Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

CFK Weekly September 7, 2004

Sep 08, 2004

Connect for Kids.org: Better Policies for Kids

September 7, 2004

Please send any comments or suggestions to jan@connectforkids.org.

Table of Contents. Click on heading to jump to that section.

NEW ON CONNECTFORKIDS.ORG
**Removing the Bully Factor
**Children?’s PressLine Joins CFK for TalkTime Live!
**Tools for Coping in a Post-9/11 World

MORE JOBS OR BETTER JOBS?
**New Jobs Report for August
**The Richter Scale
**Struggling to Make Ends Meet: Low-Wage Work in America
**Corporate Profits Enjoy Large Gains, Workers Lag Behind
**A Comparison of Wages and Work Supports in 10 Communities

CHALLENGES TO HEALTH COVERAGE
**Small Businesses Seek Solutions to Rising Health Insurance Premiums
**Linking the Child Care and Health Care Systems

A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT
**Air Pollution and Children?’s Health

THE POWER OF THE MEDIA
**Children?’s TV Rules to Change
**Watching Sex on Television Predicts Adolescent Initiation of Sexual Behavior

STUDENT GAINS, PERSISTING GAPS
**SAT Scores Hold Steady for College-Bound Seniors
**A New Look at the Hispanic-White Achievement Gap

KIDS AND POLITICS
**Back to Work in Congress
**September 9: National Call-In Day to Keep the Ban on Assault Weapons
**Federal Funds Needed to Protect SCHIP Enrollments

IMPROVING FAMILY WELL-BEING
**Would Poor Couples With Children Be Better Off Economically If They Married?
**Struggles in the South: Family and Child Well-Being
**An Update on Urban Hardship
**Well-Being in Early Adulthood: The Importance of Education
**Puberty and the Onset of Substance Use and Abuse
**Addressing Children?’s Emotional Needs
**After School for All
**A Return to Orphanages?

A SECOND CHANCE
**Integrating Youth Development and Education on Behalf of Vulnerable Youth
**Second Chance Act Could Help Inmates Make It on the Outside

INFORMATION FOR PARENTS
**Sugar-Sweetened Drinks, Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes
**The Effect of Corporal Punishment on Antisocial Behavior in Children
**Children?’s Vision

SPOTLIGHT ON EARLY LEARNING
**Heads Up: Report Card on Early Childhood Development

THINGS TO DO! PLACES TO GO!
**Youth Advocacy Day
**Dads and Daughters Holds Children and Advertising Event
**September 28 Conference Call on NLC Action Kit for Re-engaging Youth
**Chapin Hall Conference on Youth Transitions to Adulthood
**Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conference Makes Good Use of Internet
**Second Harvest Holding Anti-Hunger Town Halls
**National Mobilization for Great Public Schools

JOB OPPORTUNITIES
**Casey Family Programs Seeks Community Organizers
**Docs for Tots
**National League of Cities Seeks Policy/Program Analyst

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

SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE


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NEW ON CONNECTFORKIDS.ORG

**Removing the Bully Factor
As the new school year begins, many kids are going to demand attention?—literally. Some are going to intentionally harm their peers to get what they want. What makes a child become a bully in the first place? How can it be prevented? Robert Capriccioso and Abigail Holt look for answers.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Children?’s PressLine Joins CFK for TalkTime Live!
Participate in a TalkTime Live! online chat at www.connectforkids.org on Wednesday, September 8, from 1 to 2 PM EDT. Our special guests will be four young reporters from the Children's PressLine news organization who covered the Democratic and Republican conventions for Connect for Kids this year.
These sharp-eyed reporters have a unique perspective on conventions, journalism, and politics in general. Submit your pre-questions for them to susan@connectforkids.org, and spread the word to anyone you think might like to weigh in on youth journalism and politics.


**Tools for Coping in a Post-9/11 World
It's been three years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, but the moment remains with us all ?– even more so in this political season. While most kids may be coping well with their changed world, anniversaries can trigger a return to difficult emotions. Connect for Kids has some resources to help.
http://www.connectforkids.org

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MORE JOBS OR BETTER JOBS?

