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NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS
**Mosaic Youth Theatre Crosses a Divide
**Take Our Daughters to Work Day
**Resources for Girls and Adults Who Care About Them
**Freevibe.com Gives Kids the Skinny on Drug Use
CONNECT TODAY
**Speak Out About Elian
WASHINGTON UPDATE
**Slicing the Budget Pie
TAKE ACTION
**Supporting Quality Child Care
**Fighting Hunger
**Addressing Child Maltreatment and Drug Abuse
**Elementary and Secondary Education Act Up for Reauthorization
IT'S WHAT YOU COUNT THAT COUNTS!
**Evaluating Outreach and Enrollment Strategies
**Does Your Youth Program Work?
**Ideas for Research Linking Programs and Outcomes Measures
**Valuing Evaluation
**Finding Data Sets to Evaluate Welfare Reform
SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
**Partnering for Success: Community Approaches to Early Learning
**WIC Works to Boost Child Nutrition
REPORTS IN BRIEF
**Supporting the Rural Health Care Safety Net
**Long Term Effects of Housing Assistance on Self-Sufficiency
**Resource Manual on Immigrant Access to Health Benefits
**Suburban Sprawl Costs Us All
**Prevention of Serious and Violent Juvenile Offending
**Most Dangerous Products to Join Most Wanted Lists
**Correction on School-Based Health Clinics and Medicaid Costs
PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS AND JUVENILE VIOLENCE
**Is the ?Cure? Worse than the Cause?
**Prevention and Comprehensive Approach Better than ?Quick Fix?
**Violent Kids: Can We Stop the Trend?
**Going Overboard
EDUCATIONAL FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
**School Grants
**Safe and Drug-Free School Grants -- April 26 Satellite Workshop
**Literacy Funding
**Target Teacher Scholarships
**Grants for Improving Classroom Teaching
**Computers for Learning
**Tips for Grant Writing
COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS: CHARLOTTE, DETROIT AND SAN JOSE
**Let Us Hear From You
**Congratulations to San Jose's Alum Rock Union Elementary School District
**School Health Clinics Facing Cuts in Detroit
FOCUS ON STATES
**?Connectedness? is Key to Well-Managed Classrooms
**EITC in the States
**State Round-Up
NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS
**Mosaic Youth Theatre Crosses a Divide
A Detroit youth theatre company offers kids the chance to collaborate
with professionals and confront the issues affecting their own community.
http://www.connectforkids.org
**Take Our Daughters to Work Day
Every year, on the fourth Thursday in April, companies and communities
across the country celebrate Take Our Daughters to Work Day. Here's a closer
look at what's happening to help our nation's daughters stay strong, healthy
and focused on their futures.
http://www.connectforkids.org
**Resources for Girls and Adults Who Care About Them
From technology training to giving girls a sporting chance in school,
these Connect for Kids resources help you address the issues facing girls
today. Help girls celebrate their strengths, and make sure girls don't
get shortchanged in your community.
http://www.connectforkids.org
**Freevibe.com Gives Kids the Skinny on Drug Use
What are the facts about kids and drugs? What's the hype? On Freevibe.com,
kids can find the answers to their questions, share their stories, and
find support about how to say no. They can also have fun with online activities,
games and entertainment news.
http://www.connectforkids.org
CONNECT TODAY
**Speak Out About Elian
Share your thoughts and questions about Elian, children's rights, and
what we know about children and trauma.
http://www.connectforkids.org/thread_msg1585/thread_msg_show.htm?message_id=18135
WASHINGTON UPDATE
**Slicing the Budget Pie
On April 13, both the House and Senate adopted a Congressional budget
resolution for FY 2001. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports
that this resolution calls for spending 98 percent of expected surpluses
in tax cuts, increasing defense spending and reducing non-defense domestic
spending by $121 billion, or 7.5 percent, over the next five years. http://www.cbpp.org/4-14-00bud.htm
TAKE ACTION
**Supporting Quality Child Care
Child care is not just a safety net for working parents. Research shows
it is a vital component for helping young children enter school ready to
learn and for helping older children thrive. The Children's Defense Fund
keeps you up-to-date on legislative action.
