CFK Weekly—Jan. 28, 2002

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

Access past issues in the Archives.

NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS
**A Medical Home for Kids in Foster Care
**The Youngest Children, at Highest Risk
**Resources on Children's Health
**Foster Care Today

CONNECT TODAY
**New Online Calendar!

KIDS AND POLITICS
**State of the Union ? January 29
**Welfare Reauthorization Out of the Starting Gate
**Special Education is New Battleground
**Stimulus Package Could Send Tax Rebates to Working Poor
**Food Program Gets More Funding in Defense Budget

BALANCING WORK AND FAMILY
**Shared Work, Valued Care
**Gender Wage Gap Widening
**Equal Pay for Working Families
**Adventures in Parenting
**Grandparenting: Enriching Lives

THINGS TO DO! PLACES TO GO!
**Job Shadow Day ? Feb. 1
**Youth Rally against Violence
**Youth Activists Draw the Line on Gun Violence!
**Bread for the World: Offering of Letters

PRESCHOOL QUALITY MAKES A DIFFERENCE?
**Michigan School Readiness Program Documents Good Results

? BUT LOW-INCOME OPTIONS ARE SCARCE
**Early to Rise: Improving the School Readiness of Philadelphia's Young Children
**The Cost and Quality of Early Care and Education in Massachusetts
**Expanding Voluntary Early Learning Opportunities for Illinois' Young Children
**Bringing It Together: State-Driven Community Early Childhood Initiatives
**Pre-K Programs in the States

CONNECT FOR YOUTH
**Hear Us Out: Commentary by Youth on School and Society
**Reducing Disproportionate Minority Confinement
**Youth Awards

RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITY BUILDERS
**Feeding Families This Winter
**Feeding Kids in Summer
**Finding Common Ground
**New Action Kits for Municipal Leaders
**Creating Safe Learning Zones
**Information, Please

FOCUS ON THE STATES
**States are Cutting Low-Income Programs in Response to Fiscal Crisis
**State Funding Systems for At-Risk Students
**An Update on the States' Allocation of Tobacco Settlement Dollars
**State-by-State News

SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
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NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS

**A Medical Home for Kids in Foster Care
by Janice Rosenberg
For kids in foster care, moving from home to home means a patchwork of health care providers and lost medical records. At Alabama's Family Place Pediatric Practice, Dr. Alisa Hoffman is working hard to provide foster children with solid, uninterrupted health care.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**The Youngest Children, at Highest Risk
by Susan Phillips
Children under five make up the fastest-growing segment of the population of children in care. For these very young children, consistent medical care is critical. How can agencies, courts and others help? Connect for Kids managing editor Susan Phillips finds some answers in Improving the Odds, an issue brief from the National Center for Child Poverty.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Resources on Children's Health
Connect for Kids' Health topic page is packed with information for parents and adults on children's health. Learn about developmentally appropriate health care, campaigns to cover uninsured kids and ways we can all help keep kids healthy.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Foster Care Today
This comprehensive overview of foster care in America examines trends, demographic characteristics and factors that affect the families and children served through foster care. The report from the Casey National Center for Resource Family support also reviews the policy framework for foster care and key aspects of practice that shape foster care as it is currently provided.
http://www.connectforkids.org
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CONNECT TODAY

**New Online Calendar!
Celebrate families all year long with this new online resource!
http://www.celebratingfamilies.org
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KIDS AND POLITICS

**State of the Union ? January 29
In his inaugural address President Bush pledged to ?work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity.?  Bush warned, ?If we permit our economy to drift and decline, the vulnerable will suffer most.?

The president's State of the Union address will give an indication of his current thinking about government's role in enhancing justice and opportunity, and helping vulnerable families during an economic decline. Child advocates will be listening carefully on January 29 and analyzing his commitments in the federal budget he submits to Congress on February 4.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/inaugural-address.html

**Welfare Reauthorization Out of the Starting Gate
The 1996 welfare reform legislation is up for reauthorization in 2002. Since the majority of welfare dependents are children, child advocates are focusing on improving welfare's work support policies to make sure welfare-to-work parents can take care of their children, stay off welfare, make ends meet and become self-sufficient. The fight over reauthorization began in Congress last week, as Democrats introduced a welfare reauthorization bill.
http://www.house.gov/cardin/Press_Releases_2002/summary_tanf_01242002.htm