**New Jobs Report for August
In a civilian workforce of about 147.7 million people, the non-farm payroll employment rose by 144,000 in August, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The jobless rate for teenagers remained at 17 percent, and was unchanged for most other demographic groups as well. The job growth occurred in several service-providing industries.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

**The Richter Scale
Millions of parents who work for a living find it hard to provide for their families. In her Labor Day blog, Connect for Kids?’ Jan Richter notes that with most of the growth in new jobs is in low-paying jobs, some politicians and analysts are paying more attention to turning poor jobs into good jobs.
http://www.kidsandpolitics.org

**Struggling to Make Ends Meet: Low-Wage Work in America
Between 2002 and 2012, the Labor Department expects the economy to create more than 7.5 million new jobs ?– but almost 6 million of these will be low-wage jobs. The majority of low-wage workers (earning less than $11/hour) is white, over 30, supporting families, and has no health care coverage, paid sick leave or retirement benefits. A new public opinion poll from the nonpartisan Corporate Voices for Working Families finds that more Americans -- low- and high-wage workers alike -- are paying attention to conditions, and feel government and businesses are doing too little to support low-wage working families. Politicians take note: ?“swing voters?” express more concern than decided voters, and greater conviction that more should be done. (See: In The News.)
http://www.CorporateVoices.org

**Corporate Profits Enjoy Large Gains, Workers Lag Behind
Workers have gotten a much smaller share of the benefits of the current economic recovery than in any other recovery since World War II, reports the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
http://www.cbpp.org/9-3-04ui.htm

**A Comparison of Wages and Work Supports in 10 Communities
Wider Opportunities for Women urges Congress to take concrete steps to ensure low-wage families can get by and get ahead -- including reauthorizing welfare reform, job training and workforce development programs in ways that expand training and education opportunities, increasing the minimum wage, and using a self-sufficiency standard to measure family well-being and determine programs that will boost economic growth and financial security.
http://wowonline.org/docs/dynamic-CTTA-42.pdf

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CHALLENGES TO HEALTH COVERAGE

**Small Businesses Seek Solutions to Rising Health Insurance Premiums
In a September 2 interview, the New York Times examined how some small business owners "have had to come up with innovative strategies to cope with double-digit increases in their health insurance premiums." The Kaiser Network has more detail, and a direct link.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=25453

**Linking the Child Care and Health Care Systems
Studies show that over time, children in poor families and African American and Latino children have less access to health care and worse health outcomes than middle-class or non-Hispanic white children. Public Private Ventures explores a number of strategies to use center-based child care to improve child development and health outcomes. Among them: training child care staff, providing a link to health services, and using the center to educate parents about healthy development and health coverage programs. The report suggests using local child care referral and resource agencies to boost the number of families who have access to health care services and referrals.
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/youth/youth_publications.asp?section_id=9#pub175

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A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT

**Air Pollution and Children?’s Health
The nation?’s first large-scale study of the effects of long-term exposure to outdoor air pollution in children found evidence that pollution reduces children?’s lung growth and function, and increases the incidence and severity of asthma. Kids who move out of high-pollution areas show improved lung function growth rates, indicating that small improvement in air quality can have immediate benefits.
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/chs/chs.htm

The Health and Health in Schools Center has links to organizations working to improve air quality in schools and neighborhoods.
http://www.healthinschools.org/sh/airsafe.asp

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THE POWER OF MEDIA

**Children?’s TV Rules to Change
This week, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to rule on public interest requirements for digital broadcasters. The Children?’s Media Policy Coalition says the new rules could do a better job of protecting educational and informational programming for kids, providing adequate information to parents, and re-tooling advertising rules and policies for the additional capacities of digital television.
http://www.benton.org/issues/obligations.html

**Watching Sex on Television Predicts Adolescent Initiation of Sexual Behavior
New research published in Pediatrics seems to indicate a link between viewing sexual content and teens?’ real-life behavior. Adolescents who viewed more sexual content were more likely to initiate intercourse and progress to more advanced non-coital sexual activities during the subsequent year than their counterparts who watched less sexual content on TV.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/114/3/e280

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STUDENT GAINS, PERSISTING GAPS

**SAT Scores Hold Steady for College-Bound Seniors
The number of high school SAT-takers in 2004 rose to an all-time high. After the pencils were down (or computers logged off), the recent trend of flat or falling verbal scores was replaced with a one-point gain in average scores. Hispanic and American Indian test-takers made significant improvements, and the longer-term view shows gains by Asian Americans, Puerto Ricans and American Indians. Still, persistent gaps among ethnic groups remain.
http://www.collegeboard.com/press/article/0,,37478,00.html

