CFK Weekly—Feb. 26, 2001

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

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NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS
**Giving Girls an Edge
**Honoring Dr. King with Acts of Kindness and Justice
**Read Across America
**Youth Activism and Global Engagement

CONNECT TODAY
**What's Your Issue?

BULIDING PUBLIC WILL
**Harvard Focuses on Strategic Communications
**Illinois Launches Start Early Campaign
**Better Baby Care Campaign Kicks Off March 10
**From New Deal to New Opportunity

KIDS AND POLITICS ? EDUCATION
**Bush's Education Budget
**NAEYC Reports on Education Secretary Paige's Testimony to Congress
**Shaping the Education Budget
**Stateline Reports on States and Title I Money

IMPROVING STUDENT OUTCOMES
**Dropout Prevention Programs: Making Due with Less
**School to Work: Making a Difference in Education
**Reality Check 2001: Public Agenda's Survey on School Standards

IS WELFARE TO WORK WORKING?
**Cruel and Usual: How Welfare "Reform" Punishes Poor People
**Microenterprise Development: an Employment Option for Welfare Recipients

DISCIPLINE VS. PUNISHMENT
**ABA Opposes Zero Tolerance School Discipline Policies
**Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice

PAYING ATTENTION TO TEENS
**Study Examines Middle School Students' Risky Behavior
**Teens: Prevention, Pregnancy and Parenting
**Pediatricians Update Recommendations for Serving Teen Moms

ENVIRONMENT
**No Breathing in the Aisles: Diesel Exhaust Inside School Buses
**New EPA Lead Hazard Standards

FOCUS ON THE STATES
**Two New Kids Count/Child Trends Reports Track Families
**State Government Responses to the Food Assistance Gap
**State of the States: A Profile of Food and Nutrition Programs Across the Nation
**State-by-State News

SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
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NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS

**Giving Girls an Edge
by Leslie Wright
Concerned about the persistent gap between boys and girls in understanding and using computers, the Girl Scouts-Lone Star Council of Central Texas has started The Edge -- the first technology program for Girl Scouts in the United States.
http://www.connectforkids.org/content1556/content_show.htm?attrib_id=343&doc_id=50160

**Honoring Dr. King with Acts of Kindness and Justice
by Andrew Shue
Last month, more than 4 million students participated in the Do Something Kindness & Justice Challenge, which honors young people who take action to improve their communities. Learn more about the awards and the winners in this article by actor Andrew Shue, co-founder of the Do Something organization.
http://www.connectforkids.org/content1556/content_show.htm?attrib_id=348&doc_id=50161

**Read Across America
Reading matters for all kids -- and we can all help kids get ready to read. March 2 is the National Education Association's nationwide event to get kids to read with caring adults. It's not too late to get something started in your area! Connect for Kids has the scoop.
http://www.connectforkids.org/benton_topics1544/benton_topics_show.htm?doc_id=50159

**Youth Activism and Global Engagement
This report from OneWorld US looks at activism among young people around the world, and the ways young activists and adults can work together to tackle global issues. Read the first eight of the series' ten segments online.
http://www.connectforkids.org
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CONNECT TODAY

**What's Your Issue?
Visit Topics A-Z and Features for stories, tools and info on issues that matter to kids and families.
http://www.connectforkids.org
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BUILDING PUBLIC WILL

**Harvard Focuses on Strategic Communications
A good strategic communications campaign can educate the public about a problem and the ways in which they can invest in the solution, whether through volunteering two hours a week, writing a letter to a legislator or buckling a seatbelt, says Heather B. Weiss, founder and director of the Harvard Family Research Project. This issue of the project's Evaluation Exchange focuses on the increasing importance of strategic communications for nonprofits looking to influence policy and build public will for their important initiatives.
http://gseweb.harvard.edu/~hfrp

Tools for strategic communications are posted in the Public Opinion section on Connect for Kids.
http://www.connectforkids.org/info-url1559/info-url.htm

**Illinois Launches Start Early Campaign
Voices for Illinois Children has launched a statewide public awareness campaign designed to build greater public support for quality early childhood programs. A statewide poll conducted for Voices found solid public support: 82 percent of respondents agreed that state spending on early childhood programs helps children do better in school, become more productive as adults and stay out of crime. Eighty-six percent supported increasing the salaries of early childhood educators to attract trained professionals and reduce staff turnover, and 87 percent agreed the state should help child care facilities become more like learning centers and less like simple babysitting services.

For more information about the Start Early public awareness campaign, contact Julie Zasadny at Voices for Illinois Children (312-516-5551 or jzasadny@voices4kids.org).

