Children & Youth
One in four young children under age 6 lives in a family earning just $60 a day, yet Early Head Start reaches less than 4 percent of eligible children. An analysis of enrollment, teachers, health, service provision and other data is in “Supporting Our Youngest Children, Early Head Start Programs in 2010.” (CLASP)
Forty-eight percent of poor children – versus 75 percent of children from moderate- and upper-income families – are identified as school ready at age 5, says a new report from Brookings Institution on why poor children are less ready for school. Findings are based on a summary measure that looks at early math and reading skills, learning-related and problem behaviors, and overall physical health.
Quality Early Child Care and Education (ECCE) programs come from having better educated and trained workers in the approximately 1.8 million ECCE workforce, says a new GAO report, which also acknowledges that gaps in ECCE workforce data exist and need to be addressed.
 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education have unveiled an enhanced StopBullying.gov. The site encourages everyone to take action to prevent and respond to bullying.
Afterschool programs get better the more they assess themselves and make changes based on those assessments, says a new study funded by the William T. Grant Foundation and which examines the Youth Program Quality Intervention (YPQI) model.
What types of collaborations support children and youth? National Collaboration for Youth seeks youth community partnership information through a survey to discover which types of collaborations to support children and youth are active in communities across the country. The survey takes 5-10 minutes; research is not required. Deadline: April 30.
“Speaking of Money: Equipping Youth and Families to Navigate Finances in Their Everyday Lives” looks at the crucial role of financial literacy as today's young people enter a financial world vastly different from previous generations. In addition, a growing income gap complicates the challenges many youth and families face in navigating the world of finances. (Search Institute)
Harvard Family Research Project’s Out of School Time (OST) team has added new and updated profiles to its OST research and evaluation database, including a roundup drawn from 53 programs in “Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs.”
Intergenerational
“America’s Best Intergenerational Communities: Building Livable Communities for Children, Youth, Families and Older Adults” profiles five award-winning communities as recognized by Generations United and MetLife Foundation.
Learn how to create healthier environments for all ages and across all sectors at a conference on Healthy Environments Across Generations held by The Collaborative on Health and the Environment on June 7 and 8 in New York City. Generations United is a co-sponsor.
Generations United has issued a statement in response to the article “The War Against Youth” in the April issue of Esquire magazine. This article by Stephen Marche emerges as the latest attempt to incite generational warfare. As a result of the attention this piece has received, Generations United has issued a response and action steps on the Together blog.
Poverty & Community
Work sharing - a strategy to reduce unemployment and help businesses and workers weather economic downturns - is getting a major boost through new legislation to help more states buffer their economies and communities. CLASP and the National Employment Law Project (NELP) look at the impact of the recently signed Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act (H.R. 3630) in “A Breakthrough for Work Sharing: A Summary of the Layoff Prevention Act of 2012.”
Is the successful bipartisan effort over the last two decades to reduce state income taxes on working-poor families being reversed? No new states exempted working-poor families of four from income taxes in 2011, and in almost all of the 15 states where such families still pay income taxes, they saw their income taxes increase. (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
“Self-Inflicted Wounds: Protecting Families and Our Economy from Bad Budget Choices” charts the impact on low-income children and families of the 2011 Budget Agreement's automatic cuts, due to go into effect in January 2013, unless Congress makes changes. (The Coalition on Human Needs)
A strategy to increase the supply of affordable fresh food in underserved areas was energized by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation investment pledge of $12 Million to the New Jersey Food Access Initiative, which provides low-cost loans and grants to supermarket operators and developers statewide.
Nonprofit Sector
Leaders who have emotional intelligence are more effective in building and motivating boards and leading management teams. While not a new work, this 2009 article discusses how emotional intelligence, once considered a “soft skill,” has concrete implications for leaders who have focused primarily on professional skills and academic or technical knowledge. (Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal).
Corporation for National and Community Service welcomes a new CEO. Wendy Spencer has held management positions in the private sector, state government, and in major nonprofit organizations. For the past eight years, she has been Chief Executive Officer of the Florida Governor’s Commission on Volunteerism and Community, commonly known as Volunteer Florida.
A survey of 1,602 nonprofits shows a rise in donations in 2011 for the first time in four years, with many nonprofits adding new tricks and techniques to their fundraising toolboxes. Key finding: Six in 10 respondents also said they require every board member to contribute to the organization, while about a third said their organizations set a minimum contribution amount for board members, with the average amount almost $5,000. (Nonprofit Research Collaborative)
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