Building Neighborhood Capacity Program Releases Formative Assessment Report with Lessons Learned from the Field

The Building Neighborhood Capacity Program (BNCP) seeks to catalyze community-driven change in neighborhoods that have historically faced barriers to revitalization. A key program of the federal Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, BNCP was launched in 2012 to provide resources and targeted technical assistance to eight neighborhoods in four cities – Flint, MI; Fresno, CA; Memphis, TN; and Milwaukee, WI.

BNCP focuses on building community capacity: the knowledge, skills, relationships, processes and resources that neighborhood residents, local organizations and city-level partners need to work together to achieve better results. BNCP is funded by the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development and Justice and supported by technical assistance from the Center for the Study of Social Policy.

BNCP’s Federal Management Team and the Center for the Study of Social Policy are excited to release the Formative Assessment report, showcasing findings to contribute to the field’s knowledge about effective strategies for building neighborhood capacity. Written by Prudence Brown and Leila Fiester, the report covers BNCP’s original timeline from January 2012 to April 2014, as well as its six-month extension to October 2014.

Since that time, BNCP has been expanded, providing each city with two years of additional support to expand to a third neighborhood and develop a city-wide strategy to sustain revitalization efforts. The findings from the Formative Assessment are being used to inform and strengthen BNCP’s ongoing work in the initial eight neighborhoods, as well as the BNCP expansion process.

Check out the Formative Assessment on the Building Neighborhood Capacity Resource Center!

All-in Nation: An America that Works for All

The Center for American Progress and PolicyLink have collaborated to write “All-In Nation: An America That Works for All.” Making the case that strong communities of color - and other communities that have been left behind - are critical to America’s economic future, the book includes a series of essays that lay the groundwork for federal policies that can create an equitable economy where everyone has the opportunity to participate and thrive.

As the book illustrates, communities of color have continued to face substantial barriers and inequities when it comes to economic security, educational attainment, health and other critical outcomes. In the midst of our nation’s economic recession, black family wealth fell 31 percent between 2007 and 2010, with Hispanic family wealth falling by 44 percent. Yet, white family wealth fell by only 11 percent within the same period. The impact of our struggling economic climate has continued to intensify the disparities that have long existed in communities of color.

Highlighting the economic imperative of ensuring success in communities of color, “All-In Nation” uses economic indicators to demonstrate the how racial disparities perpetuate inequality. According to the book, if racial and ethnic disparities were eliminated, the average total personal income in 2011 would have been 8.1 percent higher and 13 million people would have been lifted out of poverty. As demographics shift across the nation – the book estimates that communities of color will be 53 percent of the population by 2050 - our policies must reflect the need to ensure that these communities have access to the tools, resources and skills needed to succeed.

“All-In Nation” explores a policy agenda that includes infrastructure, jobs, health care, education and workforce development, immigration, criminal justice and democratic participation – issues that many communities across the nation are working hard to tackle. For example, many low-income communities have limited access to healthy, affordable food options. However, the federal Healthy Food Financing Initiative has spurred access to loans and funding for local grocery stores in an effort to increase access and, as a result, healthy food options. Milwaukee’s Fondy Farmers Market, for example, supports more than 36,000 shoppers and brings in nearly $500,000 in annual sales. Similarly, without access to reliable transportation, residents in low-income communities are often disconnected from jobs, as well as access to health care, education and other essential services. However, as the book suggestions, ensuring that transportation funds are invested in projects that increase mobility in marginalized communities can increase jobs and improve the well-being of children and families.

Want to learn more about “All-In Nation” and the policy agenda it explores? Click here.

Want to learn more about policy strategies that can improve outcomes for communities? Check out the PolicyforResults.org.

Recommendations for Successful District Summer Learning Programs

While summer is nearing its end, and kids across the country are heading back to school, it is not too early to start thinking about how your school district can plan a successful summer learning program. Earlier this month, the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit focused on public policy research and analysis, released a research brief entitled "How to Get the Most out of a Summer Learning Program" that presents a set of recommendations for making school district summer learning programs as effective as possible.

Research has shown that, over the course of the summer, students often lose some of the skills and knowledge they gained during the previous academic year. While this phenomenon, termed “summer learning loss”, affects most students, it can be particularly harmful for low-income students. Combined with the other challenges, such as a lack of positive activities, many children in low-income neighborhoods face during the summer, the presence of summer learning loss has led some school districts to look at how summer learning programs can reduce, if not reverse, summer learning loss.

The research brief draws on findings from a recently published RAND report entitled “Getting to Work on Summer Learning: Recommended Practices for Success."  That report is the second in a five-part series that is exploring best practices in summer learning programs by sharing the results of a demonstration project taking place in five large urban school districts: Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Duval County (Florida), Pittsburgh, and Rochester (New York).