**Special Education is New Battleground
When lawmakers failed to include mandatory funding for special education in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, they merely postponed the fight over funding for special education. Education Week reports that Congress may face the most contentious reauthorization fight in the history of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/newstory.cfm?slug=19idea.h21

**Stimulus Package Could Send Tax Rebates to Working Poor
Congressional sources report that Senate leaders Daschle (D-S.D.) and Lott (R-Miss.) met last week to discuss the possibility of passing a stimulus package that includes the only elements Democrats and Republicans agree on -- extending unemployment benefits for dislocated workers and providing tax rebates for those who didn't get them in 2001, one year of ?bonus depreciation? for certain business expenses, and fiscal relief to state governments.

**Food Program Gets More Funding in Defense Budget
The Defense Appropriations Act for FY 2002 boosted funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including an extra $39 million for the supplemental food program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) in FY 2002 to respond to caseload increases due to unemployment and other conditions. This is additional funding to the Agriculture Appropriations Act, which funded WIC at over $4 billion.
http://www.frac.org/html/news/0118wicupdate.htm
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BALANCING WORK AND FAMILY

**Shared Work, Valued Care
Compared to other wealthy countries, ?workplaces in the U.S. are in a kind of time warp, where the way work is scheduled and done is drastically out of step with the reality of workers' lives," says Eileen Appelbaum, co-author of this Economic Policy Institute review of successful family/work policies in Australia, Japan, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. While the traditional breadwinner-homemaker system of paid work and unpaid care is outmoded, employers now expect workers both male and female to conform to employers' notions of a worker unencumbered by domestic responsibilities.

?Shared Work, Valued Care? argues this is especially worrisome for welfare-to-work families where the emphasis on ?work first? has placed a greater value on ?having a woman work at minimum wage cleaning hotel rooms than on having her care for her child ? even though her earnings will still leave her and her children impoverished.?
http://www.epinet.org/press/releases/swvc010902.html

**Gender Wage Gap Widening
The General Accounting Office reports that women managers are not only making less money than men in many industries, but the wage gap has widened during the economic boom years of 1995 to 2000.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28203-2002Jan23.html

**Equal Pay for Working Families
Heidi Hartmann, president and CEO of the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR), says that recent wage gap findings are not surprising: ?Men appear to do better than women at the high salary end during good economic times.? According to IWPR, based on the gender wage gap of the mid-nineties, if women got equal pay for equal work, each working woman's family's earnings would increase by over $4,000 a year.
http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/c344.pdf

**Adventures in Parenting
This National Institute of Child Health and Human Development booklet gives examples of how parents can think about the job of parenting for different age groups ? how they can ?respond, prevent, monitor, mentor and model? to help their children thrive, based on research on parenting approaches and outcomes over the past 30 years. Print copies are free (800-370-2943).
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/parenting/adv_in_parenting.cfm

**Grandparenting: Enriching Lives
While grandparents play a special role in their grandchildren's lives, many are out of touch with current understandings of child development, like the important role of play in fostering healthy development for babies or incorrectly believing you can spoil a 3-month-old baby by picking him up when he cries. That's why Civitas, a nonprofit communications group, has prepared tips for grandparents on parenting.
http://www.enrichinglives.org/
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THINGS TO DO! PLACES TO GO!

**Job Shadow Day ? Feb. 1
A new survey indicates that American middle and high school students have many unrealistic views of their future careers. Job Shadow Day kicks off a year-long effort to give students a first-hand look at the workplace.
http://www.ja.org/interprise/execsummary.html

Find out more about this day, and other special days and events, by visiting the Connect for Kids Celebrating Families calendar for February.
http://www.celebratingfamilies.org/cgi-bin/calendar.pl?month=1&year=2002&month=2&year=2002

Activists will find special events and conferences are posted on the Connect for Kids calendar.
http://www.connectforkids.org/calendar1569/calendar_list.htm?month=2&year=2002

**Youth Rally against Violence
On February 19, 2002 in Washington, DC, the National Crime Prevention Council and the National Campaign Against Youth Violence are sponsoring a major march and rally for youth to showcase how youth are promoting tolerance and building communities across the nation. Youth-serving organizations are invited to bring youth to the rally, or organize local events to bring national attention to youth agencies and issues. For more information, contact Maria Feit (202-687-2708; maria@noviolence.net).