http://www.childrensdefense.org/childcare/ccmenu.html
**Fighting Hunger
Twelve million children in America live in households where food is
scarce, and some 3 million children go hungry in a day. Bread for the World
has information on legislative proposals to improve the Food Stamp program
for kids and families, and other anti-hunger efforts. http://www.bread.org
**Addressing Child Maltreatment and Drug Abuse
Parents who abuse or neglect their children often need treatment for
alcohol and drug abuse. The bipartisan Child Protection/Alcohol and Drug
Partnership Act of 2000 (S. 2435) would help bring needed drug treatment
services to troubled families. The Child Welfare League of America has
details. http://www.cwla.org/cwla/publicpolicy/alrt041800.html
**Elementary and Secondary Education Act Up for Reauthorization
The 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which brought
the resources of the federal government within reach of local school districts
to educate disadvantaged and special needs kids, is up for reauthorization
this year. The National Education Association warns against block grant
and other proposals that could radically change ESEA's effectiveness. http://www.nea.org/lac/esea/
IT'S WHAT YOU COUNT THAT COUNTS!
The quest for accountability is putting greater pressures on programs
and service providers to demonstrate cost-effective, successful outcomes.
Here's some help for practitioners trying to design evaluation studies
of their programs.
**Evaluating Outreach and Enrollment Strategies
With training and stipends, can community groups increase the enrollment
of eligible children in Medicaid and CHIP by helping potential families
fill out the forms? What barriers do families encounter? ?Planning the
Beginning with the End in Mind: Evaluating Outreach and Enrollment Strategies?
is a case study by the National Association of Child Advocates.
http://www.childadvocacy.org/publictxt.html#health
**Does Your Youth Program Work?
This publication from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention is designed for young people (and those young to the field of
evaluation) who want to learn more about designing and implementing a program
evaluation.
http://www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/youthbulletin/2000_04_1/contents.html
**Ideas for Research Linking Programs and Outcomes Measures
Child Trends' spring edition of ?The Child Indicator? offers ways for
community groups to document improved outcomes for kids. For example, researcher
Dr. Clara Pratt is extending Oregon's broad benchmark approach by identifying
interim indicators that reflect program results and outcomes. Also available
is Child Trends new inventory of child, youth and family indicator-based
projects.
http://www.childtrends.org/PDF/issue2.pdf
**Valuing Evaluation
This Bernard Van Leer Foundation Working Paper #26 summarizes practical
ideas developed in a workshop on designing an evaluation ?that works for
you. ? Here is practical help for thinking through a program's evaluation
needs -- its aims, posing the questions and finding answers, generating
indicators, and analyzing your information. E-mail registry@bvleerf.nl
for a copy.
**Finding Data Sets to Evaluate Welfare Reform
Whether welfare reform changes are helping or hurting kids and families
is an urgent question for advocates, policy makers and service providers,
but finding reliable, current data to answer the question poses a significant
challenge. The March 2000 ?Forum? of the Research Forum on Children, Families,
and the New Federalism reviews national data sources and creative uses
of state and local administrative data.
http://www.researchforum.org/newsletter/forum31.pdf
Find programs that help make communities better for kids in Connect
for Kids' Profiles in Action. http://www.connectforkids.org/benton_reviews1565/benton_reviews.htm
SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
**Partnering for Success: Community Approaches to Early Learning
?Until a vision of American education reform that includes early childhood
education is widely shared, the goal of universal school readiness will
remain elusive,? argues this report from the Child Care Action Campaign
(CCAC). CCAC profiles 68 low-income communities that are bringing schools
and community groups together to improve preschool learning. http://www.childcareaction.org/iuniv.html
**WIC Works to Boost Child Nutrition
The decade of the 90's saw a dramatic increase in the number of young
children participating in the USDA's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program
for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). A new study released by the Department
of Agriculture confirms that participation in WIC significantly boosts
children's intakes of iron, vitamin B-6, and folate -- nutrients important
for healthy development. http://www.ers.usda.gov/epubs/pdf/fanrr5
Find out more about child care and early childhood education in Connect
for Kids' ?Early Years? feature <http://www.connectforkids.org/content1554/content.htm>
or look up ?Child Care? in Topics A-Z. <http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1543/index.htm>
REPORTS IN BRIEF
**Mentoring Teens
Teens who feel they have an adult they can trust and talk to ? a mother,
mentor or older sibling ? engage in fewer risk behaviors than those who
report no such person in their lives, according to a cross-sectional study
of teens coming to a suburban health clinic for outpatient care.