Based on hundreds of surveys, interviews, and hours of direct observation of summer learning programs, the RAND researchers made several recommendations for school districts and organizations working to implement a summer learning program in areas such as planning, staff selection and training, and the tracking of program costs. Selected recommendations include:

• Commit to having a summer program by January.
• Establish firm enrollment deadlines and keep electronic student records.
• Develop a rigorous selection processes to recruit motivated teachers.
• Keep in mind that it is not necessary to disguise academics to boost attendance.
• Anchor the program in a commercially available and evidence-based curriculum.
• Operate the program for five to six weeks. 
• Schedule three to four hours a day for academics and focus on academic content during those hours.
• Put resources into tracking and boosting attendance.

While the researchers caution that these are not "proven practices" - the academic performance of the students in the programs they are studying through the demonstration project is currently being evaluated - they are evidence-based and provide the best guidance on summer learning programs that is available at this time.

For more information on this summer learning program research, please visit RAND’s website to view the research brief or the full report.

Leading for Results

Individual and organizational leadership is a key capacity in community change work. As described by the Building Neighborhood Capacity Program, “it’s one of the ingredients that help innovate, guide, govern, track and maintain the efforts that will bring about substantive and lasting change.”

What capacities do leaders themselves need to improve results for children and families? The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently published a report on lessons learned from its twenty years of work on leadership development, “helping people develop the skills, the behaviors and the relationships they need to lead organizations and public systems toward lasting improvements in child and family well-being.”

Leading for Results: Developing Talent to Drive Change identifies five core competencies of results-based leadership:

• Be results based and data driven, establishing clear goals and using data to assess progress and change course as needed.

• Use the self as an instrument of change to move a result, based on the belief that individual leaders are capable of leading from whatever position they hold.

• Bring attention to and act on disparities, recognizing that race, class and culture impact outcomes and opportunities for vulnerable children.

• Master the skills of “adaptive leadership,” which makes leaders aware of the impact of values, habits, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors associated with taking action to improve results.

• Collaborate with others, understanding that the capacity to build consensus and make group decisions enables leaders to align their actions and move work forward to achieve results.

The final competency, which focuses on collaboration, is core to the Casey leadership development philosophy. While the individual is key in driving change, the ability to achieve results requires “bringing diverse groups together that can work across race, class and ethnicity to create equitable opportunities and improved outcomes for children and families.”

The report highlights the State of Maryland’s efforts to bring together nonprofit and public agency leaders working to improve children’s school readiness. Through the inaugural Leadership in Action program in 2001, the foundation convened 40 mid- to-high level leaders to engage in a learning process about what it would take to create a state where all children are ready for school.

At the end of the ten months, the collaborative had developed a road map for collective action that was later adopted by the state legislature and served as a beacon to keep the diverse group of partners focused on achieving results. These initial efforts informed the creation of the Maryland Early Childhood Advisory Council. Now with a Race to the Top Early Learning grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the state is developing 24 councils who are working at the local level to improve school readiness.

Much of the foundation’s leadership philosophy can be summed up by seeking “high alignment, high action.” According to this goal, an effective leader is only capable of implementing the shared strategies necessary to achieve results when he or she is also working to strengthen relationships. In other words, leadership development is most durable when it occurs within the context of collaborative decision-making.

For more information on the knowledge, skills and attitudes of collaborative leaders, see this extract from the Center for the Study of Social Policy’s Handbook for Using Community Decision-Making to Improve the Lives of Children, Youth and Families.

Bridgespan Releases Report about Nonprofit Feedback on Social Innovation Fund

Earlier this month, the Bridgespan Group, an advisor to nonprofits and philanthropic organizations, announced the release of a new report detailing responses from interviews and surveys of nonprofits that have received funds through the federal government's Social Innovation Fund (SIF). Entitled How Is Investing in "What Works" Working? Early Feedback from Nonprofits Participating in the Social Innovation Fund, the report presents preliminary findings on how thse nonprofits perceive the impact of the SIF with respect to things such as their ability to attract additional funding and the emphasis that funders, both private and public, place on evidence when making funding decisions.

The SIF, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, seeks to use limited federal funding with support from grantmaking "intermediaries" to support the expansion of nonprofits with strong evidence of success in one of three areas: youth development, health and economic opportunity. These intermediary organizations in turn make grants to nonprofit organizations, or "subgrantees," that meet certain criteria with respect to evidence of past performance and promise of scalability. Subgrantees are responsible for securing matching funds of at least one dollar for every dollar received from the SIF.