**Youth Activists Draw the Line on Gun Violence!
The Drawing the Line on Gun Violence poster contest invites high school aged youth to create dynamic posters depicting the effects of gun violence on themselves and their communities. The poster contest is designed to inspire, educate and mobilize youth to engage in civic activism around gun violence prevention. Contest winners will receive up to $1,500 in savings bonds and a free trip to Washington, DC to participate in the unveiling of the winning poster designs. Submissions must be postmarked by February 28, 2002. http://www.comotionmakers.org

**Bread for the World: Offering of Letters
Get the kit or attend a workshop to learn more about Bread for the World's offering of letters against hunger in America, a campaign to educate and encourage lawmakers to improve policies for families struggling to overcome food shortages.
http://www.bread.org
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PRESCHOOL QUALITY MAKES A DIFFERENCE?

**Michigan School Readiness Program Documents Good Results
An evaluation of the Michigan School Readiness Program, a Michigan preschool program for children at risk, has documented positive outcomes for graduates of the program, from improved academic performance through at least grade 4 to positive effects on parents' involvement in school activities and communications with teachers.
http://www.highscope.org/research/MSRP-Age10.pdf

The 16-year-old Michigan School Readiness Program had over $20 million (or 20 percent) cut from its budget this year, and more cuts are possible, according to the Children's Defense Fund.
http://www.childrensdefense.org/head-takeaction.htm
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? BUT LOW-INCOME OPTIONS ARE SCARCE

**Early to Rise: Improving the School Readiness of Philadelphia's Young Children
In the Philadelphia area, 65 percent of parents say affordable, high-quality care is hard to find, with Latino, African-American, and low-income parents disproportionately affected.
http://home.uwsepa.org/media/publications.html

**The Cost and Quality of Early Care and Education in Massachusetts
Researchers from the Wellesley Center for Research on Women found that while fulltime early care and education for preschoolers in Massachusetts is comparable to or better than similar preschool care in other states, Massachusetts' low- and moderate-income families are less likely to have access to quality preschool care and education. Higher-quality early care and education costs significantly more than lower-quality care and education.
http://www.wcwonline.org/earlycare/index.html

**Expanding Voluntary, Early Learning Opportunities in Illinois
Early education opportunities remain fairly limited in Illinois, according to this new report from Voices for Illinois Children. ?A Universal Good? provides a backdrop for upcoming discussions about the recommendations of the Governor's task force on universal access to preschool, whose findings will be announced early this year.
http://www.voices4kids.org/alert012302.html

**Bringing It Together: State-Driven Community Early Childhood Initiatives
This Children's Defense Fund report explores the experiences of nine states -- California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina and South Carolina -- that have implemented community-based early childhood initiatives. These state-driven initiatives are providing flexibility and resources to add to and bolster early childhood education and supports that meet local needs. Success, however, depends on adequate staffing and funding, and leaders who support collaborative planning and implementation. For print copies, call 202-662-3652.
http://www.childrensdefense.org

**Pre-K Programs in the States
The National Center for Early Development and Learning has added California and Ohio to their earlier report exploring the move by many states in the past five years to establish a pre-K program for four-year-olds. The earlier report examined how Georgia, Illinois, New York, South Carolina and Texas are developing their pre-K programs.
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~ncedl/PAGES/prdcts.htm
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CONNECT FOR YOUTH

**Hear Us Out: Commentary by Youth on School and Society
Want to know what combination of supports and opportunities young people need to make a successful transition to adulthood? Ask them! Here's a collection of personal essays put together by What Kids Can Do and Jobs for the Future.
http://whatkidscando.org/intheirownwords/youngwriters2.html

**Reducing Disproportionate Minority Confinement
Contrary to national trends, Portland, Oregon sharply reduced the number of youth sent to juvenile detention and dramatically evened the odds of detention for white and minority youth during the 1990s at the same time that the total youth crime rate dropped 26 percent. Portland, which is serving as a national model, achieved its success by developing alternatives to detention, raising awareness about racial discrepancies, and implementing an improved risk assessment instrument. Learn more from the Justice Policy Institute.
http://www.cjcj.org/portland/portland_main.html

