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Editor's Note
Our
elected officials have been busy! So busy that it can be hard to stay
on top of what's moving and what it means.
We've gathered some resources to help you sort it all out.
First,
health care. Last weekend, the House
approved health care
reform legislation and President Obama signed it into
law on March 23. The news
media are covering the procedure and what has to happen now, so we are going to
focus on what this bill means for young people and families -- and our work.
A
lot of the changes will happen gradually, but some that affect children
are immediate: starting in 2010,
no child will be denied coverage due to
pre-existing conditions. Young adults will have options for getting
affordable coverage until age 26 through their parents' insurance.
In
addition to reforming health care, the final reconciled legislation
will include fundamental changes to federal
student financial aid -- and here the news is good but not great. Check out the facts below.
Speaking of education, the Obama Administration proposed its blueprint for revamping
the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act, the largest federal legislation covering schools. The major changes include refashioning the incentive structure --a difference balance of carrots and sticks -- for spurring improvements.
Meanwhile,
the March "jobs bill" may
be a step to expanding jobs, but many advocates see the upcoming federal
budget fights as the best chance for improving services and
opportunities for hard-hit families.
Read on for information
on these and other
ways to make
our nation a better place to raise a family.
Good work, everyone!
Jan
Jan Richter, editor emeritus, and the CFK Team
CFK gathers, synthesizes and promotes the best news, research and stories from the child and youth field. To suggest content, email weekly@connectforkids.org.
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Health Care Reform: Affecting More than Health
 What is in the Health Care Bill?
If you don't know exactly what's in the comprehensive health care reform bill, signed into law March 23, you're not alone because the details have changed to fit budgetary and political requirements for passage. But the broad outlines have remained the same -- especially the basic insurance coverage reforms and expansion of affordable coverage.
Given the heat and misinformation generated in the political debate, it is important to get the facts right and share them with your neighbors.
Education Funding and Reforms in the Health Care Bill
The reform bill also included budget components that affect education. Here's a look at what made it into the final bill and what went missing.
Indian health care bill Reauthorized in the Health Care Bill
Rob Capriccioso, a former staff writer for Connect for Kids, says a little-known section of the health care reform bill includes an important reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, which expired in 2001.
Will the Health Care Bill Close the Wealth Gap?
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Updates from Capitol Hill
"Jobs Bill" Becomes Law
The March 2010 "Jobs Bill" offers incentives for businesses to hire unemployed workers. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Republicans doubt it will make much a dent in the unemployment rates while, Democrats say it is an important first step in helping the jobless and reducing unemployment. The bill is smaller than last year's recovery package, but is a clear legislative shot aimed squarely at persistent unemployment, says the Washington Post.
 Mercury in Stream Fish Sparks Call for EPA Regulation
Here's a pollution wake-up call: A recent U.S. Geological Survey study found mercury pollution in 100 percent of the 291 freshwater fish tested; advocates are urging the EPA to strictly regulate mercury pollution. Mercury pollution occurs almost entirely from air-born emissions, primarily from burning coal. |
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Connect for Youth
Better Youth Employment for Low-income Communities
The Center on Law and Social Policy identifies key elements for an effective youth employment system: a strong convening entity, an effective administrative agent, a well-trained case management arm, strong partnerships across systems that serve youth, high quality work experience and career exposure components.
Call for Papers
The Workforce Strategy Center is partnering with the Sloan Consortium to promote the increased use of online and blended learning in community college workforce development efforts. The Center has issued a call for papers for on practical applications for a special issue of the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks. 
March 23 webinar: Protecting Privacy in Data
The Data Quality Campaign says that to be useful, data must be timely, readily available and easily understood. But data privacy must be protected. In this webinar DQC offers examples of how different localities are providing protected, timely, role-based access to data.