The findings of the report were drawn from 12 in-depth interviews with the leadership of nonprofits receiving SIF funds and an online survey administered in August of this year to all 197 subgrantees that received funding since the program's inception in 2009. Major preliminary findings include nonprofit perceptions of:

• Increased funder concern for evidence of effectiveness, particularly in the federal government and foundations;
• The need for government to "identify and fund proven solutions/evidence-based practices" as a systems change;
• The need for government to "clarify and consistently use high standards of evidence."

The complete report can be accessed by visiting Bridgespan's website here.

For more information about the SIF, please view previous posts from our blog here.

The Affordable Care Act and Place-Based Community Work

On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) as constitutional, meaning the law is legal and will mostly be implemented as originally written. Many experts predict that the ACA will have a concrete impact on every American individual, but what about communities and community work? As states strive to meet upcoming ACA implementation deadlines, how will place-based initiatives and their constituents be affected?

Going beyond Coverage to Improve Community Health is the first in a series of CSSP Issue Briefs that examine how place-based initiatives can harness ACA resources and programs to maximize community health. Some of the new or enhanced programs, initiatives and funding streams authorized by the ACA and highlighted in CSSP’s Issue Brief are described below: 

• Community Transformation Grants (CTG) are intended to combat health disparities and chronic illness by empowering local communities to recognize and address social determinants of health outcomes. Grantees will focus on reducing health disparities and chronic disease rates through targeted disease prevention and health promotion initiatives. CTG is also dedicated to supporting and expanding evidence-based strategies. Roughly $103 million CTG funds have been awarded thus far. Grantees for the small communities program will be announced in September 2012. See here for more information about CTG.

• The National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council, an inter-agency coalition of 17 federal departments, models the cross-sector collaboration that many place-based initiatives also operationalize. The Council’s first report, National Prevention Strategy: America’s Plan for Better Health and Wellness, highlights four strategic directions for prevention-oriented work, listed below, and serves as a guide for how communities can implement prevention strategies.

Strategic Directions for Prevention-Oriented Work:

1. Healthy and safe community environment
2. Clinical and community preventive services
3. Empowered people
4. Elimination of health disparities

The National Prevention Strategy has also defined seven priorities:

1. Tobacco Free Living
2. Preventing Drug Abuse and Excessive Alcohol Use
3. Health Eating
4. Active Living
5. Injury and Violence Free Living
6. Reproductive and Sexual Health
7. Mental and Emotional Well-Being

• In order to maintain their tax-exempt status, non-profit hospitals will now be required to conduct a periodic community health needs assessment and demonstrate concrete action to address identified needs. The needs assessment process must be public knowledge and will provide opportunities for place-based initiatives and community organizations to partner with local hospitals.

• The ACA enhances the evidence-based, two-generation Maternal, Infant and Child Home Visiting Program. ACA funding to states and native tribes will be partially categorical and partially competitive. As part of the application process, states must conduct a needs assessment, identify at-risk communities and assess home visiting programs already operating in the state. While this year’s funds have already been allocated, stay tuned for the $400 million that will be available through this program in FY 2013. 

• The ACA requires every state to launch a culturally competent and linguistically diverse Navigator program to assist individuals/ families enrolling in health insurance through their state Health Insurance Exchange (“a new ‘health insurance marketplace’ created by the ACA that is designed to offer a range of affordable, quality insurance coverage options to individuals and families”). Navigators are tasked with encouraging health insurance enrollment and ensuring that consumers have full and accurate information about their options.  

• Through the new Community Health Center Trust Fund, the ACA will support federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in an effort to bring them to greater scale and to encourage the development of new FQHCs in medically underserved communities. FQHCs already have a measurable impact, currently serving roughly 20 million uninsured patients. The first round of Community Health Center Trust Fund grantees was announced in May 2012.

• The School-based Health Center Capital Program will fund capital improvements to school-based health centers (SBHCs), prioritizing schools with high Medicaid- and CHIP-eligible student bodies. SBHCs often serve students’ families and neighbors in addition to the students themselves and present an opportunity to link clinical health to other community or school initiatives.

• New networks known as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) will provide targeted, coordinated, continuous care, including primary and specialty medicine. ACOs will structure payment based on outcomes, rather than the amount of services provided and will be closely linked to the communities served.

For more information and a full list of ACA opportunities applicable to place-based initiatives, see CSSP’s Issue Brief: Going beyond Coverage to Improve Community Health.

2012 Kids Count Data Book Released

The Annie E. Casey Foundation has released the 2012 KIDS COUNT Data Book - an annual report tracking the well-being of American children, state by state. Each year the Data Book looks at a wide range of indicators of child well-being and documents trends, improvements and setbacks. This year’s report focused on economic well-being of children and families, as well as education, health and family and community indicators.