**A New Look at the Hispanic-White Achievement Gap
Closing the achievement gap will require addressing a range of social, economic and educational disparities that put Hispanic kids at a competitive disadvantage from the time they enter school, the latest Progress of Education Reform finds. The issue focuses on what current research says about Hispanic educational achievement.
http://www.ecs.org/00CN2099

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KIDS AND POLITICS

**Back to Work in Congress
Congress returns to Washington September 7 and will tackle the annual appropriations bills that must be complete before the October 1 start of the federal fiscal year. The House has approved 10 of the 13 appropriations bills, but a divided Senate is having trouble agreeing on a budget outline. Senate Republican leaders attached a $821.4 billion spending cap to a defense appropriations bill, which will allow Senate Appropriations Chair Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to set spending allocations for each of the appropriations committees that can be enforced when the spending bills come to the Senate floor for debate and approval. Child advocates are working to ensure federal dollars continue to fund child care, housing, health care, college aid, job training centers and other public services that support families.
http://www.aamc.org/advocacy/library/washhigh/2004/090304/start.htm#1

**September 9: National Call-In Day to Keep the Ban on Assault Weapons
If President Bush and the Congress fail to act, the Assault Weapons Ban will expire on September 13, 2004. Children's Defense Fund?’s Marian Wright Edelman warns that America?’s streets will be more dangerous for children if the ten-year ban on assault weapons is allowed to expire.
http://www.childrensdefense.org/pressreleases/040813.asp

**Federal Funds Needed to Protect SCHIP Enrollments
In the last few years, the State Children?’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has absorbed many children whose parents lost their employer-paid health benefits -- but state budget cutbacks have contributed to falling SCHIP enrollments in 2002 and 2003. Now a number of states risk losing some of their federal funding, unless Congress enacts bipartisan legislation to extend the availability of nearly $1.1 billion in expiring SCHIP funds, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
http://www.cbpp.org/8-31-04health.htm

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IMPROVING FAMILY WELL-BEING

**Would Poor Couples With Children Be Better Off Economically If They Married?
Policymakers and researchers alike are debating whether marriage might be an anti-poverty strategy for families with children. Some believe that if more parents married, there would be a substantial decrease in poverty or a significant dent in the poverty rate for families with children. Others remain skeptical. The Center for Law and Social Policy?’ Paula Roberts examines the situation.
http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1093288195.25/marr_brf_5.pdf

**Struggles in the South: Family and Child Well-Being
Children in the South continue to suffer from poverty, child abuse and poor educational performance at rates significantly worse than other regions, according to the 2004 Chartbook of Major Indicators from the Southern Institute on Children and Families. Some 5.2 million Southern children are growing up poor, and Southern children are also more likely to die from abuse and neglect, lack basic reading skills, and lack child health coverage.
http://www.thesoutherninstitute.org/2004chartbook.asp

**An Update on Urban Hardship
Contrary to common misperceptions, urban ?“hardship?” -- evidenced by high rates of unemployment, poverty and low-income households, crowded housing, lower rates of high school completion, and high proportions of young and elderly dependent populations -- declined in three of four cities between 1970 and 2000. Only about 15 percent of the nation?’s largest cities have high levels of hardship. But different regional patterns are emerging, with Southern and Western cities reflecting socioeconomic hardship conditions similar to older cities in the Northeast and Midwest.
http://www.rockinst.org

**Well-Being in Early Adulthood: The Importance of Education
A new Child Trends research summary shows a strong connection between education and all aspects of success -- from employment and earnings to health, family formation and civic involvement. Moreover, the critical link between a college education and future economic success has actually grown in the last several decades.
http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/PDF/Young%20Adults%20Brief.pdf

**Puberty and the Onset of Substance Use and Abuse
Puberty seems to be an important factor in substance use, independent of age or grade level, researchers report. The odds of substance abuse are higher in mid-puberty and late puberty, and youngsters who mature early tend to have higher levels of substance use. Authors note the findings support prevention strategies and policies that focus on the early teens.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/114/3/e300