**Better Baby Care Campaign Kicks Off March 10
The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies will hold a forum on March 10 to help kick off the Better Baby Care Campaign, an effort to draw attention to the need to improve care for infants and toddlers, at home, in child care and in the community. The Campaign will encourage community leaders, policymakers, parents and providers to take concrete steps to improve services. The forum will highlight emerging research, national efforts and promising initiatives from a number of states including Florida, Kansas, Minnesota and Washington. For more Information contact:
Michelle Galván, 202-393-5501, ext. 137.
http://www.naccrra.org/About/PressReleases/BBC_campaign/BBC_press_release.doc

**From New Deal to New Opportunity
Emerging evidence supports the notion that many who are poor can save meaningful amounts, according to this American Prospect article by J. Larry Brown and Larry W. Beeferman of the Center on Hunger and Poverty. In this American Prospect article, Brown and Beeferman argue that there may be an opportunity to focus government policies on building individual self-sufficiency ? a concept that combines the liberal objective of poverty reduction with the conservative dream of individual wealth-building to achieve the shared goal of economic opportunity.
http://prospect.org/print/V12/3/brown-j.html

To learn more about one approach to help the working poor build assets, read Caitlin Johnson's article on Individual Development Accounts on Connect for Kids.
http://www.connectforkids.org/benton_topics1544/benton_topics_show.htm?attrib_id=290&doc_id=49822
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KIDS AND POLITICS: EDUCATION

**Bush's Education Budget
President Bush is scheduled to release an outline of his budget on February 28. Tax cuts, and the outlook for the federal surplus, will significantly affect this year's budget process, according to the National PTA.
http://www.pta.org/programs/DCnews.htm#1

**NAEYC Reports on Education Secretary Paige's Testimony to Congress
Senators expressed a number of concerns in their questions to Secretary Roderick Paige when he testified in Congress on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) on February 15, according to a summary by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Questions included whether there would be enough funding after the President's tax cut and whether it is fair to hold schools accountable for low performance if the resources provided to them are insufficient.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions expects to mark up its ESEA reauthorization bill on March 5 and go to the Senate floor the following week. Keep up to date on early childhood legislation through NAEYC's e-mail action alerts.
http://www.naeyc.org/childrens_champions/action-center.htm

**Shaping the Education Budget
According to the Washington Post, a February 26 letter to President Bush from centrist Senate Democrats identified federal support for low-income students as a key area for agreement for a bipartisan education budget.
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54495-2001Feb25.html

The January 29 Connect for Kids Weekly reported on President Bush and centrist Congressional Democrats' blueprints for education spending priorities.
http://www.connectforkids.org/newsletter-url1571/newsletter-url_show.htm?doc_id=47500

**Stateline Reports on States and Title I Money
Stateline.org reports that states are hungry for federal education money even though it covers only about seven percent of the overall cost of running the nation's schools. But a memo from the U.S. Department of Education says only 17 states have fully met the requirements for Title I funding, the largest slice of the federal education pie.
http://www.stateline.org/story.cfm?storyid=115605

Get informed and equipped to weigh in on political decisions that affect kids and families with a visit to Connect for Kids' Moms Vote feature.
http://www.connectforkids.org/content1550/content.htm
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IMPROVING STUDENT OUTCOMES

**Dropout Prevention Programs: Making Due with Less
Harvard University's recent "Dropouts in America" conference identified approaches to preventing drop-outs and continuing efforts to develop a stronger scientific basis for new programs.
http://www.law.harvard.edu/civilrights/publications/dropout/dynarski.html

**School to Work: Making a Difference in Education
Federal school-to-work legislation is due to sunset in 2001, but momentum is growing at the state and local level to sustain the school-to-work approach, which, according to this comprehensive review of the research, can improve outcomes for students. Career academies in particular, which link corporate involvement to secondary school education and feature small learning communities, are cited as an effective model.
http://www.tc.columbia.edu/iee/STWrelease.HTM

**Reality Check 2001: Public Agenda's Survey on School Standards
The drive to set higher educational standards has started to take hold in America's schools, according to this survey by Public Agenda. In contrast to previous years, the 2001 survey found several statistically significant changes -- fewer teachers report their schools using social promotion, more parents say their children have to pass standardized tests to advance in school, and the perception gap between public and private schools seems to be narrowing. Nearly two-thirds of the students surveyed say they used computers for substantive learning.
http://www.publicagenda.org/specials/rc2001/reality.htm
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IS WELFARE TO WORK WORKING?