This year’s report shows that, while many aspects of child well-being have improved over time, others have remained stagnant or declined. Inequities in education, for instance, continue to hamper progress for all children.  While there were small increases in reading and math proficiency, as well as high school graduation rates, gaps in standardized testing scores have increased by 40% between affluent and low-income students and doubled between African American and non-Hispanic white students. Similar to the data reported in the 2011 KIDS COUNT Data Book, the economic recession continues to hinder the economic well-being of families and children. The number of children in poverty increased between 2000 and 2010 from 12.2 million to 15.7 million, an increase of nearly 30 percent. Though communities nationwide continue to struggle with the economic impact of the recession, recent lower unemployment rates and increasing state revenues suggest the economic climate is on track to improve and create the environment needed to help low-income children and families.

From the 2012 KIDS COUNT Data Book

Given that poverty and financial stress can impede children’s cognitive development and their ability to learn, as well as contribute to behavioral, social and emotional problems and poor health, the 2012 Data Book points out that the number of children in poverty continues to increase. Research has shown that children who are nurtured and well cared for, particularly during their early years, have better social-emotional, language and learning outcomes, which in turn often lead to more positive behavior and academic achievement in later years. As highlighted in the report, single parents, especially those struggling with financial hardship and may live in distressed neighborhoods, are more prone to stress, anxiety and depression, which can interfere with effective parenting.

The Data Book findings underscore the importance of two-generation strategies that strengthen families by mitigating a family’s underlying economic distress and addressing the well-being of both parents and children. Two-generation approaches focus on creating opportunities for and addressing needs of both parents and children together, rather than many programs that focus on one or the other. Additionally, families exist in and are affected by neighborhoods and communities. Neighborhood capacity building work remains an important tool in combating some of these negative effects and enhancing the positive effects of a community. Current efforts, such as the Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods program, strive to create neighborhoods where children, families and residents have access to the opportunities and resources needed to improve outcomes.

The Data Book results are consistent with the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics’ recent annual report on national indicators of the well-being of children and families.

To learn more about the Center for the Study of Social Policy’s work with neighborhoods, please click here.

New CSSP Resource: Promoting Workforce Strategies for Reintegrating Ex-Offenders

The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) has created a new section on PolicyforResults that focuses on workforce strategies that can promote the successful reintegration of ex-offenders. This new section - which includes tools, resources, strategies and policy examples - is designed to help policymakers reduce recidivism and ensure that ex-offenders have access to jobs and other crucial supports. In addition to the new section, CSSP has released a companion report, which provides further discussion about the need to support ex-offenders, as well as information about the data-driven strategies that can promote workforce participation and the successful reintegration of ex-offenders into their communities. Throughout the report, several state programs and data-driven policies are highlighted.

According to the report, more than 4 out of 10 adult offenders in the U.S. return to prison within three years of release. High rates of recidivism affect the lives of offenders, as well as the lives of their children and families who often face several hardships, such as a loss of income. Providing offenders with supports in services while incarcerated, as well as supports and services post-release, can positively impact the likelihood that an ex-offender will be engaged in the workforce and have the ability to support his/her children, families and the entire community.

PolicyforResults – a project of the Center for the Study of Social Policy – is an online resource that provides policymakers with research-based policy strategies that achieve measureable results for children and families. To learn more about workforce strategies that can support the reintegration of ex-offenders, as well as other critical policy strategies that promote the well-being of children, families and communities, please visit PolicyforResults.

Other Resources:
Please review our recent post to learn more about a series of grants focused on reentry and community safety that were recently announced by the Department of Justice.

Webinar: 2012 Grad Nation Report

In March, America’s Promise Alliance released “Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic.” In an effort to share more detailed information about the data and research in this report, America’s Promise Alliance and the Alliance for Excellent Education will be hosting a webinar on April 25th.

As captured on our blog last month, the 2012 report highlights our nation’s gain in graduation rates, increasing from 72% in 2001 to 75.5% in 2009. However, these numbers are far from perfect as many students, particularly minority students, struggle to remain in school and achieve academic success. According to Grad Nation report, children who are unable to read well by 4th grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school compared to their peers. This statistic is of great concern as the report points out that, in 2011, 34% of white 4th graders scored at or above proficiency while only 17% of black 4th graders scored at the same level.

This webinar will provide further insight into the data presented in the report, as well as our nation’s efforts to tackle dropout rates. In addition, the webinar will address questions submitted by participants, which may provide communities with information about local initiatives and community-based efforts that can reduce high school dropout rates.

The webinar will take place on Wednesday, April 25th from 2-3pm ET. For more information and to register for the webinar, please click here.  For those unable to attend the webinar, a recording will be posted here.

