Report from Fight Crime: Invest in Kids that outlines the necessity for after-school programs and effectiveness in positive youth development.

The economic recovery bill, signed into law by President Obama on February 17, includes more than $100 Billion for the U.S. Department of Education. That’s less than the original House bill asked for, but more than twice last year’s federal education funding, as the Alliance for Excellent Education reports.

Concerned that young people were increasingly disconnected from the real (read: natural) world, actress and teacher Barbara Sarbin turned a county farm into a hands-on Earth School. Here’s a look at how she did it.

To borrow a tagline and flip it: what happens in Washington, doesn’t stay in Washington—far from it. Budget and policy decisions on Capitol Hill (and in state capitals across the country) have a big impact on even the smallest neighborhoods.

The USDA "Summer Food Service Program Map Machine" finds summer food program sites by zip code or other locators, detailing the characteristics of the local neighborhood and schools.

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics released its latest annual report, America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-being 2006 on July 14th. The report is a compendium of statistics from 21 federal agencies with the latest available data on 26 key indicators related to children's economic security, health, behavior and social environment, and education and on 9 background measures related to population and family characteristics. The 2006 Brief highlights selected information displayed in previous reports, reflects improvements to the summary list, and fills an important data gap in children�s mental health. View, download, and order a copy of the report from the Forum's website. The web site includes detailed data tables and figures (not in the Brief), previous reports and their related links, other Forum reports, and information about the overall structure of the Forum.

Whether a trauma happens in a family, a community or a country, children respond differently and need different supports to heal and adapt. Fortunately, the Web offers a wide world of resources, and Connect for Kids has collected some of the best.

This National Crime Prevention Council toolkit acts as a step-by-step guide for forming an action team, assessing school safety and security, holding a forum with stakeholders to brainstorm solutions, developing and promoting an action plan, and evaluating the results.

The Coalition on Human Needs has analyzed the impact of the President's proposed budget on low-wage parents, and those of moderate income. They conclude that the public services and supports these families rely on to help pay for heat, child care, after-school supervision, medical care or food -- already stretched too thin to reach every eligible family -- will become less and less available over the next several years . CHN also finds the cuts won't have a meaningful impact on the burgeoning deficit.

Young people are volunteering in record numbers—so why are they so politically disengaged? In January 2004, Wisconsin college students joined U.S. Representatives Tammy Baldwin and Mark Green to discuss the disconnect between service and politics. Students noted that, for example, working in a soup kitchen prepared them for service work, but it did not prepare them to advocate for policies to decrease homelessness. Students need more ways, in school and out, to engage in realistic political exercises and experience partisanship without advancing one side or the other. These and other findings appear in the CIRCLE Working Paper 27 "From the Horse's Mouth: A Dialogue Between Politicians and College Students."