help doctors predict the likelihood of a child or parent developing persistent Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after a child's injury. (The abstract is free.)
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/290/5/643

**Study Finds Medication Helps Major Depression in Children and Teens
In the largest positive psychopharmacological study of pediatric Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), reported in the August 27 Journal of the American Medical Association, the antidepressant sertraline (marketed to adults as Zoloft) was found to be more effective than the placebo. The study is the first to find significant differences between the effects of a placebo and tricyclic antidepressants in children.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/290/8/1033


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INVOLVED PARENTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE

**No More Islands: Family Involvement in 27 School and Youth Programs
Many people figure that teen programs cannot, or should not, involve parents, but this review of evaluation research by the American Youth Policy Form finds that involving adolescents' families can boost success of youth programs. Learn more about effective parent involvement approaches like Beacons New York and Chicago's Child-Parent Center program.
http://www.aypf.org/pressreleases/pr22.htm

**12 Things Every Parent Should Know and Expect Of Their Child's Schools
Under the No Child Left Behind act, parents have more power than they ever had. This Parent Leadership Associates toolkit is designed to help them make the most of it -- as teachers, supporters, advocates and decision-makers in their children's schools. Among the recommendations is asking schools important questions, including: how do you know our children are safe? What will the school do to help if your child is falling behind? What does it take to apply for college, and what options are there to help you? Cost: $15
http://www.plassociates.org/publications.html#nclb

**Improving Child Care Quality: A Comparison of Military and Civilian Approaches
For many working parents, high-quality child care can be unaffordable and hard to find -- but not for parents in the military, which many agree has designed and implemented a model child care system. This Urban Institute overview notes four principles that guided the military to success: viewing child care as a fundamental workforce issue, establishing and enforcing quality standards, training the childcare workforce as professionals, and providing for shared costs between parents and employers.
http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=410825

**Closing the Educational Achievement Gap Campaign
The U.S. Department of Education launched a radio public service campaign to encourage parents in African-American communities to take advantage of new measures in the No Child Left Behind Act to help their kids succeed, including free tutoring or extra help.
http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/08-2003/08262003.html


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EDUCATION

**Engaged Institutions: Impacting the Lives of Vulnerable Youth Through Place-Based Learning
The Rural School Community Trust reports that a partnership between a local community college and disadvantaged rural schools can improve student engagement and learning, especially in place-based learning that connects students with the unique histories and characteristics of their own communities. Examples are drawn from Lubec, Maine, Appalachian Virginia and Kentucky, the Mississippi Delta, the Navajo Reservation, Sangre de Cristo in New Mexico and the state of Missouri.
http://www.ruraledu.org/docs/kellogg/kellogg.pdf


Connect for Kids profiled one school's approach to place-based education in the article, "A High-Tech History Lesson," published in March 2003.
http://www.connectforkids.org/resources3139/resources_show.htm?doc_id=153647

**Teachers Spend More Time, Money on Work
The teaching workforce is becoming increasingly female and white, according to the 2003 annual National Education Association survey of the teaching workforce. Minority, male and young teachers were most likely to cite low pay as their reason for leaving teaching before retirement. Among the key findings: teachers spend an average of 50 hours a week on the job, and an average $443 of their own money to cover classroom needs.
http://www.nea.org/newsreleases/2003/nr030827.html

**MindOH! E-Tools Help Students Calm Down
MindOH! offers e-modules on discipline and life skills, activity sheets, lesson plans and interactive tools to help students involved in a disciplinary process take more responsibility for their actions, tell their side of the story more effectively and manage their emotions more adaptively. A two-year study in Houston (conducted by the creators of MindOH!) found the approach had positive outcomes.
http://www.mindoh.com/programeval.asp

**E-Rate report
The E-Rate program helps libraries and schools pay for Internet access. When it was in its beginnings, a survey found that it increased involvement in and opportunities for learning, boosted parental involvement in children's education, spurred use of the Internet in communities across America, and fostered new partnerships to bring technology to communities. Much of this remains true -- and during these tough economic times, the E-rate has become a lifeline for schools and libraries, helping them maintain services and give people much-needed technology skills.
http://www.edlinc.org/pdf/ErateReport070803.pdf


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FOCUS ON THE STATES

**Governors Support Shifting Coverage of "Dual Eligibles" to Feds
The Medicare prescription drug bill being negotiated in Congress focuses mainly on benefits for the elderly, but it may have big implications for families who rely on Medicaid, the other big health program. The National Governors Association finds that States would need another $100 billion over 10 years if the federal government does not pick up the costs of extending drug coverage to six million "dual eligibles" -- elderly people eligible both for Medicaid and Medicare. With state Medicaid costs already a strain on their budgets, requiring states to cover the added drug costs of dual eligibles could force cuts in other state programs.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19414

** Education Funding Draws New Lawsuits, Ballot Initiatives
Education funding is always a hot issue, primarily because it's the biggest chunk of a state budget. Stateline.org reports that at least 18 states are mired in legal challenges over the way they fund education, and more litigation is in the offing in North Dakota, Missouri, Nebraska and Kentucky. Voters in at least three states -- Arkansas, Maine and New Mexico -- are slated to go to the polls to consider changing the way their states pay for education. (The dateline for this article is August 20, 2003.)
http://www.stateline.org/story.do?storyId=321271

