Preventing Childhood Obesity – My Plate

MyPlate is a new resource from the Let’s Move Campaign and the USDA. The tool is intended to help simplify making healthy eating choices. The icon, built off of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for all Americans can also be used to consider the nutritional needs of specific audiences such as pregnant and nursing mothers, preschoolers, children and those who are interested in healthy ways to loose weight. MyPlate also includes resources to learn more about healthy foods, ways to eat healthy on a budget and resources in Spanish, among others.

Tools like MyPlate and the efforts around the Let’s Move Campaign are important in light of the significant research around health in the United States. The Trust for America’s Health Report, F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future, 2011 states that, two-thirds of adults and nearly one-third of children and teens are currently obese or overweight, putting them at increased risk for more than 20 major diseases, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease. It’s not just our health that is suffering however; it is also impacting our economy. The report goes on to state that obesity-related medical costs and a less productive workforce are hampering America’s ability to compete in the global economy.

For state policy strategies to prevent childhood obesity, visit PolicyforResults,org.

New on PolicyForResults.org! Policies to promote Family Housing Affordability.

Making a Connection: Housing and Family Well-Being. With homeownership at 66 percent, one of the lowest rates in years, and rental rates equivalent to more than 100 hours per week of minimum wage work – the housing crisis is having a significant effect on not only the national economy but the social, emotional and physical well-being of children, youth and families.

Safe, stable and affordable housing plays a significant role in the prosperity of local economies and in the lives of families. It can be a factor in a number of issues, including health, educational achievement, economic prospects and more. Recently, however, more and more public officials are recognizing the necessity of comprehensive housing policies and other supports to improve conditions for families.

The Center for the Study of Social Policy has developed two new resources that focus on the role policymakers and community stakeholders have in creating places where all families can thrive.  The new materials make the connection between housing and family well-being, provide state policymakers with recommendations supported by research and data and offer examples of how states and communities are leveraging existing federal resources.

• Policy for Results: Strategies for State Policymakers to Promote Affordable Housing
• Financing Community Change: Affordable Housing as a Platform for Improving Family Well-Being: Federal Funding and Policy Opportunities

National Neighborhood Alliance Launched

The Center for the Study of Social Policy, United Neighborhood Centers of America, Harlem Children's Zone and PolicyLink are joining with several other leading organizations in launching the National Neighborhood Alliance. The National Neighborhood Alliance is a voluntary collaboration of national, state and local organizations that are supporting work in communities of concentrated poverty.

Starting in October, the Alliance will begin holding a series of regular, monthly conference calls to share information about work in, or support of, these communities. The calls will also serve as a forum for sharing information on advocacy efforts.The National Neighborhood Alliance is open to any interested national, state or local nonprofit organization, philanthropic organization, or for-profit organization involved in neighborhood-based work. Membership is free. Adding your organization to the list is simple. Just email Patrick Lester at plester@unca.org. The original founding organizations are:

• Alliance for Children and Families
• America’s Promise Alliance
• The Bridgespan Group
• Center for the Study of Social Policy
• Child Trends
• Coalition for Community Schools
• Enterprise Community Partners
• Harlem Children’s Zone
• Local Initiatives Support Corporation
• National Congress of American Indians
• PolicyLink
• Promise Neighborhoods Research Consortium
• Results Leadership Group, LLC
• The Rural School and Community Trust
• The Skillman Foundation
• Social Solutions
• United Neighborhood Centers of America
• United Way Worldwide
• YMCA of the USA

By Patrick Lester, crossposted from Building Neighborhoods.

Key Funding Opportunites for Communities in the Health Care Reform Act

The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) has created a summary of some of the key provisions from the Patient and Affordable Care Act. Specifically, the summary focuses on four areas which are the most critical for children and families: School Based Health Centers, Community Based Health Centers, Health Workers, and Home Visiting. Although much of this funding will be disbursed directly to States, communities still have an opportunity to influence the use of federal dollars at the local level by strengthening and building upon existing community partnerships and by lifting up the experiences, needs, and capacity of local organizations and community residents.

Cross-posted from the Financing Community Change Blog by: Aysha Gregory

What It Takes to Build a Comprehensive Youth Employment Services System

A recent report from CLASP looks at what is needed for a comprehensive youth employment delivery system and the experiences of several urban communities in developing such systems. The authors argue for a cross-system approach that utilizes public and private resources to link disconnected and at-risk youth with education, training, and employment supports.

Evaluating eight communities, CLASP identified the following key components of a comprehensive youth employment delivery system:

• A strong convening entity
• An effective administrative agent
• A well-trained case management arm
• Strong partnerships across systems that serve youth
• High quality work experience and career exposure components

For policies to improve job training and to prepare youth to succeed in life.

