Instead of lifting more children out of poverty, the benefits of the current economic recovery (and the recent tax handouts) have flowed disproportionately to the wealthiest families, lifting the fortunes for those at the top but leaving more children behind in poverty. Bernstein and Greenberg say it doesn't have to be this way:

Last year, I paid a visit to the SEED public charter school here in Washington, DC.

SEED is the only publicly-funded urban boarding school in the nation. It starts in grade X, is co-ed, and serves a very low-income, very academically needy bunch of about 320 kids in grades 7 through 12 -- virtually all of them minorities. Started by Eric Adler and Rajiv Vinnakota, the school boasts a lovely campus, two dormitories (one for boys, one for girls), a pleasant gymnasium and cafeteria, a spacious well-stocked library.

This is a critical week for advocates trying to make sure families get the assistance they need to pay their heating bills. Congressional reporters say Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has decided to resolve a dispute over spending for flood insurance and home heating subsidies by considering the two issues together later this week.

When you were in college, how many times did you call home for comfort, advice, a recipe -- and maybe some help paying that long-distance bill you ran up while breaking up with your boy/girlfriend? Or, say you went to work after high school. Did your folks lend you a hand with that first month's security deposit on a new apartment? Bring you a meal and a care package of pots, pans, and laundry detergent?

Vincent Schiraldi seems like a great guy, and that's one reason he makes me so nervous. I really want the new director of Youth Rehabilitation Services in DC to succeed at the supremely difficult job of turning around the city's juvenile justice system -- a system described by Schiraldi himself as "typically miserable".