CFK Weekly—August 8, 2000

We encourage distribution of this information! If reprinting in whole or part, please attribute it to Connect for Kids (www.connectforkids.org).

NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS
**Close to Home: Why State Politics Matter for Kids
**School Reform: Enough Bang for the Buck?
**Kids and Learning: At Home, School and Beyond
**Of Politics and Pimentos

CONNECT TODAY
**Looking for Help Starting a Nonprofit

READY FOR NOVEMBER ELECTIONS?
**Census Reports on Voting Age Populations
**Republican Party Rewrites Its Platform
**Where They Stand on Education
**Children's Defense Fund Reclaims Its Trademark Slogan
**Connect For Kids' ?Moms Vote 2000? Premieres August 28

IDEAS FOR COMMUNITY BUILDERS
**San Francisco Takes Lead on ?Living Wage?
**Recipes for Success: Creating a Youth Development System Under WIA
**Child Care Subsidy Policy: An Introduction

IMPROVING CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
**E-mail Group Focuses on Independent Living
**Child Abuse Leaves a Mark in Brain Chemistry into Adulthood
**Fixing Federal Child Welfare Funding

HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE
**Centers for Disease Control Releases Adolescent Chart Book
**Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Access to Health Insurance and Health Care

REPORTS IN BRIEF
**Condition of Education Now Online
**"Stepping Up to the Challenge" of Title I in Secondary Schools
**Welfare Reform: Work Policies Play an Important Role

FOCUS ON THE STATES
**Making Progress
**State by State Round-Up

SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE

NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS

**Close to Home: Why State Politics Matter for Kids
Last week, Margaret Brodkin of Coleman Advocates for Children offered a virtual handbook on how to use local elections to push politicians in child-friendly directions, while educating voters and the media as well. Now, Sally Cole of the National Association of Child Advocates explains why it's more important than ever to direct advocacy efforts to state, city and community leaders.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**School Reform: Enough Bang for the Buck?
A recent RAND report analyzing achievement test results from 44 states concludes that school reform efforts seem to be having a modest but measurable effect on student achievement. But where the new study really gets interesting is in its analysis of what the findings mean for school spending and educational policy.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Kids and Learning: At Home, School and Beyond
Back-to-school days are just around the corner -- Connect for Kids has resources to help parents and neighbors get involved in local schools, learn more about technology and the classroom, and help foster safe, effective learning no matter what time of year!
http://www.connectforkids.org/content1556/content.htm

**Of Politics and Pimentos
Children's Express reporter Brittany Bailey Martin, 15, offers a biting radio commentary on why everyone should do their part for representative democracy.
http://www.connectforkids.org

CONNECT TODAY

**Looking for Help Starting a Nonprofit
Kathi Ley organized an Oregon volunteer group to support children living in shelters and residential treatment centers. Now she wants to turn it into a nonprofit organization. Says Kathy: "We need some HELP desperately with this NON-Profit Startup Project.  I've never done anything like this before, and we are very limited with money."

Know anything about starting a nonprofit or writing a grant request? Do you have questions of your own? Share your tips and experiences in our Ideas for Funding discussion board.
http://www.connectforkids.org/thread_msg2030/thread_msg_list.htm?thread_id=3348

READY FOR NOVEMBER ELECTIONS?

**Census Reports on Voting Age Populations
According to the Census Bureau, women could represent 52 percent of the voting-age population in November, outnumbering men by 8 million. By November 2000, about 40 percent of the voting-age population will be ages 25 to 44. The South is projected to have the greatest gain in voting-age population (4 million), while California, Florida and Texas have had the biggest state increases in voting-age population since November 1996.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html

**Republican Party Rewrites Its Platform
More detailed than a speech, the party platform is the scaffolding where the political party takes its stand and outlining its priorities, values and a few specific policy ?bottom lines.? The Democratic Party Platform will be finalized in mid-August as part of its convention. The Republican Party Platform was accepted as part of its convention proceedings in early August.
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/conventions/republican/features/platform.00/

**Where They Stand on Education
Both leading presidential candidates are putting education at the top of their agendas for America, but they offer very different definitions of the challenges and solutions. Get behind the sound bites with analyses from Education Week and a commentary by education writer Richard Rothstein for the New York Times.
http://www.edweek.com/context/politics/politics2000.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/080200wh-bush-edu.html

**Children's Defense Fund Reclaims Its Trademark Slogan
If the ?Leave No Child Behind? slogan of the Republican convention sounded familiar to you, it might be because it has long been the slogan for the Children's Defense Fund. Marion Wright Edelman, President and founder of CDF, says she's happy to share the language if the meaning behind the words is translated into action to improve kids' lives.
http://www.childrensdefense.org/editorial_nyt.html

**Connect For Kids' ?Moms Vote 2000? Premieres August 28
Connect for Kids is busy re-tooling our ?Moms Vote? feature so that you can get behind the rhetoric of the political campaigns and make your own decisions about which candidates will offer moms, dads and kids the best policies and programs. ?Moms Vote 2000? will debut on the Connect for Kids Web site on August 28.
http://www.connectforkids.org

IDEAS FOR COMMUNITY BUILDERS

**San Francisco Takes Lead on ?Living Wage?
Putting the city at the forefront of the ?living wage? movement, AlterNet.org reports that San Francisco has approved a Minimum Compensation Ordinance to guarantee a beginning wage of $9 an hour, with annual increases, affecting about 21,500 workers.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=9474

**Recipes for Success: Creating a Youth Development System Under WIA
The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 authorizes over one billion dollars per year to help low-income youth acquire education, skill, work experience and support. This guide helps community builders establish effective youth councils to take advantage of the new initiatives in youth development and workforce preparation.
http://www.heldrich.rutgers.edu/youth/new2.cfm?id=28

**Child Care Subsidy Policy: An Introduction
The Children's Defense Fund announces the availability of its new child care policy guide, with introductory information about state child care subsidy policies and information on child care funding, eligibility criteria, market rates, entitlements, vouchers and sliding fee scales. Call 202-662-3652 to order.