The Global Youth Justice coalition has launched a monthly newsletter to spark action on teen courts and juvenile justice reforms. |
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Recession/Poverty's Toll on Kids
Half in Ten Campaign Seeks to Cut Poverty
Unemployment is expected to average 9.5 percent in 2011 and poverty is expected to surge beyond one in eight Americans, according to the Half in Ten Campaign. In 2008, nearly one in four children lived in a household struggling against hunger and the recession and past policy decisions are making it harder for children to grow up healthy and resilient. The 2011 budget and other proposals could make a difference, says Deborah Weinstein, head of the Coalition on Human Needs.
Families of the Recession
Young people who want to work to help their families can't get jobs in this recession. And younger children are more at risk when their parents can't find work. This First Focus analysis looks at the impact of the recession on the 1 in 7 American children living with an unemployed parent.
Frayed Welfare Safety Net
In Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): Implications of Changes in Participation Rates, the General Accountability Office reports troubling trends. If the participation rate of eligible families in 2005 were equal to the 1995 rate of 84%, 800,000 fewer children would be living in extreme poverty. But that's a big "if" -- the actual percentage of eligible families participating in TANF in 2005 was 40%, less than half of 1995 numbers.
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Healthy Living
 Factory Food vs. Family Farm
Think factory farms and genetically modified seed monopolies are driving out family farmers and undermining the availability of nutritious foods? FarmAid says it's time to tell Attorney General Holder and Secretary Vilsack how you feel.
April 8 Webinar: Let's Get Physical: Being Active to Reverse Child Obesity
This Robert Wood Johnson sponsored webinar will highlight some of the recent progress in implementing local school wellness policies across the country and illustrate the positive health outcomes associated with these efforts. It will also offer strategies to help schools better integrate physical activity into the school day.
National Obesity Campaign Invites Public Comments
The new national Interagency Childhood Obesity Task Force is developing an action plan for and seeking public comments on how governments can collaborate with private and nonprofit partners to prevent childhood obesity.
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Real Digital Learning
FCC Releases New National Broadband Plan 
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski recognizes that parents are cautious about what their kids can encounter online, but he is also convinced that the benefits of digital learning are real. The new FCC broadband plan has gotten good reviews from advocates.
Charles Benton, one of the founding fathers of Connect for Kids, says a national broadband plan will be only as good as its implementation.
Re-Imagining Learning in the Digital Age
The MacArthur Foundation is exploring how the participatory and innovative behaviors facilitated by new media represent a chance to improve learning -- in schools, libraries and after-school programs -- to prepare young people to compete and thrive in a global, connected world.
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Improving Teaching and Learning
We know what good teaching and good schools can do. The question is how to make it happen -- which seems to boil down to getting the incentives right.
ESEA Reauthorization
The Obama Administration has released its blueprint for revising the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to help states raise expectations of students and reward schools for producing dramatic gains in student achievement. You might recognize this theme -- making sure all students meet "college and career-ready" standards by 2020.
America's Teacher Corps
Here's the problem: the best teachers do not teach where they are needed most. The Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution proposes a new federal program, America's Teacher Corps, to support the development of effective teacher evaluation systems to keep the best teachers in the classroom, enhance the likelihood that more qualified people will enter teaching, provide opportunities for teachers to receive additional support and development and encourage qualified teachers to teach in hard-to-staff schools. Highly effective teachers would receive national recognition and conditional on service in high-poverty schools, a substantial salary bonus and easily-transferable teaching credentials.
Rising to the Challenge: Hispanic College Graduation Rates as a National Priority
Even with a rapidly growing Hispanic population, only half of Hispanic college students graduate. This American Enterprise Institute report explores why some colleges are more successful than others in helping students earn degrees and argues that government aid to colleges and universities should be tied to whether schools meet meaningful performance metrics.
Historians blast proposed Texas social studies curriculum
The Washington Post reports that the Texas Board of Education is poised to approve social studies curriculum standards that would affect textbooks throughout the nation and, many historians
say, are historically inaccurate. The standards would play down the role of Thomas Jefferson among the founding fathers, question the separation of church and state and claim that the U.S. government was infiltrated by Communists during the Cold War.
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Funding Tools & Alerts
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Caitlin Johnson and Thaddeus Ferber
Connect for Kids and the Forum for Youth Investment
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