Grad Nation 2012 Update Report

On Monday, to coincide with the start of the Grad Nation Summit, America's Promise Alliance released the report "Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic." The report, which was prepared by Civic Enterprises, the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, and the Alliance for Excellent Education in addition to America's Promise Alliance, is the 2012 update on the nation's high school graduation trends and the progress that has been made on Grad Nation's "Civic Marshall Plan." This plan has two primary objectives: achieving a 90% graduation rate for the high school class of 2020 as well as the highest college attainment rate globally (60% of higher).

The report notes that while high school graduation rates have been improving across the nation, rising from 72% in 2001 to 75.5% in 2009, not all states have been sharing in the gains, as 10 states were found to have lower graduation rates than they did earlier in the 2000s.

Other statistics mentioned in the report include:

• a 23% (or 457 school) decline in the number of dropout factory high schools between 2002 and 2010;
• a 5% increase between in the proportion of 4th grade students scoring at or above proficient in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress between 2000 and 2011 (29% vs. 34%); and
• 1/3 of states currently having longitudinal data systems with all of the information (e.g. attendance, behavior, and reading and math performance) needed for Early Warning Indicator and Intervention Systems. 

In addition to documenting trends, the report also provides a series of federal and state policy recommendations aimed at increasing high school completion rates and preparedness for success after graduation. These proposals include:

• the promotion of state standards focused on college and career readiness;
• using national service programs to improve academic outcomes for both volunteers and the individuals they serve; 
• the use of longitudinal data systems to identify the characteristics of those most likely to dropout and craft special strategies to support them; and
• programs to improve the success of disconnected youth. (For more information and resources related to disconnected youth, please view our blog post about recent efforts by the White House Council for Community Solutions here.)

Extreme Poverty in the U.S.

Last month, the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy released a policy brief describing the findings from a study of extreme poverty in the United States between 1996 and 2011.

The study found that the number of households living in extreme poverty, defined as those with $2 or less per person, per day in total household income in a given month, rose by 130% during this time period, increasing from approximately 636,000 in 1996 to an estimated 1.46 million households in early 2011. The estimated 1.46 million households in extreme poverty at the start of 2011 includes 2.8 million children, or about 16% of all children living in poverty.

The study's authors, H. Luke Shaefer of the University of Michigan's School of Social work, and Kathryn Edin of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, also explored the extent to which including in-kind benefits, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps, as income impacted the number of households living in extreme poverty.

Their findings emphasize the important role public in-kind benefit programs play in the fight against poverty. When SNAP benefits are included as income, the number of households living in extreme poverty rose by 67% (compared with 130% when excluding SNAP benefits), increasing from about 475,000 in 1996 to almost 800,000 in 2011. The inclusion of SNAP benefits as income also reduces the number of children living in poverty in early 2011 by half to 1.4 million.

For more information about the study and additional findings, please view the policy brief on the National Poverty Center's website here.

"Needle-Moving" Community Collaboratives

Earlier this month, the Bridgespan Group, a consultant to nonprofits and philanthropists, released a report entitled “Needle-Moving Community Collaboratives: A Promising Approach to Addressing America’s Biggest Challenges.” The paper, which was produced with the help of the White House Council for Community Solutions, draws lessons from the experiences of 12 community collaboratives that achieved “needle-moving change,” defined as a 10% or greater improvement on a significant community-level indicator. The communities that were studied successfully made progress on challenges as varied as teen pregnancy (Milwaukee), youth gun violence (Boston), and the creation of a cradle-to-career roadmap (Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky).

After studying these successful community collaboratives, Bridgespan found they had many similarities in their core principles, characteristics, and supportive resources. For example: 

• These collaboratives all sought to make a significant impact on a community-wide indicator, forged and utilized cross-sector partnerships, engaged community members in meaningful ways, and used data to focus and improve their efforts.
• Through the development of a shared vision and agenda, the collaboratives created measurable goals that helped to build support for their initiatives. They also found ways to keep key decision-makers at the table year after year.
• Successful collaboratives recognized that their efforts were impacted by people and groups outside of the community, such as state and federal governments and philanthropic organizations.

Detailed case studies of the 12 collaboratives featured in the report can be found here.

For communities interested in finding out more about "how" they can work to achieve significant results, CSSP’s recently published guide, “Making a Difference in Your Neighborhood: A Handbook for Using Community Decision-Making to Improve the Lives of Children, Youth and Families,” is a great resource filled with tools to help them identify their strengths and develop their capacity in many of the key areas listed above. For more information about the specific topics contained in the guide, please read our series of blog posts highlighting each of its chapters. The most recent post in the series is on “Creating Accountable Partnerships” and can be found here.  

