Family Strengthening News is a monthly e-newsletter produced by the Family Strengthening Policy Center, an initiative of the National Human Services Assembly funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Family Strengthening: A deliberate and sustained effort to ensure that parents have the necessary opportunities, relationships, networks and supports to raise their children successfully, which includes involving parents as decision-makers in how their communities meet family needs.  - Annie E. Casey Foundation

Family Economic Success

Strategies to Build Assets Among Low-Income Families

Getting ahead requires assets, an advantage that many low-income families lack.  Based on research and practice, The Finance Project recommends six strategies that widen opportunities for low-income families to build and protect their savings and investments.  Strategies to Build Assets Among Low-Income Families: Mapping the Field identifies specific roles for policy makers, program developers, and practitioners.  To read the report, click here.

Chart Tracks Statewide Asset Building Initiatives

Several states are embarking on a holistic approach to asset policy development.  Brandeis University's Institute on Assets and Social Policy created a chart to track the current status of these initiatives, and their goals and accomplishments.  For more information, click here.

Low-Income Families Can Benefit From Split Refunds

All tax filers due a federal refund will now have the option to have their refund direct deposited to up to three destinations.  Low-income families often receive substantial tax refunds and the ability to direct part of these refunds toward immediate spending needs and part to savings makes asset building much easier.  A new website, SplitRefunds.net, provides additional background information, tools for tax site managers, and links to organizations that promote the Earned Income Tax Credit and asset building.  For more information, click here.  

Toolkit Helps Child Care and Afterschool Providers Conduct Tax Credit Outreach Campaigns

The National Women's Law Center is collaborating with state child care advocates to inform millions of families about the federal and state tax benefits for which they may be eligible, with a special emphasis on reaching families through child care services networks.  The Center has developed a toolkit that contains suggestions ranging from distributing fliers about tax credits to families at child care centers to creating and placing public service announcements publicizing the campaign.  In  addition, because child care and afterschool providers themselves often earn modest wages, mobilizing the child care field to educate others about tax credits may increase providers’ awareness of their own eligibility for these credits.  For more information, click here.  The National EITC Outreach Partnership is a collaboration of national organizations, including the National Human Services Assembly and many of its members, working together to promote the Earned Income Tax Credit through their national offices and affiliates.  For more information, click here.  February 1 is EITC Awareness Day.  For more information, see the Conferences & Events section below.

Telephone Excise Tax Refund Information for Low-Income Taxpayers

The Internal Revenue Service developed an electronic toolkit with tools for communicating information about the telephone excise tax refund to low-income and elderly taxpayers, including a downloadable flyer, a drop-in newsletter article and other customizable materials. It also provides suggested outreach ideas your organization may implement to help spread the news about this important refund.  For more information, click here.

Family Support Systems

America's Promise Alliance Announces 100 Best Communities for Young People

The America’s Promise Alliance on January 25 announced the winners of its 2007 100 Best Communities for Young People competition.  The selection criteria for communities recognized as the 100 Best included: innovative examples of community support for children and youth; resources that the children receive that benefit the Five Promises; and youth outcomes such as graduation rates, physical and mental health and civic engagement.  Other important factors in determining the 100 Best included a commitment to engaging committed partners and individuals from all sectors and evidence of work to raise awareness of young people’s needs, using relevant data, and driving people to act and advocate to make children a top priority.  For more information, click here.

Several States Increase Funding for Afterschool; New Partners Sought for National Petition

While efforts continue to increase federal funding for afterschool, several states are increasing their support.  The Afterschool Alliance summarizes this state activity.  For more information, click here.  The Alliance's Afterschool For All: Project 2010 is an effort to collect the names of all Americans who believe that young people deserve a safe place to learn after school. Nearly 6,000 partners have already signed on, including elected officials, corporations, national and local nonprofit organizations, and parents.  For more information, click here.

