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

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September 25th- a National Convening on Strengthening Families, Caring Workplaces

For Family Strengthening News readers who work for national nonprofits  associated with us – the National Human Services Assembly – please note!  On Sept. 25th we will be holding a gathering of national-level family strengthening directors, human resource and volunteer resource management executives, and academic experts for a half day of shared learning about how to integrate the same family strengthening policies and practices into your own workplaces. This special event will focus on your own workplace policies and how they aim to support and enhance employee and volunteer commitment to our organizations - including "our own" - the family members of our staff.  This convening will be held in Washington DC at the American Red Cross National Headquarters.   If you are interested in learning more, please visit www.nationalleaderssummit.org.  For questions about the convening and if you are interested in attending but have not received an invitation, contact Natalie Thompson by telephone at 202-347-2080, ext 21, or by e-mail at nthompson@nassembly.org .

Caring Workplaces Practices Catalog – a brand-new catalog written specifically for nonprofit human services organizations with a menu of practical, often low-cost ways your organization can support staff – paid and volunteer- who have family responsibilities.  Created for you by NHSA’s Family Strengthening Policy Center, the catalog can help you bring the family strengthening approach inside your organization, applying the same philosophy you use with clients to your own workforce.  The catalog covers everything from child care and out-of-school time assistance to elder care, flexibility, transportation assistance, workplace culture, paid and unpaid leave, and beyond.  This free resource is downloadable in PDF form from the virtual Caring Workplaces, Committed Employees Resource Center -  click here.

Family Economic Success

Refundable Credits Have Cut Taxes for Low-Income Households

Over the following three decades, the average effective tax rate (ETR) - taxes as a percentage of income - fell by nearly half to 4.3 percent in 2005. Most of the decline resulted from a sharp drop in the individual income tax, primarily due to expansion of the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit (CTC). Because the EITC is refundable and the CTC is partially refundable, they can reduce a households tax liability below zero and generate a net payment. (Urban Institute). To read more click here.

Staying Afloat in Tough Times

This report from The National Center for Children in Poverty tracks state-level policies that help families both avoid and cope with economic hardship. Three categories of policies are examined: work attachment and advancement, income adequacy, and asset development and protection. Although over the last decade states have taken the lead in policy efforts to help low-income families, this study demonstrates that assistance is extraordinarily uneven across the states. Click here.

State Policy Innovations in Financing Higher Education for Workers Who Study

Postsecondary education, accompanied by a credential documenting mastered skills, is an important ticket out of poverty for a significant portion of the working population. Federal and state financial aid programs, which help millions of students pay for college, are far less available to working adults. They face a variety of barriers to receiving financial aid and require a distinct set of financing policies and opportunities in order to enroll, persist, and succeed in college. This report from Jobs for the Future profiles 12 states that have amended or created student aid programs to better serve adult students. States typically have done so based on the proposition that investing in the education and skills of the workforce produces a return not only to individuals but also to businesses and the state. To read more..

Family Support Systems

Successes and Challenges to the National School Lunch Program

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is the Nation’s second largest food and nutrition assistance program. In 2006, it operated in over 101,000 public and nonprofit private schools and provided over 28 million low-cost or free lunches to children on a typical school day at a Federal cost of $8 billion for the year. This report provides background information on the NSLP, including historical trends and participant characteristics. It also addresses steps being taken to meet challenges facing administrators of the program, including tradeoffs between nutritional quality of foods served, costs, and participation, as well as between program access and program integrity. (USDA). Click here.

The 12th Anniversary of Welfare Reform: What Do We Know About Time Limits?

This month marks the 12th anniversary of the federal welfare reform law, a turning point in the political debate about shifting public assistance toward a system of temporary support with a focus on moving recipients into work. One of the most controversial features of the law was the imposition of time limits on benefit receipt. This report from MDRC looks at what we have learned about the effects of time limits since then.  One key finding from the study was that many of the families whose TANF cases were closed due to time limits are struggling financially and report being worse off than they were while on welfare. To read more..

Demographics of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care in the U.S.

Family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) child care (also referred to as informal care, home-based care, kith and kin care, kin care, relative care, legally unlicensed, and license-exempt care) is growingly recognized as home based care – in the caregiver’s or child’s home – provided by caregivers who are relatives, friends, neighbors, or babysitters/nannies. This brief from The National Center for Children in Poverty addresses demographic questions such as: What proportion of employed parents use FFN care? What are the characteristics of FFN caregivers? To read more click here.

Family Resources and Parenting Quality: Links to Children's Cognitive Development Across the First 3 Years

This article from Child Development examines family resources, parenting quality, and child cognitive performance using Structural Equation Modeling in an ethnically diverse, low-income sample of 2,089 children and families. The authors note that family resources and parenting quality uniquely contribute to children's cognitive performance at 14, 24, and 36 months. Parenting quality mediates effects of family resources on children's performance at all ages. Similarly, children's early cognitive performance relates to later parenting quality, with mothers displaying more warmth and encouraging more cognitive stimulation in response to their children’s developmental achievements. Click here.