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/issues/v154n4/full/poa9162.html
**Supporting the Rural Health Care Safety Net
Changes in the health care sector are threatening many providers, both
rural and urban. The consequences of the failure of a provider, however,
whether it be a health facility or a health professional's practice, are
potentially greater in rural areas. The Urban Institute explores specific
challenges and solutions for preserving health care services in rural communities.
http://newfederalism.urban.org/html/op36/occa36.html
**Long Term Effects of Housing Assistance on Self-Sufficiency
This report from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development compares
those who grew up with housing assistance during adolescence with those
who did not. Cost: $5.
http://www.huduser.org/publications/pubasst/longterm.html
**Resource Manual on Immigrant Access to Health Benefits
This manual offers help for those working with immigrant families from
the Access Project and the National Health Law Program. Call 617-654-9911
or e-mail info@accessproject.org.
http://www.healthlaw.org/pubs/200004immig_pub.html
**Suburban Sprawl Costs Us All
Without realizing it, taxpayers are actually subsidizing long-standing
practices that favor sprawl instead of well-planned development in suburban
areas, according to this Sierra Club report. http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/report00/
**Prevention of Serious and Violent Juvenile Offending
This Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Bulletin
looks at the precursors and prevention approaches for youth who commit
serious and dangerous offenses. Such youth usually have shown clear signs
early on, especially physically aggressive or violent behaviors. http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/pubs/delinq.html#178898
**Most Dangerous Products to Join Most Wanted Lists
Noting that many hazardous products that have been recalled remain
in use, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission plans to send product
recall alerts to all 33,000 post offices to be posted on their bulletin
boards. http://www.cpsc.gov
**Correction on School-Based Health Clinics and Medicaid Costs
In the April 10 Weekly, we reported on ?An Elementary School-Based
Health Clinic: Can It Reduce Medicaid Costs?? A watchful Weekly reader
informed us that our summary was misleading. This first analysis of the
effect of school-based health services on Medicaid savings found significant
savings, especially in emergency room and inpatient costs, compared with
Medicaid costs for a comparable population of students.
http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/abstract/105/4/780
The Connect for Kids Topic Pages cover subjects from A-Z on kids and
families. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1543/index.htm
PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS AND JUVENILE VIOLENCE
**Is the ?Cure? Worse than the Cause?
Public fears about school safety, exaggerated by episodic media coverage
of individual incidents, may be driving punitive school discipline responses
that do more harm than good, according to "School House Hype, Two Years
Later" from the Justice Policy Institute and the Children's Law Center.
http://www.cjcj.org/schoolhousehype/
**Prevention and Comprehensive Approach Better than ?Quick Fix?
Despite the understandable wish for a ?quick fix? evidenced by zero
tolerance policies or increased school security, Stateline reports that
states are beginning to develop policies that focus on successful prevention
and early intervention through comprehensive school safety plans. http://stateline.org/story.cfm?storyid=72586
**Violent Kids: Can We Stop the Trend?
Is it our ?culture of violence?? Is it the lack of a quality mental
health prevention and treatment system for kids who are especially troubled?
Or is it parental ?permissiveness?? Public Agenda explores the assumptions
and implications of each of these arguments about juvenile violence in
its latest publication.
http://www.publicagenda.org/specials/nifviolentkids/intro.htm
**Going Overboard
In their concern over potential student violence, and perhaps in their
zeal to silence irreverent student voices, some school authorities are
punishing students who express provocative opinions online. The Benton
Foundation's Communications Policy program explains that they do so at
their legal peril and in violation of free speech judgments. http://www.benton.org/DigitalBeat/db042000.html
EDUCATIONAL FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
**School Grants
Here is one-stop shopping site for government, foundation and corporate
funding opportunities in K-12 education, updated daily.