Report Finds Children's Chances for Success Vary Dramatically by State

A child born in Virginia is significantly more likely to experience success throughout life than the average child born in the United States, while a child born in New Mexico is likely to face an accumulating series of hurdles both educationally and economically, according to an analysis published by Education Week.  The analysis is based on the “Chance-for-Success Index,” which tracks state efforts to connect education from preschool through postsecondary education and training.  The 13 indicators that make up the index capture key performance or attainment outcomes at various stages in a person’s lifetime or are correlated with later success.  For more information, click here.

Brief Focuses on Helping Low-Income Children Succeed in Early School Years

New research shows that an intentional curriculum and professional development and supports for teachers are important components of effective preschool classrooms and programs. A special focus on these strategies is important because many low-income children in early learning settings fall behind early and remain very much behind their peers in reading and math.

A new brief from the National Center for Children in Poverty provides a blueprint for policymakers and educators to help low-income young children close the achievement gap in early literacy and math to be ready for kindergarten like their more affluent peers.  For more information, click here.

Understanding and Addressing Racial Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System

A disproportionate share of children of color (60 percent) lives in foster care, in part due to the influence of race at decision points in the child protective system, according to the Center for the Study of Social Policy.  The center’s Synthesis of Research on Disproportionality in Child Welfare: An Update examines why children of color are overrepresented in the child welfare system.  A companion report, Promising Practices to Address Racial Disproportionality in Child Welfare Services, explores 10 policy initiatives to reduce disproportionality.  Both publications are available by clicking here.

Thriving and Nurturing Communities

Economic Development Benchmarking Tool Focuses on People

CFED's 2007 Development Report Card for the States uses 67 measures to provide a relative, state-by-state assessment of economic development, assigning grades in three main areas: Performance (economic climate for a wage-earner), Business Vitality (economic climate for a business), and Development Capacity (how a state is positioned for the future).  The report card asserts that states should move beyond traditional economic development activities and invest in their real economic strengths: skilled workforces, entrepreneurs, high standards of living, technology development, existing businesses, world class infrastructure, and excellent public services.  For more information, click here.

Measuring Community Development Success

The Success Measures Data System offers a streamlined, standardized process to measure the impacts of
housing, economic development and community building programs on individuals, organizations, and the community.  By using Success Measures, Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. of Great Falls, MT, was able to document home equity gains and an increased sense of family stability among homebuyers.  The evaluation system is featured in the winter issue of NeighborWorks® Bright Ideas, which is available by clicking here.

Cities Report Increases in Hunger and Homelessness

During 2006 hunger among families with children increased by 5 percent, and cities also registered a 5 percent increase in requests for shelter from homeless families.  Thirty percent of cities’ homeless population is families with children, according to the 23 major U.S. cities participating in the survey sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Sodexho.  To read A Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America’s Cities, click here.

Cities Have Less Affordable Housing

Cities are struggling to meet the housing needs of low-income working families and federal and state governments are not doing enough to support local efforts to ensure housing opportunities in their community, according to the National League of Cities’ State of America’s Cities Survey on Municipal Housing.  Four out of five municipal housing directors surveyed in more than 1,000 U.S. cities of all sizes also said the value of homes and rental costs have increased significantly, putting severe financial strain on families.  For more information, click here.

Paper Urges Reexamination of Federal Low-Income Housing Policies

The traditional justification for providing federal housing assistance has been undermined both by changes in the nature of housing problems faced by the poor and by the lack of evidence that these programs help improve the lives of recipients, according to a working paper from the New America Foundation.  The author, a former Chief of the Office of Management and Budget's Housing Branch, contends that a forward-looking housing policy reform agenda should focus on ways to target housing assistance on specific social objectives, such as ending chronic homelessness, linking community-based employment support and rent incentives, supporting asset building for working families, and helping avoid unnecessary institutionalization.  For more information, click here.