**Addressing Children?’s Emotional Needs
A new American Academy of Pediatrics CD-ROM offers pediatricians an educational resource on helping children who have been emotionally affected by the 9/11 or other terrorist attacks.
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/washing/fnct.htm

**After School for All
Despite unprecedented growth in funding for after-school programs since the 1990s, demand still far exceeds supply in virtually every community across the nation. A recent household survey found that during the 2002-2003 school year, 14.3 million youth were in self-care, spending an average of seven hours per week unsupervised in the hours after school.
http://www.cvworkingfamilies.org/downloads/After%20School%20Press%20Release%20FINAL%208-23-04.doc

**A Return to Orphanages?
The Children?’s Rights reviews efforts to establish ?“new orphanages?” and raises concerns about the impact on children?’s healthy development with the growth of institutional care for children removed from their families.
http://www.childrensrights.org
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A SECOND CHANCE

**Integrating Youth Development and Education on Behalf of Vulnerable Youth
The Forum for Youth Investment looks at the growing dropout challenge and promising strategies to help struggling students stay in school or get back on track, including a profile of innovative work in Portland, Oregon.
http://www.forumforyouthinvestment.org/focus/ForumFOCUS_Sep04.pdf

**Second Chance Act Could Help Inmates Make It on the Outside
The Legal Action Center says H.R. 4676, the ?“Second Chance Act of 2004,?” would provide grants to States and local areas to help address drug and mental health treatment needs, job training and education opportunities, and housing needs of inmates returning to their communities.
http://capwiz.com/etp/dbq/officials

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INFORMATION FOR PARENTS

**Sugar-Sweetened Drinks, Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes
A daily soda or sugar-sweetened fruit drink can add 15 pounds and double the risk of diabetes, according to research reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. While the study participants were adults, health advocates say the results provide evidence that sugar-sweetened juice and soft drinks in children?’s diets may be a factor in increased rates of diabetes and excess weight among children.
http://www.healthinschools.org/ejournal/2004/sept1.htm

**The Effect of Corporal Punishment on Antisocial Behavior in Children
New data published in Social Work Research on the long-time effects of corporal punishment finds a close correlation between both high and low levels of corporate punishment and antisocial behavior in children?’s later years. Researcher Andrew Grogan-Kaylor reports no evidence for differences in the effect of corporal punishment across racial and ethnic groups. Email Grogan-Kaylor agrogan@umich.edu for a reprint.

**Children?’s Vision
The American Optometric Association has information for parents about infant vision, how to assess your child?’s vision needs and when to seek professional screenings and assessments.
http://www.aoa.org/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?site=AOAstage&WebCode=ChildrensVision
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SPOTLIGHT ON EARLY LEARNING

**Heads Up: Report Card on Early Childhood Development
Are American children getting the social, health, and developmental tools they need to start school? What are the barriers to school readiness and what can policymakers, educators, medical providers, and childcare advocates do to ensure that all young children enter school on a more even playing field? This Commonwealth Fund report, to be released September 8, has the numbers and the ideas.
http://www.cmwf.org

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THINGS TO DO! PLACES TO GO!

**Youth Advocacy Day
Youth professionals and young leaders from across the nation will gather in Washington, D.C. on September 15 to question the presidential campaigns on issues affecting youth and visit Capitol Hill to urge continued funding for youth development programs. The events are sponsored by YouthBuild USA's YouthBuild Academy for Transformation, the National Youth Employment Coalition's PEPNet Institute, and the Campaign for YOUth.
http://www.campaignforyouth.org

**Dads and Daughters Holds Children and Advertising Event
RSVP to info@dadsanddaughters.org if you want to attend the September 23 event, 5:30 to 7 pm, in Washington, DC to get an update on marketing, the media and girls?’ self-esteem.
http://www.dadsanddaughters.org/

**September 28 Conference Call on NLC Action Kit for Re-engaging Youth
On this National League of Cities conference call, local activists will learn how they can work with their mayors and town leaders to improve the odds for struggling students, youth aging out of foster care, and juvenile justice youth. The National League of Cities offers an action kit to help municipal leaders strengthen supports and coordination so young people at risk can get back on the path to a responsible adulthood.
http://www.nyec.org/cfk.htm