Aligning Resources with Results: President's FY 2013 Budget Proposal

On Monday, President Obama released his FY 2013 Budget. Each year, the president’s budget plays an important role in the national budget process as it outlines the president’s policy priorities and recommendations for federal spending. Proposing major funding in areas such as education, healthcare, workforce training and community revitalization, President Obama has demonstrated his commitment to helping our nation’s most vulnerable children, families and communities succeed in the midst of a difficult economic climate. Congress now has the opportunity to review the President’s proposed budget and recommend changes before drafting the Congressional Budget Resolution, which will become the nation’s FY 2013 budget. The FY 2013 budget will go into effect in October 2012.

As Congress prepares to review the president’s proposed budget, it is important to keep in mind that communities can play a major role in advocating for policies and programs that improve the well-being of residents. In our new publication, Aligning Resources with Results: How Communities and Policymakers Collaborated to Create a National Program, we highlight the collaboration between community organizations in Philadelphia with state and local policymakers. The initiative, the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, provided funding for 88 fresh-food retail projects in 34 Pennsylvania counties, creating or preserving more than 5,000 jobs and improving access to healthy food for more than half a million Pennsylvania residents. The success of this collaboration led to a national budget initiative, the National Healthy Food Financing Initiative, aimed at improving the health of children across the country by providing access to fresh food. The President’s FY 2013 budget has proposed $25 million from the Department of Treasury and $10 million from the Department of Health and Human Services in funding for the National Healthy Food Financing Initiative.

For more information about the federal budget process, please review our “Federal Budget Blog Series.” CSSP’s Policy for Results blog also has information and links to resources about the federal budget.

Stay tuned to our blog for more updates on and analyses of the President’s Proposed FY 2013 Budget.

Generations United Report Highlights the Needs of Multigenerational Families

This week, Generations United released Family Matters: Multigenerational Families in a Volatile Economy. The report highlights the recent increase of Americans living in multigenerational households and provides practical recommendations for policymakers, funders and employers as they play a critical role in supporting the well-being of families. 

According to the report, a multigenerational home is defined as “one that contains three or more parent-child generations.” A recent nationwide survey found that roughly one in six Americans lives in a multigenerational household – a 10% increase since the economic recession in 2007. In fact, 66% of respondents currently residing in a multigenerational household reported that the economic climate was a factor in their decision to reside with family members. There are undoubtedly several benefits to living in multigenerational homes. For example, 82% of survey respondents reported that multigenerational households have improved relationships among family members. Similarly, multigenerational households had a poverty rate of 11.5% in 2009 compared to 14.6% non-generational households. However, multigenerational households also face significant challenges. For example, many families are responsible for covering the medical expenses of older family members who lack quality healthcare.

The report suggests that, although our economic state is likely to improve, the number of multigenerational households may only continue to increase as baby boomers begin to retire. According to the report, ensuring that families have access to affordable housing and access to quality healthcare can be a critical first step as communities consider how to meet the needs of multigenerational families.

For more information about Generations United and access to the report, click here.

Half In Ten Releases "Strategies to Cut Poverty and Expand Economic Growth" Report

Today, the Half In Ten Campaign released Restoring Shared Prosperity: Strategies to Cut Poverty and Expand Economic Growth. Highlighting the alarming number of people in poverty in the United States – the largest number ever recorded – the report captures the struggles that many Americans face and provides a critical analysis of the policies and practices that may ultimately lift millions of Americans out of poverty and provide opportunities for economic self-sufficiency.

The report illustrates several grim findings about the well-being of American families, including:

• Poverty rates for households headed by a single mother drop from 40.7% to 14% when the mother has full-time, year-round employment.
• African Americans and Latinos are more than five times more likely than whites to not have a checking or savings account, which are imperative to helping families build assets and economic stability.
• Between 1979 and 2007, overall direct expenditures by the federal government on education, training, and employment services fell by half, from 8.8% to 4.3%.

A partnership between the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the Coalition on Human Needs, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Half In Ten is dedicated building the political and public will necessary to cut the nation’s poverty in half in 10 years. In effort to meet that goal, the report identifies three critical action categories – creating quality jobs, strengthening families and communities, and promoting economic security and opportunity. Each of these action areas is imperative to the economic well-being of all Americans and has several key indicators, which can be used to gauge the nation’s efforts to cut poverty in half. For example, measuring the economic security of communities can be illustrated by the percentage of unemployed individuals receiving unemployment insurance or the percentage of a population with access to banking services.

The report devotes significant attention to the importance of investing in community-based efforts that bridge resources from various government agencies as a means to create good jobs and promote economic security. Acknowledging that low-income communities and residents are often marginalized from access to healthcare, quality schools, jobs and other imperative support services, the report emphasizes the need to continue investing in comprehensive, community-focused programs like Promise Neighborhoods and Community Schools.

For more information about Half in Ten and the report, please click here.

