State of America’s Children: A New Report

The Children’s Defense Fund recently released their annual State of America’s Children report. The interactive report includes both national and state data on a range of indicators related to children including: population, poverty, family structure, family income, health, nutrition, early childhood development, education, child welfare, juvenile justice, and gun violence. In addition to data, the report includes key facts and information related to the current experiences of children across the country, and addresses the disparate rates of risks and outcomes experienced by children of color. The report includes recommended actions and concludes that investing in our children and their families in critical. This report is a great tool for policymakers interested in impacting issues of child and family poverty and provides detailed information on a range of important issues.

For more data on children and families visit PolicyforResults’ Data Center.

The Significance of Financial Literacy

A report recently published by the Urban Institute highlights the importance of financial literacy programs in providing education to low income families on mortgage rates and assisting in building adequate credit.

Being financially literate allows for families to make informed financial decisions and increases the potential for establishing and maintaining good credit. Good credit enables families to borrow at market interest rates; allowing for substantial purchases (for instance houses and cars) to be more affordable, while simultaneously reducing the chances of mortgage delinquency and foreclosure. As emphasized in the report, the influence of financial education programs could save families1-in-every-4 dollars they spend on mortgage payments while accelerating their accumulation of home equity and potential wealth. There are several federal initiatives aimed at supporting families in their efforts to become more financially literate and secure. HUD’s Family Self-Sufficiency program encourages the creation of community partnerships to provide local, comprehensive services for individuals living in public housing or receiving Section 8 vouchers. The services provided through the FSS program assist residents in achieving economic independence through employment opportunities, the provision of work supports and homeownership counseling. Other federal efforts include HHS’s Assets for Independence, a program that saves earned income in special-purpose, matched savings accounts called Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), while additionally incorporating financial counseling and education to participants.

With 20 different federal agencies offering over 50 programs directed toward financial literacy, and the formation of the multiagency Financial Literacy and Education Commission in 2003, states have a number of resources to support their efforts to promote financial literacy and family economic security. Additionally, these resources provide great opportunities for states to save money; research states that financial education programs are cost effective because they reduce state budget deficiencies through lowering individuals’ delinquency.

Supporting financial literacy programs is a great way for policymakers to help low-income families become financially secure – while also contributing to the creation of a solvent and stable local economy.

For more information about supporting affordable housing options, visit PolicyforResults.org.

Calculating Early Risks

It is important that young children have safe, supportive and economically stable homes in order to grow and thrive most successfully. However, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty, there are over 6 million infants and toddlers in the United States living in low-income families; half of which are living below poverty. These families and their children are often experiencing multiple demographic and familial risk factors. The young child risk calculator, developed by NCCP, is a tool that allows users to calculate the percentage of young children in a state, within a specified age range, who are experiencing selected risk factors or a combination of selected risk-factors (such as having a teen parent, low parental education and residential mobility) and economic hardship at a specified level (extreme poverty, poverty, low-income). This tool is a great way for policymakers to consider the scope of risks affecting young children in their state.

To learn more about the ways that communities, families and support services can work together to build protective factors for all children so that they are safe, healthy and able to thrive visit CSSP’s Strengthening Families.

For policy strategies to ensure children grow-up in safe, supportive and economically successful homes visit PolicyforResults.

2011 F as in Fat Report Shows Significant Increase in Obesity Rates

According to F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2011, recently released by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Trust for America’s Health, adult obesity rates increased in 16 states during that last year and did not decline in any state. Twelve states have obesity rates above 30 percent, though only one state had an obesity rate above 30 percent four years ago.

The annual report includes, for the first time, an analysis of how the obesity epidemic has grown over the past twenty years. In that time, obesity rates have doubled in seven states and increased by at least 90 percent in 10 others. Rates of diabetes and high blood pressure have also dramatically risen. However, compared to previous years, half as many states reported an increase in obesity rates, leading some, including TFAH’s director, to believe that the rates may be leveling off.

The disproportionate growth of obesity and its effects is notable. Racial and ethnic minority adults, and those with less education or who make less money, continue to have the highest overall obesity rates. Additionally, 9 of the 10 states with the highest obesity rates are located in the South.

The alarming increase in obesity rates nationally and the known effects of obesity on life-long health and well-being outcomes point to the need for policies that prevent childhood obesity; promote access to healthy foods; standardize food marketing and nutritional labeling and promote safe, transit-oriented community design. This year’s report includes recommendations for policymakers, as well as an update of enacted obesity-related legislative action in states.

Visit PolicyForResults.org for strategies to prevent childhood obesity, including promoting access to healthy, affordable foods and supporting healthy community design.

Charter Schools: A Solution to Turning Around Low-Performing Schools?

Charter schools are an increasingly relevant and controversial subject in the discussion about improving failing school systems. In a recent article released by the Center for American Progress (CAP), charter schools are applauded for their ability to promote strong turnaround collaborations, offer students a range of educational options and foster innovation through competition among public schools. The report discusses an eight-state RAND study that found that charter school students are 7 to 15 percent more likely to graduate and earn a high school diploma than are traditional public high school students.