**Chapin Hall Conference on Youth Transitions to Adulthood
Registrations are filling fast for the November 8 and 9 Chapin Hall conference covering new research on how social institutions have changed to meet the changing needs of adolescents, and on public policies that can help teens at risk make a successful journey to a productive adulthood.
http://www.about.chapinhall.org/conferences/NovATA/conference.html

**Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conference Makes Good Use of Internet
The Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conference in Chicago on November 15 and 16 is a grassroots networking conference that offers workshops on planning, evaluation, volunteer recruitment and training, marketing and development, as well as specific topics related to tutoring and/or mentoring of youth at different age ranges. The ?“eConference Overlay?” enables people unable to attend in person to present and share information via the Internet. To present a workshop in this conference, contact Daniel F. Bassill, Tutor/Mentor Connection at 312-492-9614 or tutormentor2@earthlink.net.
http://www.alado.net

**Second Harvest Holding Anti-Hunger Town Halls
Second Harvest Food Banks in Orlando, Kansas City, Phoenix and Pittsburgh are planning anti-hunger Town Halls in September and October. Get more information on schedules and tickets by contacting the local food bank in these four cities. (Use the site?’s food bank locator to find phone numbers.)
http://www.secondharvest.org

**National Mobilization for Great Public Schools
Across the country, teachers, parents and citizens will meet in house parties, community centers, church basements and school rooms on September 22 discuss and take action to improve their public schools, in an event that grassroots and education advocates are calling the largest citizen mobilization for great public schools ever.
http://www.greatpublicschools.org
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JOB OPPORTUNITIES

**Casey Family Programs Seeks Community Organizers
Casey Family Programs seeks someone to work with foster parents, birth family members, and kin to organize and facilitate their input into foster care policy and practice.
http://www.casey.org/AboutCasey/EmploymentOpportunities/familyspecialist08262004.htm

**Docs for Tots
Formed in 2003, Docs For Tots works to encourage and train doctors to be advocates for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers on the national, state and local levels. The organization has program associate job opening, Contact Kate Irish kirish@docsfortots.org for information.
http://www.docsfortots.org

**National League of Cities Seeks Policy/Program Analyst
The National League of Cities (NCL) is working to help cities improve services for youth at risk. The NLC?’s Institute for Youth, Education and Families seeks a policy analyst to help in these efforts. Email Andrew Moore at .
http://www.nlc.org/nlc_org/site/

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FOCUS ON THE STATES

**State-by-State News

California
The California Budget Project warns that Gov. Schwarzenegger?’s (R) proposal to fundamentally restructure Medi-Cal, the state?’s public health insurance program, by imposing a limit on the amount of federal funding (currently the federal government pays half the costs whether they are higher or lower than expected) and increasing beneficiaries?’ out-of-pocket expenses, is financially risky and could increase state costs.
http://www.cbp.org

California Charter Failure Affects 10,000 Students
Thousands of California students were left to look for new schools after one of the nation's largest charter school operators shut its doors last month, as Education Week reports.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=01CCA.h24

Connect for Kids: Charter Schools and Quality Control
Reporting on the rapid growth of charter schools, CFK writer Robert Capriccioso noted experts?’ concerns about charter school leadership and oversight, and how efforts in Ohio were designed to avoid problems in this new and rapidly growing arena.
http://www.connectforkids.org/resources3139/resources_show.htm?doc_id=218986

District of Columbia
"Thin the Soup or Shorten the Line?” reports on how DC nonprofits are adapting to uncertain times.
http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20040823_nonprofits.htm

Illinois
Governor Rod R. Blagojevich has responded to the pressure on schools to ?“push out?” struggling students to keep high or raise their test scores by designing legislation to increase the legal drop-out age and require better tracking of transfer and struggling students to meet the needs of students at risk of dropping out, or being pushed out.
http://www.illinois.gov/pressreleases/showpressrelease.cfm?subjectID=3&recnum=3250

Missouri
Missouri's foster care reform efforts include implementation of new requirements for increased background checks and training for prospective foster parents (and other household members), as well as preference for placement with relatives and adherence to the Indian Child Welfare Act. A summary of the legislation can be viewed at the state legislative website.
http://www.house.state.mo.us/bills041/bills/sb762.htm

Keep up the good work, everyone!
Jan
Jan Richter, Advocacy Director, and the Connect for Kids team
jan@connectforkids.org