White House Releases "Creating Pathways to Opportunity" Report

Last week, The White House released “Creating Pathways to Opportunity” – a report highlighting the Obama Administration’s efforts to expand and create economic stability and security for all citizens, particularly those that have faced immense struggle in the wake of the economic recession. Drastic decreases in median family income throughout the past decade, combined with high unemployment as a result of the recession, forced 2.6 million Americans into poverty between 2009 and 2010, leaving the United States with the highest number of people in poverty rate in ever recorded. In response, this report highlights the Obama Administration’s comprehensive set of initiatives and programs aimed at addressing the needs of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens and communities.

The report devotes particular attention to low-income communities, stating that more than 10 million Americans now live in communities of concentrated poverty, with poverty levels at 40% and higher. The report captures the Obama Administration’s set of interconnected solutions, such as the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, that aim to revitalize and strengthen low-income communities by addressing all facets of community life, including: education, transportation, affordable housing and resident health. With over $126 million invested in the Choice Neighborhoods program and over $40 million invested in Promise Neighborhoods, the Obama Administration intends to continue utilizing place-based strategies that transform distressed communities into communities of opportunity.

In addition to these large place-based strategies, the report highlights specific initiatives that can help communities build several capacities needed to address resident needs, including:

• Project Rebuild: As part of the American Jobs Act, President Obama has proposed that $15 billion be used to help local governments purchase and rebuild foreclosed homes, which will help stimulate job growth and revitalize distressed communities.

• Healthy Food Financing Initiative: The Obama Administration estimates that more than 1500 stores will be built or expanded over the next five years to help eliminate “food desserts” and increase access to healthy foods in communities that lack quality options.

• Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Initiative: $119 million has been invested to promote healthy relationships and help families gain economic self-sufficiency.

• The Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge: $500 million has been invested to help states align their policies and resources in developing of high-quality early learning programs.

• The Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration Program: $39 million in grants from the Department of Labor will aid more than 3,500 low-income, non-custodial parents and ex-offenders gain jobs skills and employment experience.

• Strong Cities, Strong Communities: This initiative will bridge federal and local stakeholders to spark economic growth in distressed communities.

Other Initiatives the report highlights include:

• $180 million in programs focused on preventing teen pregnancy and the associated risk factors.

• 11 billion in funding to support health centers, which ensures provides new jobs for residents and ensures that communities have access to a medical home.

• More than $8 billion to increase Internet access across the country, allowing residents to more easily access critical information.

• The expansion of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which kept more than 3.9 million individuals above the poverty line in 2010.

Report Highlights the Importance of Expanded Learning Time

The National Center for Time and Learning has released “Time Well Spent: Eight Powerful Practices of Successful, Expanded-Time Schools.” In the midst of the education reform debate, this report illustrates how expanding the school day can be a powerful strategy in reducing the achievement gap, particularly for low-performing, high-poverty schools. The report is based on six years of research with schools in the process of developing and implementing expanded school days and specifically highlights the positive outcomes that 30 schools across the nation have achieved.

The report suggests that expanding the school day would provide critical enrichment opportunities for both teachers and students, as well as opportunities for schools to develop a general culture of high expectations and success for students and families in the community. Additional time, for example, may enable teachers to address the individual needs of each student, analyze student data, collaborate with colleagues to receive feedback and improve instructional practices, and expand curricula to include more social arts and social studies instead of the routinely tested subjects of English and Math.

As seen in the image below, there are four “interlocking gears” of successful expanded learning time:

To drive these gears into motion, the report suggests key practices and strategies that have guided expanded-time initiatives within current schools and can be implemented in schools nationwide. These practices are divided into three categories: 1) Optimizing time for student learning, 2) Helping students thrive in school and beyond, and 3) Dedicating time to improve teacher effectiveness.

In response to this report, the Center for American Progress has highlighted how schools can utilize the recently-announced No Child Left Behind (NCLB)/Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) waivers to implement expanded learning time initiatives. States choosing to apply for these waivers must develop comprehensive plans that address college and career readiness standards, accountability systems and teacher/principal evaluation effectiveness. As states develop accountability standards, they must utilize “turnaround principles,” which includes implementing expanded learning time, to address the needs of the lowest performing schools. Specifically, states that receive a waiver will be allowed to direct funds from the 21^st Century Community Learning Center program – an after-school initiative – to actual school-day expansion.

As of October 12th, 39 states - including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico - have submitted the "intent to apply" for these waivers. The "intent to apply" is non-binding and states that have not yet submitted this intent are still eligible to apply by the November and February deadlines. For more information, please click here.

