This guidance document provides information on the Title I, Part A provisions under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) that address the unique needs of students in foster care, emphasizing educational stability, collaboration between educational and child welfare agencies, and ensuring uninterrupted access to education. This guidance supersedes…

When the Model Work Standards were first crafted more than two decades ago, they were built on the premise that quality child care jobs are the cornerstone of high-quality services for children and families. The intent of these standards is to make it possible for those who choose family child care as a career to reasonably and responsibly support…

Poverty and unemployment aren't spread evenly across cities or regions, but rather are concentrated in disinvested urban neighborhoods and rural communities around the country. These communities are home to the nation's most vulnerable children and families. Despite some signs of improvement in economic conditions for families in the United…

Federal Student Aid's core mission is to ensure that all eligible Americans benefit from federal financial assistance--grants, loans and work-study programs--for education beyond high school. The programs administered comprise the nation's largest source of student aid. Every year, the U.S. Department of Education provides more than $83 billion in…

This guide presents ideas about how communities can help low-income residents gain access to and learn how to use computers and the Internet. It discuses the efforts of Making Connections, a longitudinal project designed to strengthen families and neighborhoods. The introduction explains that residents in neighborhoods nationwide are learning to…

This program guide encourages discussion on the fundamental values on which the government's economic policies are based. This public talk series program is designed for the discussion of critical social and political issues through a balanced, nonpartisan presentation of a spectrum of views. The core of the program is consideration of four…

Noting that out-of-school time and community school initiatives are operating in a rapidly changing policy context and that tobacco settlement funds provide a flexible, significant inflow of new state revenue, this strategy brief provides policymakers, community leaders, and program developers with background information on the tobacco settlement…

Community decision makers selecting an economic development strategy most appropriate for their local community must begin with an understanding of how their local economy functions, what its economic base is, and how changes in that base may affect local economic structure and performance. The economic base approach emphasizes the roles of…

Designed as an aid in preparing federal income tax returns, this report explains terms, provides a worksheet, and describes sources of tax help. The importance of keeping tax records is discussed along with strategies for recordkeeping, types of records to keep, and how long to keep them. Explanations of the following terms are provided along with…

This document includes a three-part set of Parent Briefs that focus on supplemental security income. The first Brief (published in March 2003)provides basic information on Supplemental Security Income (SSI), the federal income support program for people who have disabilities and limited income and resources. It identifies myths about SSI…

Local public officials may be confronted with the use of economic multipliers when asked to react to project proposals, to environmental impact statements, or to other studies containing economic impact analyses. Employment, income, and output multipliers are tools for estimating private sector economic impacts of a new development within a local…

By providing policymakers and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being, KIDS COUNT seeks to enrich local, state, and national discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all children. This "Pocket Guide" is derived from the 2005 "KIDS COUNT Data Book." The following sections are included: (1) Essay; (2) Charts on 10 Key…

This book is the sixth in a series of six pocket-sized books written for career changers and laid-off workers. Each book is written at a 7th- to 10th-grade reading level and contains examples, hands-on self-discovery exercises, and step-by-step advice for a successful job search. This book provides information on financial survival between…

This guide is designed to provide practical information for community leaders, local Workforce Investment Boards, Youth Councils, staff, and others committed to effective youth and workforce development. Its four sections provide technical assistance and training materials for Youth Councils. Chapter 1, "Planning the Menu," defines youth…

This book has been prepared so that taxpayers, school board members, and administrators may learn more about school finance in their own districts. It will equip them with the information necessary to understand and evaluate both the statewide system of education in Illinois and how this system relates to their own school district. Despite…