Legislative Updates

Analyses of President's Health Proposal

A new analysis from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center concludes that elements of President Bush's plan to expand health care coverage, announced in his State of the Union address, could actually reduce insurance coverage, particularly for low-income families and people in poor health. The paper suggests ways the proposal could be modified to limit undesirable outcomes while improving its likelihood of boosting coverage and trimming costs.  For more information, click here.  A Commonwealth Fund analysis contends that the President's proposal to offer tax deductions to those who buy insurance would do little to cover the nation's nearly 47 million uninsured.  For more information, click here.

Diverse Coalition Proposes Plan to Expand Health Care Coverage

A broad coalition of 16 influential health care organizations announced an agreement to expand coverage for the uninsured.  Its first phase calls for a “one-stop shopping” system whereby low-income families could enroll uninsured children in SCHIP or Medicaid at the same time as they apply for other public programs, like reduced-cost lunches or food stamps. The proposal would provide states with the additional funds needed to enroll eligible children and calls for a new tax credit to help families cover some of the cost of providing private health insurance for their children. The second phase of the coalition’s proposal would give states the flexibility and funds to expand Medicaid eligibility to cover all adults with incomes below the federal poverty level, millions of whom are currently ineligible for public coverage.  For more information, click here.

New Survey on Access to Medicaid and SCHIP; Resources on SCHIP

A new 50-state survey released by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) shows that one-third of states (17) increased access to health coverage in 2006, and none of the states cut income eligibility in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for the first time in four years. KCMU also released three new publications on low-income children’s health coverage and the SCHIP program ahead of the anticipated congressional debate on SCHIP reauthorization.  For more information, click here.  Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families has launched a new Web page with resources on SCHIP’s track record, eligibility and benefits, and financing.  For more information, click here.

House Passes Minimum Wage Increase; Fact Sheet Highlights Benefits of Increase

On January 10, the House of Representatives voted 315-116 to raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over the next two years.  The Economic Policy Institute created a concise "Facts at a Glance" about the benefits of a minimum wage increase for low-wage workers.  The fact sheet also cites studies that have found no evidence of job loss from the last minimum wage increase.  For more information, click here.

Announcements & Additional Resources

Catholic Charities USA Renews Commitment to Eradicating Poverty

With the release of a new report entitled Poverty in America: A Threat to the Common Good, Catholic Charities USA launched a new Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America. The Campaign's goal is to cut the poverty rate in the U.S. in half by 2020 and will urge Congress and the Administration to improve programs and policies in four key issue areas: health care, affordable housing, nutrition assistance, and family economic security for the poor and vulnerable. For more information and to read the report, click here.

Girl Scout Research Institute Launches E-Newsletter

The Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI) released the first issue of its quarterly e-newsletter, which highlights research and evaluation from GSRI and other sources to deepen the understanding of issues facing girls today.  GSRI, part of Girl Scouts of the USA, conducts original research, evaluation, and outcomes measurement studies, releases critical facts and findings, and provides resources essential for the advancement of the well-being and safety of girls living in today's world.  For more information about GSRI, click here.  To subscribe to the newsletter, click here.

Call for Sessions: Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families Annual Conference

Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families (GCYF) will host its 22nd Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 26-28, 2007.   GCYF seeks creative session proposals that will engage grantmakers in learning and inspire action related to the theme of the conference: The Power of Partnership: Building Capacity, Creating Opportunities.  With shrinking public dollars, the conference aims to surface strategies that will enable children, youth and family grantmakers to create and strengthen national, state and local private and public/private partnerships in support target populations and related priority areas. The deadline is February 9, 2007.  For more information, click here.

Online Workshop Explores Teen and Family Relations

An online workshop developed by University of Minnesota Extension Service Family Relations faculty helps professionals working with families of teens explore current research in normal adolescent development and what it means for the parent-adolescent relationship, and the two-way relationship between teens and their larger family system, including child agency and parenting styles.  Participants will be able to listen to audio-streamed PowerPoint presentations, download resources, and participate in discussion boards and online learning activities.  The course runs from January 15 to May 31, 2007.  Registration will be open until February 28, 2007.  For more information, click here.