**Youth Awards
Hasbro's Teens With the Courage to Give Award will recognize two young people who triumphed over tragedy and volunteered to make a difference. The two winners will receive a $5,000 scholarship for their higher education and will join 10 other youth honorees to win $500 grants to fund projects for National Youth Service Day 2002. The deadline for submission has been extended to February 15th. For a copy of the application, send your name, address, phone number, and e-mail to ddecicco@ysa.org.
http://www.SERVEnet.org

Youth in Action's $1,000 awards recognize the many contributions young people make in their communities and to the nation every day. Deadline is March 31.
http://www.youthlink.org/us/awards.php

**Want to Understand Teens? Take a Look at their Brain
If you think it's hard to understand how teens are thinking and feeling, maybe you'll get some insight from taking a look at how their brains are developing and changing. Check out the PBS special, scheduled to air January 29.
http://www.pbs.org/whatson/press/jan02/brain.html
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RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITY BUILDERS

**Feeding Families This Winter
The Food Research and Action Center's simple, easily reproduced brochure for parents explains how to seek free or reduced price school meals for their children when your economic circumstances change during school year. The brochure briefly describes the school lunch and breakfast programs and outlines the application and qualification process. Federal income limits also are included.
http://www.frac.org/html/news/brochure012202.PDF

**Feeding Kids in Summer
It will be easier for schools to feed hungry kids when school is out this summer, thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's seamless summer food waivers for school food authorities. States and advocates are using this opportunity to encourage school food authorities to start summer food programs or to add more sites to their existing programs. http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/programs/seamlesswaiver.html
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/summer/aboutsfsp/SeamlessFaqs.htm

**Finding Common Ground
A federal working group on human needs and faith-based and community initiatives took on the difficult task of finding ways to provide local faith-based organizations with government help while respecting the separation of church and state. The group recommends procedures to make it easier for individuals to make tax-deductible contributions and also that faith-sponsored organizations be encouraged to establish themselves as 501©3 tax-exempt organizations.
http://www.working-group.org

**New Action Kits for Municipal Leaders
The National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education and Families has released two new action kits. "Expanding After-School Opportunities" highlights strategies that municipal leaders can use to make the most of out-of-school time. "Promoting Youth Participation" focuses on youth participation in municipal government and local communities. Municipal leaders and advocates who would like to share these with their local leaders may request single copies of the action kits by leaving a detailed message at 202-626-3014 or by e-mailing reid@nlc.org.

**Creating Safe Learning Zones
A survey of California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and New York found that 1,185 public schools are located on or within one half a mile of a toxic waste site, putting more than 600,000 students at increased risk of developing asthma, cancers and learning disorders, according to this report by the Child Proofing Our Communities Campaign.
http://www.childproofing.org/mapindex.html

**Information, Please
If you have information about recent or current research on community land trusts for affordable housing (not farmland or open space preservation), or case studies or best practices on land trust effectiveness, the Fannie Mae Foundation would like to know. Contact mmcdonough@fanniemaefoundation.org.
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FOCUS ON THE STATES

**States are Cutting Low-Income Programs in Response to Fiscal Crisis
Health care, job supports, and other services for low-income families are falling victim to budget cuts in many states as fiscal conditions deteriorate, reports the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Seventeen states have cut health care programs and ten have cut income support or employment support programs (such as child care and job training). But there are better options available, this study argues.
http://www.cbpp.org/1-17-02sfp-pr.htm

**State Funding Systems for At-Risk Students
A new report from the Education Commission on the States provides updated information on program types, levels of funding and how students are deemed eligible for assistance for at-risk students. States included are California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.
http://www.ecs.org/html/newsMedia/e-Connection.asp#ep

**Update on the States' Allocation of Tobacco Settlement Dollars
More than three years after reaching $246 billion in legal settlements with the tobacco industry, most states are failing to keep their original promise to use a significant portion of the settlement funds to attack the public health problems posed by tobacco use in the United States, according to this report from anti-tobacco groups.
http://tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements/

**State by State News

Arizona
Children's advocates are working to protect Arizona's vulnerable families from becoming victims of the state's budget battles.
http://www.azchildren.org

California
The California Budget Project reminds community leaders and activists that families with child care expenses may be eligible for California's only refundable tax credit, which provides up to $907 dollars for families with two or more children or dependents.  Information on how to apply for the credit is available from the California Franchise Tax Board.  http://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/01_forms/01_3506.pdf
http://www.cbp.org

District of Columbia
Mark your calendar! Join DC ACT and others for a briefing on the important budget issues facing the District in FY 2003 on February 6. For more information, contact DC ACT (202-234-9404, dcaction@dckids.org).