**Underlying State Revenue Picture Remains Bleak
If you want to see why states are having trouble paying for school supplies and health care services, take a look at the first chart in this Rockefeller Institute report. In a nutshell, the report says that while recent revenue increases are helping states weather the fiscal crisis that came when revenues crashed in FY2002, the outlook is still bleak.
http://www.rockinst.org/publications/fiscal_studies/SFN_3-6.pdf

**NCLB Reports on Schools in Need of Improvement Still Rolling In
States are releasing data required by the new No Child Left Behind law to report on schools needing improvement. The Education Commission of the States is listing the media coverage as it unfolds for each state.
http://www.ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/newsmedia/e-clips.asp

**State-by-State News



Alabama
The rest of the nation will be watching when Alabamans vote on a new tax code on September 9. Conservative, anti-tax Republican Bob Riley is campaigning to restructure the tax burden so that the state's big timber and agricultural interests, who have benefited from the low land taxes and cheap labor, pay more taxes to give public schools the resources they need to produce a 21st century workforce and bring Alabama into the modern economy. (See the July 29, 2003 article, "Alabama governor calls tax hike Christian duty.")
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-07-29-alabama-tax-hike_x.htm

Florida
The Brookings report, "Economic and Racial Segregation in Greater Miami's Elementary Schools" finds that high poverty and segregation rates in central Miami are stabilizing, but dramatic changes are taking place in inner suburban communities that must address growing need with dwindling fiscal resources.
http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/publications/200308_orfield.htm

Illinois
Illinois Voices for Children reports that Mayor Daley has announced a sweeping strategy to improve child health and make high-quality early learning available to thousands of children. Plans call for adding and expanding programs in order to improve children's educational outcomes.
http://www.voices4kids.org/actionalert.htm

Kentucky
When Kentucky voters choose their next governor in November, they will be choosing someone who will have the power to help families become financially stable, improve health care and safety for children and foster early childhood and youth development. This Kentucky Advocates for Youth briefing paper explains what's at stake.
http://www.kyyouth.org/wn.htm

Maine
Maine residents with annual incomes of under $35,000 pay larger shares of their total income in state and local taxes than do those with incomes over $96,000, reports Maine Children's Alliance in "Maine State Tax System Not Working Fairly for All."
http://www.mainechildrensalliance.org/am/publish/article_137.shtml

Maryland
The fight over how to fund Maryland's public schools is heating up between Governor Ehrlich (R) and Speaker of the House Michael Busch (D). Placing all his bets for revenue on his slot machine proposal, Governor Ehrlich says no tax changes, but Busch says the schools cannot afford tax cuts. (See the August 24, 2003 article, "Ehrlich, Busch Likely to Take Slots Issue for Another Spin.")
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20181-2003Aug20.html

Michigan
In response to the June 2003 Supreme Court decision banning the use of an automatic point system for minority status in undergraduate admissions, the University of Michigan has announced it will begin requiring two new essays which give applicants the opportunity to discuss cultural diversity. (See the August 28, 2003 article, "New University of Michigan policy still considers race.")
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2003-08-28-michigan-admissions_x.htm

Minnesota
In its 2003 legislative scorecard, Children's Defense Fund-Minnesota reports that when state leaders opted for no tax increases and drastic spending cuts to balance the state budget, they did not serve children well.
http://www.cdfactioncouncil.org/minnesota_legislative_scorecard_2003.pdf

New Mexico
School administrators, teachers and health professionals today encounter a multitude of student health issues -- from asthma and bullying to obesity and unprotected sex. Where's a teacher to turn to find help for students? This "Navigational Guide for Teachers" has advice on how to get information on local school- and community-based services, including phone numbers and Web links.
http://hsc.unm.edu/chpdp

Oregon
Many schools are opening their doors this fall with leaner budgets, but in Oregon and Pennsylvania, they don't even know what their exact budget will be, Stateline.org reports. If proposed tax increases fail in either state, school budgets will be directly affected.
http://www.stateline.org/story.do?storyId=322267

Pennsylvania
Students in the 21 schools that the Philadelphia school district overhauled and gave extra support outscored both charter schools and those operated by private managers on state reading and math tests, according to the district's analysis. (See the August 21, 2003 article, "'Restructured' schools shine on tests.")
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/local/6581701.htm


Many schools are opening their doors this fall with leaner budgets, but in Oregon and Pennsylvania, they don't even know what their exact budget will be, Stateline.org reports. If proposed tax increases fail in either state, school budgets will be directly affected.
http://www.stateline.org/story.do?storyId=322267

Washington
The mental health of parents and their children are interconnected, and are in turn affected by financial health of the family, reports Washington Kids Count in "Family Matters: Mental Health in Kids and Parents."
http://hspc.org/wkc/press_releases/family_matters_2003.html