While charter schools seem to be a current focus in educational reform, reports like the one published by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University found that charter schools can be detrimental to the public education system through funding shortages from the competition of resources and appropriations, lack of oversight and accountability, and poorly managed systems by inexperienced administrators. This report cites these issues as the reason many charter schools are receiving low scores on statewide tests. In addition, it argues that charter schools leave the majority of underserved students in their same, low-performing schools rather than investing in turning around traditional schools.

As suggested by the CAP article, the debate about charter schools is intensifying as more schools and districts are looking at this model for turning around low-performing institutions. Although there is no broad consensus about the results of charter schools, it remains important for policymakers to understand the range of school turnaround mechanisms, as success varies depending on the unique characteristics of schools and communities. Thus, academic achievement depends on the support of the community and the context of the charter itself, among many other factors.

For more information on improving K-3 academic success, turning around low-performing high schools and other strategies to promote high school completion, visit PolicyforResults.org.

New tool from Half in 10!

The Half in Ten campaign and the Coalition on Human Needs recently released a new tool called, the Road to Shared Prosperity. The tool is an interactive state-by-state map displaying a collection of personal stories about programs across the country that they feel exemplify efforts toward building the American Dream. The map allows for users to click either by subject (such as childcare, education, health, tax credits, nutrition assistance, housing and utilities and jobs and training) or by state – in order to learn about people’s personal experiences with different services and supports. The tool includes not only videos of people addressing their efforts in a state, but also demographic information about the state; including the rate of poverty, percentage of state spending that comes from the federal government, minimum wage workers annual salary, the number of children in need of childcare, etc. The tool is a great way to learn about personal experiences in different communities across the states. For policymakers it is a great way to hear personal stories from constituents as well as to hear what is working for people across the country.

For more information on strategies to advance what works visit PolicyforResults.org.

The New Census Report Underscores the Need to Focus on the Achievement Gap

The 2010 Census revealed that, for the first time in history, more than half the children under the age of 2 in the United States are racial or ethnic minorities. Along with demonstrating that there is an increasingly older, majority white population, these data express a significant demographic shift as racial and ethnic minorities will be in the majority by mid-century. This change in demographics, which will significantly impact policies and practices, underscores the importance of a national discourse about race equity. As a part of that discourse, policymakers should consider how this shift pertains to early childhood development and school readiness, as statistics reveal that 61% of Black 2 year-olds were in low-quality home-based care, compared to 20% of their white counterparts. Addressing early childhood readiness for minority children is critical. Research has proven that this educational stage is crucial for building the foundation for a stable and successful life but currently serves as the beginning of the academic achievement gap.

The causes of the academic achievement gap are varied;including the skewed per-pupil spending on children in different racial groups. The Center for American Progress suggests that state education funding gaps remain a substantial barrier to lessening the disparity in per-pupil spending among different racial groups. For example, in New York and Illinois, per-pupil expenditures for Black and Hispanic students are roughly 90 percent of those for white students. In order to begin addressing the academic achievement gap, it is important to address these inconsistencies to ensure equality, stability and positive development. The recent ETS’s Addressing the Achievement Gap Symposium, presented critical data on the longitudinal effects of racial disparities and recommendations for bridging such gaps through education.

This Census report reinforces the importance of addressing racial inequities in education as well as the other systems and institutions that impact our nation’s children.

For more information on the ETS Symposium, the Alliance for Race Equity, and improving early childhood education, visit PolicyforResults.org.

New Report on Kinship Waivers

The Fostering Connections Act explicitly permits child welfare agencies, on a case-by-case basis, to waive non-safety licensing standards for relative foster family homes. The Administration for Children and Families recently released a report to Congress on state relative foster family homes and the use of licensing waivers. This report, required by the Fostering Connections law, summarizes the responses of the states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico in addressing a list of questions regarding relative care in FY 2009. In addition to background information, the report includes:

• State Data on Relative Care and Licensing Agreements
  
• Assessments of the Use of Waivers
• and, State Legislative Actions and Recommendations for Increasing Licensing among Relative Caregivers

Prior to the enactment of Fostering Connections, some States were already providing waivers to relative foster homes, however, this legislative change has encouraged more States to actively engage relatives and to increase the percentage of relative foster family homes that are licensed. The report found:

• States tended to grant waivers of non-safety licensing standards related to the physical conditions of a relative’s home, the training required of relatives, and other minor non-safety standards.
  
• States described the importance that waivers have made in allowing children to continue to be placed with relatives instead of entering a traditional foster care setting.
• States reported that waivers are customarily approved, except in cases where the agency feels that the child may be endangered by living with a relative foster parent.
• States reported various innovative strategies for increasing the percentage of relatives that are licensed including: identifying and recruiting relatives earlier in the process, offering alternative training options for relative caregivers, and expanding the role of family finders and kinship navigators.
• Most States, including the 15 that do not allow licensing waivers, continue to increase their efforts to promote licensure among relatives as a way of supporting the safety, permanency, and well-being of children in care.

For more information on Fostering Connections visit FosteringConnections.org

For state policy strategies on increasing exits from foster care to reunification, adoption and guardianship visit PolicyforResults.