Florida
A 2.46 percent cut imposed on each school district halfway through the school year has left many administrators struggling with no-win decisions -- fewer classes with more students, teachers out of work or no field trips.
http://www.naplesnews.com/02/01/florida/d734224a.htm

Hawaii
Fear and misinformation about the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children's (WIC) rules for immigrants and its impact on immigration status are keeping immigrants from applying for the program's free nutritional and prenatal help. To counter the misinformation Hawaii's state officials are translating information about WIC into five languages.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Jan/13/ln/ln09a.html

Massachusetts
Project Bread hopes to increase state enrollment in the program to reduce hunger with a new Web site to help residents determine their food stamp eligibility
http://www.gettingfoodstamps.org

Michigan
Representatives of the Michigan Coalition for Children and Families called on
Michigan's lawmakers to restore and/or maintain funding for prevention services and programs serving Michigan's families and children, arguing that recent cuts are short-sighted and costly in the long range.
http://www.michiganschildren.org/page.cfm/45/

Missouri
A good economy and programs targeting kids at risk helped reduce infant mortality, child deaths, violent teen deaths, births to teens and high school drop-out rates in Missouri over the past five years, but during the same time some measures did not show improvement, according to the latest Missouri Kids Count Databook. With mixed results during good times, advocates fear the ?forecast for child well-being in Missouri may be stormy? as the state faces unanticipated budget shortfalls. Contact Citizens for Missouri's Children for a  print copy (314-647-2003; cmchild@mokids.org).
http://www.mokids.org

Nebraska
A year-long World-Herald investigation reveals that Nebraska's mental health care system for children is in desperate need of attention. The investigation uncovered young people who were bounced from facility to facility; doctors and therapists unable to diagnose and treat extremely disturbed youths; youths held in jails with little or no treatment; and families who, as a last resort, must give up their parental rights to the state.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=280651

New York
The Commonwealth Fund has published a report evaluating the New York Family Health Plus Program, New York's new health insurance plan for low-income families. The report identifies the need for streamlining application procedures to ensure success.
http://www.cmwf.org/programs/newyork/cohen_nyfhp_bn_485.asp

The New York City Board of Education is trying to figure out how to cut $1.2 billion, or 10 percent, from the budget. Essential programs such as after-school, arts, sports and teacher training have already been slashed to absorb more than $600 million in budget cuts over the past six months.
http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/ny-nyskul152552074jan15.story?coll=ny%2Dnews%2Dprint

Oregon
The Portland school district offered several options to cut costs in light of $50 million in budget cuts for the next fiscal year. According to a local news station, some options for cutting costs include increasing class size, reducing or eliminating support for special programs, cutting administration, closing schools or shortening the school year.
http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=38939

Pennsylvania
In rural Pennsylvania, One out of every six children endures poverty and its hardships, according to Pennsylvania Partnership's ?Miles to Go? report.
http://www.papartnerships.org/hardships.html

Texas
The Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Foundation indicates that it will establish a $10 million endowment to help Hispanic youth in Texas.
http://www.longfoundations.org/long7/long7.html

Virginia
February 10-16, 2002 marks the national observance of Child Passenger Safety Week. If your are interested in receiving a packet of information about this observance and the opportunity to order free resources, contact the Virginia Department of Health's Center for Injury and Violence Prevention at 1-800-732-8333.
http://www.vahealth.org/civp

Washington
The 2001 County and City Profiles of Child and Family Well-Being are now available, with new indicators on children's oral health, hospitalizations due to asthma, housing affordability, family structure information from the Census 2000, types of child maltreatment and the race-ethnic distribution of births.
http://www.hspc.org

Keep in touch, everyone!

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