http://www.schoolgrants.org
**Safe & Drug-Free School Grants -- April 26 Satellite Workshop
On April 26 from 3:00-4:30 pm (ET), the Department of Education will
host a satellite workshop providing information on five grant competitions
under the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program. <http://www.ed.gov/registerevent>
Information and applications for these programs are available on the Safe
and Drug-Free Schools Web site. <http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SDFS/>
U.S. Dept. of Education notices on all current funding opportunities are
posted at http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/
**Literacy Funding
Are you a small organization seeking bigger funding? Kent State's Ohio
Literacy Resource Center has good ideas and resources to help you improve
your grant-writing skills. http://literacy.kent.edu/Oasis/grants_funding.html
**Target Teacher Scholarships
Target provides scholarships for education students and grants to teachers
and administrators for professional development. Applications are available
in Target stores beginning April 2000. http://target.com/schools/scholarships.asp
**Grants for Improving Classroom Teaching
Toshiba America Foundation awards grants for programs and activities
that improve classroom teaching in science, math and technology. For more
information call 212-588-0820 or email the Foundation at foundation@tai.toshiba.com
**Computers for Learning
Surplus federal computer equipment is available for schools and nonprofits
that register with the Computers for Learning program. http://www.computers.fed.gov
**Tips for Grant Writing
Although this tutorial is designed for grants made to the Environmental
Protection Agency, it may help all nonprofits organize their ideas for
preparing a grant proposal. http://www.epa.gov/seahome/grants.html
COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS: CHARLOTTE, DETROIT
AND SAN JOSE
**Let Us Hear From You
Connect for Kids wants to test the proposition that the Internet enables
us all to gather information and join efforts to make our communities better
for kids and families. San Jose, Detroit and Charlotte are our specific
pilot communities, but we are interested in the resources, tools, program
ideas, and community-level initiatives that could be adapted by communities
across the nation. Send us news of your community's experiences and successes
(jan@benton.org).
**Congratulations to San Jose's Alum Rock Union Elementary School District
The 21st Century Community Learning Center at San Jose's Alum Rock
Union Elementary School District was sited in the U.S. Dept. of Education's
Safe and Smart report on after-school programs published in April 2000.
The program uses highly qualified staff and trained volunteers, works with
community-based organizations to stretch resources and learning opportunities,
and facilitates close connection with the academic day at the school. Call
Frank Castilla (408-924-2571) for more information. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/SafeSmart/green-3.doc
**School Health Clinics Face Cuts in Detroit
Last week Connect for Kids reported on the fiscal crisis threatening
the financial viability of health care safety net providers. On April 14,
2000 the Detroit News reported on one potential ?trickle-down? effect on
community health care -- the threat to school-based health clinics dependent
on larger safety net providers for some of their funding.
http://detnews.com/2000/schools/0004/14/a01-36958.htm
FOCUS ON THE STATES
Check out state-specific information, or post your own announcements,
on your Connect for Kids state page. Here are some of the items posted
this week. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1576/index.htm
**?Connectedness? is Key to Well-Managed Classrooms
Taking advantage of smaller schools and higher adult-student ratios,
teachers in North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Wyoming attribute fewer student
disruptions to the sense of connectedness they have with their students,
according to a report published by the National Education Goals Panel.
http://www.negp.gov/issues/issu/monthly/0400.pdf
**Earned Income Tax Credits Across the States
Several states are expanding their state level Earned Income Tax Credits
to boost financial security among low-income working families, Connecticut
Voices for Children reports.
--The Maryland legislature has voted to accelerate the phase-in of
the state's refundable EITC.
--Delaware is considering a 20 percent refundable state EITC.
--California advocates are working hard to get a 15 percent refundable
EITC enacted.
--The New Jersey the Speaker of the Assembly has agreed to sponsor
legislation to enact Gov. Whitman's EITC proposal.
--As for Connecticut? Stay tuned.
**State Round-Up
Find these stories and more on your Connect for Kids State Page. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1576/index.htm
Arizona. Children's Action Alliance petitions to put the Healthy Children
Healthy Families Tobacco Settlement Initiative on the November 2000 Arizona
Ballot.
California. The California Budget Project offers a welfare reform update;
Study finds that the California job market is not rewarding unskilled workers
with wages that can support a family.
Illinois. Illinois Voices for Children tallies the legislative session's
?wins and losses? for kids. E-mail Alan Simpson at asimpson@voices4kids.org
for this one-page sheet.
Indiana. Gov. O'Bannon proposes the first state-level early childhood
information clearinghouse.
Michigan. State funding for school health centers, child care, early
childhood education and mental health services for kids and families are
all up for grabs in the state budget.
New York. Study from the Citizens' Committee for Children of New York,
Inc., finds that the first year of New York City's universal pre-kindergarten
was successful overall.
North Carolina. General Colin Powell named North Carolina the first
America's Promise model state in the country.
Washington . The Seattle Y was dubbed the ?best of Seattle? by the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer.
Keep in touch, everyone!
Jan Richter, Outreach Specialist and the Connect for Kids Team
Jan@benton.org
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