Conferences & Events

National Mentoring Month

Harvard Mentoring Project, MENTOR, and the Corporation for National and Community Service

January 2007

This month-long outreach campaign focuses national attention on the need for mentors, as well as how each of us – individuals, businesses, government agencies, schools, faith communities and nonprofits – can work together to increase the number of mentors and assure brighter futures for our young people.

EITC Awareness Day

Internal Revenue Service

February 1, 2007

The goal is to maximize media coverage and increase public awareness about volunteer tax preparation sites and the availability of critical tax relief issues such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and other refund opportunities.

National Parent Leadership Month

Parents Anonymous

February 2007

A series of national, state, and local activities to recognize, honor, and celebrate parents for their leadership roles in their homes and communities.  Highlights the many opportunities available for parents, professionals, policymakers and other community members to engage in partnerships with the goal of building and supporting strong, safe families.

For the Common Good: What Role for Social Insurance?

National Academy of Social Insurance

February 1-2, 2007, Washington, DC

Symposium 2007, The National Network for Youth: A Place to Call Home

February 4-7, 2007, Washington, DC

Join hundreds of youth-serving professionals, advocates, and young people to reflect on the accomplishments of the past and focus on the future of the youth-services profession.

2007 National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference

Food Research and Action Center & America's Second Harvest

February 25-27, 2007, Washington, DC

8th National Conference on Fatherhood and Families

Arizona Fathers & Families Coalition

February 28-March 2, 2007, Phoenix, AZ

Scholars, practitioners, policy makers, parents and community leaders will share information and develop strategies to reduce fatherlessness, improve strategies to develop father inclusive services and provide a forum of networking opportunities.

Cover the Uninsured Week 2007

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

April 23-29, 2007

Parent-Child Home Program Annual Conference

April 30-May 1, 2007, Garden City, NY 

The conference is designed for the professional development of those involved in home visiting, early childhood, and family support programs.  For further information, or to register, contact: Michele Morrison, Parent-Child Home Program, at 516-883-7480 or e-mail mmorrison@parent-child.org.

Generations United's 2007 Conference

July 24-27, 2007, Washington, DC

The conference will feature presentations that emphasize the positive difference intergenerational programs and practice have made in the lives of young and old, how to substantiate these findings through evaluation and research, and how to use the results to promote sound public policy at the local, state, and national levels.

For other conferences and events, click here.

Family Strengthening Policy Center Briefs

Click on the title to view the brief in PDF format:

Related Materials:

*****************************************************************************************************************

Got News?  Please e-mail fspc@nassembly.org with your news, events, and suggestions for Family Strengthening News.

To subscribe to Family Strengthening News, click here and complete the E-Newsletter form on the left side of the page.

To unsubscribe, e-mail  fspc@nassembly.org.

For more resources from the National Assembly, please visit our other sites:

National Human Services Assembly

www.nassembly.org

The National Human Services Assembly (National Assembly) is an association of the nation’s leading national nonprofits in the fields of health, human and community development, and human services.   The National Assembly's mission is to engage leaders of the sector in collective efforts to advance the effectiveness of health & human services in the United States.  

National Collaboration for Youth

www.collab4youth.org

The National Collaboration for Youth (NCY), a 30-year old affinity group, is a coalition of National Assembly member organizations that have a significant interest in youth development.  This website includes NCY's public policy agenda and issues and information about NCY's F.I.L.M. (Finding Inspiration in Literature and Movies) and juvenile justice projects.

National Youth Development Information Center

www.nydic.org

A one-stop website for youth workers with information on funding, programming, research, policy, job and training opportunities. NYDIC also provides current news to the youth development field and has one of the largest online libraries, providing practice-related information at low-cost or no cost.