Thriving and Nurturing Communities

Challenges and Opportunities in Four Rural Americas
A new study from the Carsey Institute depicts a varied and complex portrait of rural Americans, who differ in economics, demographics, politics and values. The report surveyed 7,800 individuals from 19 rural counties. The study suggests that certain policy ideas seem applicable to all rural places: a need for advanced telecommunications technology; access to affordable health care; effective educational facilities and staff for children and adults; and more accessible and efficient public transportation. To read more..

Lessons and Early Outcomes of a Community Change Initiative
In 2002, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation launched an early childhood initiative in Trenton, NJ, called Children's Futures to determine if focused efforts to bring about community change could make measurable differences in children’s health and well-being and help ensure their readiness to enter school. This report from Public Private Ventures provides a summary of the findings, based on two longer forthcoming reports: Collaboration and Community Change, which investigates the initiative’s major strategies and highlights collaborative practices, and Early Outcomes for Programs and Families in Children’s Futures, which examines programmatic improvements and early outcomes for CF families. To read more..

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008

President Bush on July 30, 2008, signed into law HR-3221, a sweeping housing bill that aims to boost the struggling housing market and bolster mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The legislation provides $180 million for pre-foreclosure counseling, to be distributed in grants by the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (NeighborWorks America) – with 15% targeted for low-income and minority homeowners and neighborhoods, and $30 million in grants for legal counseling to assist homeowners in foreclosure. In addition the legislation states that foreclosed and rehabilitated homes would be sold or rented to moderate-income individuals and families - whose incomes do not exceed 120% of the area median income. (NeighborWorks). For more info click here. For a full list of foreclosure resources click here.

Guide to Sustainable, Equitable Neighborhood Change Released

This publication from the National Housing Institute offers CDCs, local officials, and other stakeholders, including local institutional, business, and community leaders, a new way to look at how they can manage neighborhood change in order to bring about sustainable and equitable revitalization. It is based on a simple idea: The most powerful lever for neighborhood change is change in the demand for housing in the neighborhood. Change in the residential real-estate market can lead to a stronger, healthier neighborhood. At the same time, market change can take problematic forms, leading to undesirable outcomes. It can be driven by speculation, triggering little or no improvement in the community’s quality of life, or it can disrupt established communities, displacing long-time low- and moderate-income residents. Higher house prices without improvement to neighborhood vitality and quality of life is neither positive nor sustainable, while change that leads to displacement of an area’s lower-income residents is not equitable. The report shows how community stakeholders can help unleash the power of housing-market demand, but also where necessary harness it in the interest of equitable revitalization. In particular, it addresses how to know when to pursue which strategy or combination of strategies, in order to bring about sustainable and equitable neighborhood revitalization. To read more..

Announcements & Additional Resources

A Look at School Readiness

A federal report presents findings on the school readiness of young children, as reported by their parents. It also examines participation of young children in early learning; parents' beliefs about what they should do to prepare their children for school; children's developmental accomplishments and difficulties; family activities with children; and children's television-viewing habits. Click here.

What to Watch for in the New Census Income and Poverty Numbers
On Tuesday, August 26, the Census Bureau will release annual figures on poverty, income, and health insurance rates for 2007. This analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities provides a guide to what to look for in the income and poverty numbers, and how to assess whether economic growth is reaching low- and middle-income families. Click here.

In addition the National Center for Children in Poverty offers a resource that may be helpful for talking about the numbers, click here

Improving Residential Care for Children and Youth in Out-of-Home Care
This National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Permanency Planning document collects available guidelines, models, research, articles, and state and local examples that deal with improving residential care for children and youth in the foster care system. Click here.

Conferences & Events

The Magic of Connections National Mentoring Summit

Thursday, September 18, 2008 - Friday, September 19, 2008. The purpose of the summit is to invigorate and mobilize the mentoring community, while motivating and inspiring business and civic leaders to increase their support for mentoring efforts. Disneyland Resort
1150 Magic Way
Anaheim, California 92802

2008 Nonprofit Human Resources Conference: Advancing Mission Through People

The 2008 Nonprofit Human Resources Conference is the first of a series of planned annual events designed to bring together nonprofit human resources practitioners, executives, thought leaders, and researchers to not only discuss human resources issues of critical importance to the nonprofit sector, but also to identify resources – human, financial, and programmatic – that will advance the missions and organizational effectiveness of individual organizations and position the sector more effectively for the future. Click here to register.

September 28-29, 2008

Washington, DC

National Leaders’ Summit: Mission Driven from the Inside Out

Opening Reception and Essence of Leadership Awards: September 25, 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. EST

Leaders’ Summit: September 26, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. EST 

All events will be held at the national headquarters of the American Red Cross in Washington DC. Contact April Goldstein at agoldstein@nassembly.org for more details. WWW.NATIONALLEADERSSUMMIT.ORG

2008 BoardSource Leadership Forum

Washington, DC October 29-31

For other conferences and events, click here.

Family Strengthening Policy Center Briefs

In addition to producing this newsletter, the Family Strengthening Policy Center has produced analyses of the following promising practices and policies that advance place-based family strengthening.  We do the research and analysis so you don't have to! Please check them out, and please feel free to reference those you find helpful. Click the titles below to view the briefs in PDF format. We particularly commend to you the most recent and over-arching policy brief: Family Strengthening Writ Large: On Becoming a Nation That Promotes Strong Families and Successful Youth

Integrated Materials:

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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 Web site 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.