Washington State Partners to Improve Child Welfare

Washington State’s Department of Social and Health Services, Children’s Administration recently implemented a new system-wide practice model called Solution-Based Casework (SBC). In making this system change – the state requested an independent, ongoing implementation study and impact evaluation from Partners for Our Children. The study and evaluation seek to determine the degree to which implementing SBC is successful in improving child and family outcomes in Washington State. The partnership includes parents, state leadership, child welfare administrators and staff, The University of Washington School of Social Work, and the private sector. The partnership is working together in order to improve the lives of children in foster care based on research, testing and evaluation.

The role of partnership is a critical one in successfully implementing and thoroughly evaluating wide-scale change. For state policymakers seeking to partner across agencies (with members of the community, academics, and practitioners) Washington State’s evidence-based approach might serve as a valuable resource.

For related news coverage regarding Washington States initial findings.

To read the Interim Report: Evaluation of Washington’s Solution Based Casework practice model: Baseline parent survey analysis by state, region, and service context.

For a Framework on Connecting Policy to Results.

Transforming Community Colleges to Improve Their Services and Image

A new publication from the Center for American Progress calls for community colleges to re-imagine several aspects of their institutions and develop “a more nuanced understanding of the needs and potential of [their] diverse student body.” By re-envisioning their curricula, structural and procedural norms, and political roles, community colleges can improve their service to students and bolster the legitimacy of their institutions. The authors provide several recommendations for transforming community colleges and specific policies to facilitate that change, including:

• New approaches to training and credentialing
• Funding for colleges and financial support for students
• Policies to promote developmental education
• Higher transfer rates to four-colleges
• More modern infrastructure and technology
• Better data collection
• Common standards for assessing student learning and institutional effectiveness

Hat tip to Connect for Kids.

Policies to create seamless education pathways. Also, visit our homepage to sign up for email updates about new content on college enrollment and completion!

Illinois Integrated Assessment: Collaborative Results for Children and Families

A new report from Chapin Hall examines the Illinois Integrated Assessment (IA) program and its substantive effects on interventions for children and families. Begun in 2005, the IA partners child welfare caseworkers with licensed clinicians outside the child welfare system to collaborate on better-informed child and family assessments, which allow for the development of stronger service plans and earlier, more appropriate interventions. The report outlines the IA model, discusses its implementation, and explores its utilization through the experiences of frontline caseworkers. The IA program’s results for children, families, and even caseworkers provide a useful example to policymakers.

Policies to increase exits from foster care to permanency.

Seizing the Opportunity to Reframe and Integrate Human Service Administration

A white paper by the National Human Services Assembly’s Family Strengthening Center argues that the current economic crisis provides a key opportunity for rethinking the way human services frame “the client” and deliver services to children and families. The product of a May 2009 convening of national leaders in child, youth, and community development and family strengthening, the paper lays out major themes discussed and actionable strategies for reframing and cross-disciplinary service administration. In the face of challenges like organizational siloing and fragmented funding, the group calls for a new lens that acknowledges the family as the client, policy that supports families raising minor children, integrated and more accessible human services, and immediate changes in case management, data sharing, and benefits eligibility screening.

Policies that support children and families, and a framework for policy success.

Collaborative Pre-K Programming

Pre-K Now’s “Beyond the School Yard: Pre-K Collaborations with Community-Based Partners” describes promising practices and challenges in the collaborations between K-12 leaders and community-based providers to provide high-quality pre-k programs. With significant research showing the positive effects of high-quality pre-k on children and their future learning opportunities, as well as expertise and resource constraints, K-12 officials are exploring collaborations with community-based programs like child care centers, Head Start, and faith-based organizations. Pre-K Now’s report provides concrete steps to develop effective collaborations and offers policy recommendations to facilitate their development.

For education leaders with a traditional K-12 perspective, collaboration often presents both new opportunities and new difficulties, from establishing relationships with early care providers to developing a shared definition of “school readiness.” While implementing a pre-k program in partnership with community-based organizations may require more time and effort, this strategy ultimately benefits all stakeholders: public schools, private providers, families and children.

Policies to improve early grade-level reading, as well as strategies for investment in quality prekindergarten.

Partnerships for Effective Systems of Care for Children and Families

The Research and Training Center (RTC) for Children’s Mental Health at the University of South Florida recently released Examining the Relationship between Family-Run Organizations and Non-Family Organization Partners in Systems of Care. Part of RTC’s ongoing systems of care studies, this report explores six family-run organizations, their relationships with their non-family organization partners, and the strategies they use to develop family voice and implement family-driven services.

The relationship between family-run organizations and non-family-run organizations in systems of care is complex in nature, and the strongest relationships appear to be those that are multi-textured. For example, in systems of care with strong family voice, the non-family-run entities consult with the family-run organization as a partner; support the family-run organization, not only with money, but with training and advocacy to carry out their responsibilities; use the family-run organization to trouble-shoot when
they run into problems; are open to learning from them and vice-a-versa–operating as a learning community; and, pay attention to how much the family-run organization can handle in its development.