**Cruel and Usual: How Welfare "Reform" Punishes Poor People
Devolution ? giving states far greater flexibility for welfare programs ? has created a ?chaotic and arbitrary? welfare system where activities, like earning money while receiving welfare benefits are encouraged in one state but treated as criminal offenses in another, according to this report by the Applied Research Center. Discrimination based on race, gender, language and national origin was also widely reported.
http://www.arc.org/welfare/cruel_report/news010201.html

**Microenterprise Development: an Employment Option for Welfare Recipients
Microenterprise development, a small business development model that has offered a path out of poverty for many in developing countries, may also be a feasible work option for some welfare recipients in the United States. In addition to creating jobs for small business owners and their families, it can raise their income and assets, according to this issue brief from the Welfare Information Network.
http://www.welfareinfo.org/microenterpriseissuenote.htm

The federal welfare reform legislation is up for re-authorization in 2002. Keep track of research and policy ideas for helping the working poor via the Welfare, Family Income and Poverty topic pages on Connect for Kids.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1543/index.htm
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DISCIPLINE VS. PUNISHMENT

**ABA Opposes Zero Tolerance School Discipline Policies
Zero tolerance policies in schools that started out as a response to adult fears about guns in schools are now being used as ?one size fits all punishments? that teach children nothing about fairness and are often unjust, according to the American Bar Association (ABA). The ABA voted on February 19, 2001 to oppose schools' zero tolerance disciplinary policies because they fail to take into account the age, history and circumstances of the child and the offense.

The ABA cited cases in which students who carry no weapons and commit no crimes are being expelled and often sent to jail, including a story about a 13-year-old in Texas who, when asked to write a ?scary? Halloween story, wrote about a school shooting and spent six days in jail before the courts confirmed he had committed no crime. The ABA is calling for strong policies against gun possession and fair and individualized responses to alleged student misbehavior, and asks that alternatives to expulsion and referral for criminal prosecution be developed.
http://www.abanet.org/media/jan01/advisoryii.html

**Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice
Treating juvenile offenders as adults may do more harm than good, says a new National Research Council report. A growing body of evidence suggests that even juveniles who commit serious offenses can be more effectively treated, without harming public safety, in well-designed, community-based rehabilitation programs than in secure detention.
http://books.nap.edu/catalog/9747.html

Maryland activists are campaigning to close what they feel is the state's worst youth prison. Find more information in the Focus on the States section below.
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PAYING ATTENTION TO TEENS

**Study Examines Middle School Students' Risky Behavior
Middle school students (grades 6 to 8) are engaging in behaviors that have adverse short- and long-term health consequences, finds a study published in a recent issue of the Journal of School Health. In a survey of 1,783 students from 19 middle schools the authors found that ?young adolescents are initiating patterns of behavior earlier and, in most cases, before they are developmentally ready to deal with potential outcomes."
http://www.ncemch.org/alert

**Teens: Prevention, Pregnancy and Parenting
HandsNet is convening an eight-week online conference focusing on three areas of concern related to teens and sexual behavior: prevention, pregnancy and parenting.  For information contact Kimberly Allen (kallen@handsnet.org, 408-291-5111, ext. 28).

**Pediatricians Update Recommendations for Serving Teen Moms
In a revised policy, the American Academy of Pediatrics outlines recommendations for pediatricians to help avoid and manage the many medical, psychological, developmental and social problems specific to adolescent parents and their children. Expanded recommendations for pediatricians include ensuring that community resources and quality programs, like home visits, preterm and infant classes and quality child care, are available and used by adolescent parents. Pediatricians are also urged to promote breastfeeding, assess the risk of domestic violence before and after pregnancy and provide contraceptive counseling and services.
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/febadol.htm

Teenage child-bearing is one of the measures included in the Annie E. Casey Foundation's ?The Right Start? data for cities and states. See Focus on the States below.
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ENVIRONMENT AND KIDS

**No Breathing in the Aisles: Diesel Exhaust Inside School Buses
More than 23 million children in the United States ride a bus to school. According to a Natural Resources Defense Council study, children who ride a diesel school bus may be exposed to up to four times more toxic diesel exhaust than someone traveling in a car directly in front of it. The excess exhaust levels on the buses were 23 to 46 times higher than levels considered to be a significant cancer risk according to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency and federal guidelines.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/010212.asp

**New EPA Lead Hazard Standards
The new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for dangerous levels of lead dust, paint and soil go into effect March 6. According to the EPA, the new national standards are more protective than previous EPA guidance and will, for the first time, provide homeowners, school and playground administrators, childcare providers and others with standards to protect children from hazards posed by lead, including children in federally-owned housing.
http://www.epa.gov/lead/leadhaz.htm

Find out more about environmental hazards threatening children's health, and what can be done, in the Connect for Kids Environment topic page.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1543/index.htm
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FOCUS ON THE STATES

**Two New Kids Count/Child Trends Reports Track Families
?The Right Start State Trends: The Condition of Babies and Their Families Across the Nation (1990-1998)? identifies states with the best and worst performance on each of eight measures of a healthy and promising start to life. Although broad differences among the states may reflect socioeconomic, demographic and economic conditions, the report notes that the numbers may mask important variations within a state. For example, the report ranks Hartford, Connecticut among the worst cities, but the state of Connecticut among the best of the states on the eight measures.