For more information about the NCLB/ESEA waivers:

White House Releases Guidance for No Child Left Behind Waivers, CSSP

What ESEA Flexibility Means for Students, Teachers and Parents, Department of Education

Eight Questions You Should Ask About Education Waivers, Center for American Progress

Take Your Time: Why States Should Use Education Waivers to Increase Learning Time, Center for American Progress

A Handbook for Engaging Families and Communities in Education Reform

A new guide - The Handbook for Family and Community Engagement – illustrates the critical roles families and communities play in promoting student academic success. Funded by The Department of Education (DOE), the handbook provides concrete tools, resources and best practices that be implemented both locally and nationally to achieve positive educational outcomes for all youth. This handbook underscores the Department’s commitment to parent and community engagement as a component of effective education reform, which was highlighted earlier this year when the Department proposed doubling the Federal Title I dollars allotted for parent engagement initiatives.

 In an era rich with discussion about education reform, research has increasingly cited the importance of shared responsibility among schools, communities and families. A recent report from the Harvard Family Research Project suggests that school reform strategies often narrowly focus on bolstering school curricula, investing in professional development for teachers or implementing rigorous methods of evaluation. As a result, this institution-centered approach fails to recognize the power of school, family and community partnerships, all of which have been shown to improve school readiness, student academic achievement and graduation rates. In fact, research suggests that youth who have poor relationships with their families are more likely to drop out of high school, even if they are doing well academically.

The DOE’s Handbook draws upon such research and offers practical ideas and engagement strategies that can be used in various contexts. Specifically, the engagement framework emphasizes the need to build trust by establishing regular communication with parents, articulating clear expectations for parent and community engagement within the school, teaching parents how to utilize performance data as an advocacy tool, and building the capacity of schools to sustain engagement strategies. In addition, several chapters are devoted to articulating the needs of particular family contexts, including: minority families, families in poverty, families of children with disabilities, families in rural communities and Native American families.

For more information about parent engagement strategies, click here.

Report Highlights the Integration of Sustainable Communities and Education

The What Works Collaborative and the Center for Cities & Schools have jointly published “Opportunity-Rich Schools and Sustainable Communities: Seven Steps to Align High-Quality Education with Innovations in City and Metropolitan Planning and Development.” Recognizing that academic success is fueled by high-quality education, as well as access to resources and systems of support throughout critical periods of youth development, this report highlights the importance of addressing schools in community development initiatives. Initiatives promoted by Obama Administration, such as the Promise Neighborhoods, Sustainable Communities and Choice Neighborhoods programs, articulate the need for collaboration amongst diverse stakeholders to address the comprehensive needs of children and families. However, integrating school improvement goals with community development goals can be challenging. For example, school improvement efforts tend to be more narrowly focused on teacher quality, achievement testing or other measures rather than considering the ways an entire neighborhood may shape a student’s academic experiences.

The report includes seven key steps intended to aid community planners and practitioners as they integrate education in the conversation of sustainable community development. The seven steps include:

1. Get to know your educational landscape. Focusing on the school infrastructure, educational policies and demographics that contribute to student success, such school boundaries and the funding allotted to each zone, will aid land-use planning and other community development projects.
2. Engage School Leaders, Families, and Young People in Planning and Development. Engaging school personnel, students and families brings a resident voice to the community development table and can shed light on various issues, including education.
3. Establish a Shared Vision and Metrics Linking High-Quality Education to Economic Prosperity at Community and Regional Levels. Adopting a shared vision that connects the interdependency of community and educational prosperity will help to hold all stakeholders accountable for community development goals, including education.
4. Support the Whole Life of Learners Through Services and Amenities. Developing a comprehensive system of support, including enrichment programs, after-school options and access to healthcare and healthy foods, will meet the comprehensive needs of students and promote academic success outside of the classroom.
5. Align Bricks-and-Mortar Investments for Regional Prosperity. Building and/or improving school buildings can ensure that schools are located in communities with little access to transportation and may help to establish space for community-based events or meetings.
6. Maximize Access to Opportunity Through Affordable Transportation. Increasing the amount of school choices available, aligning transit with routes to local schools and ensuring that students and families are able to pay for transit options can enhance the academic opportunities for students and improve community mobility.
7. Institutionalize What Works to Secure Gains and Ensure Ongoing Innovation. Establishing innovative partnerships with community stakeholders and establishing a “two-way system of accountability” where schools and communities are accountable for each other can leverage diverse resources and create community engagement.

For the complete report, please click here.

New Guide Focuses on Organizational Strategic Planning

Strategic planning involves articulating the results for which an organization will hold itself accountable and the actions it will take to get there. A new guide from the Bridgespan Group entitled Living Into Your Strategic Plan: A Guide to Implementation that Gets Results shares the experiences of Bridgespan clients’ as well as insights from other nonprofits that have effectively moved from planning to implementing a strategic plan. Conducting in-depth interviews with select leaders of these organizations, Bridgespan creates a six-step guide that identifies strategies and tools nonprofits can use to engage in an implementation process to achieve results. Community based organizations can use this guide to gain invaluable advice from peers in the field.