IMPROVING CHILD WELFARE SERVICES

**E-mail Group Focuses on Independent Living
The National Resource Center for Youth Services has launched an e-mail discussion group devoted to improving services that help adolescents in foster care make the transition to independent living. Both adults and youths are invited to participate. To join, e-mail MaiSer@FS1.nrcys.ou.edu. In the body of the message write SUBSCRIBE INDLIV. For more information about the group, email hlock@ou.edu.
http://www.nrcys.ou.edu

**Child Abuse Leaves a Mark in Brain Chemistry into Adulthood
Adult women with a history of child abuse and current struggles with depression and anxiety showed a heightened susceptibility to overreact to ordinary stress in their brain chemistry, according to research reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The report demonstrates that the effects of child abuse do not stop with the end of childhood, but can, like any trauma, persist into adulthood.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v284n5/full/jtw00024.html

**Fixing Federal Child Welfare Funding
If a state saves federal dollars by shortening the time a child spends in foster care, the savings return to the federal government ? just one example of how the structure of federal funding for state child welfare services does not support the goals of child welfare services, according to the Urban Institute's Robert Geen. Read Geen's testimony to the House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Human Resources on July 20, 2000.
http://www.urban.org/TESTIMON/geen7-20-00.html

HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE

**Centers for Disease Control Releases Adolescent Chart Book
This addendum to the Centers for Disease Control's newly released ?Health, United States, 2000? documents increasing risks as children advance from age 10 to 19 years of age, including increased risks of fatal motor vehicle or firearm injury, increased visits the emergency department with an illness or injury and increased risks of smoking, binge drinking or using marijuana.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hus/hus.htm

**Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Access to Health Insurance and Health Care
Disparities in health outcomes documented in many recent reports might in part be explained by disparities in access to health insurance coverage, according to this report from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the Kaiser Family Foundation. http://www.kff.org/kcmu

Connect for Kids offers background information on the health, health care services, and health insurance coverage for kids and adolescents. Look up ?health? in Topics A-Z in the Reference Room. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1543/index.htm

REPORTS IN BRIEF

**Condition of Education Now Online
The National Center for Education Statistics has just released the online version of the Condition of Education 2000, which includes trends in the major aspects of education.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000062

**?Stepping Up to the Challenge? of Title I in Secondary Schools
Using case studies, this report examines the role of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in improving learning for disadvantaged students. Although Title I funds have helped to reduce student/teacher ratios in some schools, supported classroom learning for low-achieving students and paid for more instructional materials and technology, the study finds that Title I money has had a limited role in supporting school-wide improvements in the selected schools.
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/eval/elem.html#stepping

**Welfare Reform: Work Policies Play an Important Role in TANF Programs
In this report, the U.S. General Accounting Office analyzes work-site policies and procedures for welfare recipients unable to find unsubsidized employment, finding wide variations, particularly in pay.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/he00122.pdf

FOCUS ON THE STATES

**Making Progress
This update on state implementation of federal education laws analyzes how state program administrators have continued to respond to the federal legislative framework enacted in 1994 through the Improving America's Schools Act, the Goals 2000: Educate America Act and the School to Work Opportunities Act. http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/eval/elem.html#making

**State by State Round-Up
Find these and other new postings on your Connect for Kids' State Page.
http://www.connectforkids.org

Arkansas.
?Uninsured Children in Arkansas? examines growth in Medicaid and ARKids First, the state-sponsored Medicaid expansion program for Arkansas.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=380

California.
Governor Gray Davis has signed a $99.4 billion comprehensive education reform package for California that reflects promises made in his State of the State address in January.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=381

Kentucky.
The state with the nation's lowest high school graduation rate is putting together more state funding and increased federal funding to programs through the Even Start literacy program.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=394

Illinois.
Voices for Illinois Children offers a new video that focuses on five key ideas that can help parents help their baby grow, learn and be content.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=390

Massachusetts.
Some wins, some losses, and some good preparation for future work is reported on the final Massachusetts FY 2001 budget from the Children's Health Access Coalition.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=398

Michigan.
Join parents, advocates, students, and human service professionals at the bipartisan ?Vote with Children in Mind 2000? election advocacy training on August 29 in Lansing.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=399

New York.
The Children's Defense Fund reports that New York recently enacted the "Quality Child Care and Protection Act" which included a $40 million provision to provide grants to child care providers for salary enhancements and professional advancement.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=409

North Carolina.
The North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research listed Paula Wolf of the Covenant with North Carolina's Children 18th in its ranking of the fifty most influential state lobbyists in 1999-2000.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=410

Pennsylvania.
The Children's Defense Fund reports that Pennsylvania's final FY 2001 state budget expanded funding for its T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® program from $500,000 to $1.5 million.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=415

South Dakota.
A new report looks at the use of child restraint systems and adolescent safety belts in the state, an often-overlooked cause of injury and death among children and teens.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=419

Virginia.
Highlights from the Virginia PTA/PTSA Leadership Training Conference, with over 400 attendees, are available on the Virginia PTA website.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=424

Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Dept. of Education is hosting a regional ?Improving America's Schools? conference in Washington, D.C. on December 13?15.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=385

Wisconsin.
According to the Children's Defense Fund, Wisconsin's legislature approved a $60 million increase in child care spending, including a $4.8 million child care scholarship and bonus program under the state's T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Wisconsin program.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=427

Have a good week, everyone!

Jan Richter, outreach specialist, and the Connect for Kids Team
jan@benton.org