According to ?The Right Start City Trends: Conditions of Babies and Their Families in America's Largest Cities (1990-1998),? the nation's 50 largest cities as a group made substantial progress on two measures of a healthy birth from 1990 to 1998, but the percentages of low-birthweight, preterm and births to teens remained virtually unchanged. Variations among the cities were significant, but in general babies born in the nation's big cities in the 1990s continued to start life at a greater disadvantage than those born elsewhere in the United States. The Annie E. Casey Foundation offers state and city data.
http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/rightstart2/docs/rightstart.htm

**State Government Responses to the Food Assistance Gap
This publication by Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) and America's Second Harvest publication reports on food assistance gaps and details the extent to which states are choosing policy options that maximize use of federal resources to combat hunger and undernutrition. Download the PDF file from FRAC.
http://www.frac.org/html/news/223pubs.html

**State of the States: A Profile of Food and Nutrition Programs Across the Nation
The FRAC "State of the States: A Profile of Food and Nutrition Programs Across the Nation" provides data on poverty, childhood hunger and participation and spending for major federal nutrition programs. These include the Food Stamp, School Lunch, School Breakfast, Summer Food and Child and Adult Care Food Programs.
http://www.frac.org/html/news/223pubs.html

**State-by-State News
Check out news about kids in your state in the ?state-by-state? section of the Connect for Kids Web site. In addition to state-specific data and news, you can find a directory of organizations working to improve policies and programs for kids and families in your state.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1576/index.htm

Here's a sample of this week's additions to our state pages.

Arizona
Children's Action Alliance announces a legislative advocacy training for the 2001 Legislative Session.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=379

Arkansas
Arkansas does too little for its children, according to a poll of Arkansas voters released today by five Arkansas nonprofit organizations.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=380

California
San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose were among the seven of the 50 largest cities with teen births making up less than 10 percent of total births, according to ?The Right Start City Trends: Conditions of Babies and Their Families in America's Largest Cities (1990-1998)? from Kids Count and Child Trends.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=381

Connecticut
?The Right Start City Trends: Conditions of Babies and Their Families in America's Largest Cities (1990-1998)? finds Connecticut among the top states, but Hartford among the worst cities in terms of child welfare. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=383

District of Columbia
Washington, D.C. improved on all eight measures of a healthy birth from 1990 to 1998, according to ?The Right Start City Trends: Conditions of Babies and Their Families in America's Largest Cities (1990-1998)? from Kids Count and Child Trends.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=385

Hawaii
Honolulu was among the seven of the 50 largest cities with teen births making up less than 10 percent of total births -- lower than both the 50-city average of 15 percent and the national average of 13 percent, according to ?The Right Start City Trends: Conditions of Babies and Their Families in America's Largest Cities (1990-1998)? from Kids Count and Child Trends.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=388

Illinois
Illinois' Early Start campaign kicks off.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=390

Maryland
The Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition is calling for help in a campaign to close Cheltenham - Maryland's worst youth prison.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=397

Michigan
Kids Count recently released the 2001 version of the Right Start 2001, including a ranking of Michigan and Detroit.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=399

Michigan ? Detroit
Detroit made considerable progress in reducing births to teens, according to ?The Right Start City Trends: Conditions of Babies and Their Families in America's Largest Cities (1990-1998)? from Kids Count and Child Trends. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=1662

Minnesota
A Minnesota bill would repeal state time limit on welfare. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=400

New York
A report released by the Commonwealth Fund and the Children's Defense Fund-New York outlines a wide range of suggested improvements to the Child Health Plus program.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=409

North Carolina
The 2001 legislative agenda from the North Carolina Covenant for Children are ready to be picked up and distributed by member organizations.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=410

Oregon
A report in the Oregonian finds that the number of youth who died in the state is down this year, yet many more occurrences could have been prevented.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=414

Pennsylvania
Gov. Tom Ridge's 2001-02 state budget plan includes many child-focused programs such as a new Early Childhood Initiative, a new Youth Development program, and increased funding for violence prevention. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=415

Washington
Seattle was among the seven of the 50 largest cities with teen births making up less than 10 percent of total births -- lower than both the 50-city average of 15 percent and the national average of 13 percent, according to ?The Right Start City Trends: Conditions of Babies and Their Families in America's Largest Cities (1990-1998)? from Kids Count and Child Trends.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=425

Keep up the good work, everyone!

Jan Richter, Outreach and Policy Analyst, and the Connect for Kids team
Jan@benton.org