Latinx youth of New Mexico have suicide rates higher than the national average and face complex challenges to health and well-being. This calls for prioritization of research and interventions at the systems level, including those that consider social determinants of health. This manuscript highlights two innovative community-engaged projects that…

A short review was made of the family, community, and school problems of disadvantaged children. The author then turned her attention to the help that the teachers of these children can give toward developing and improving the children's self-image and promoting and reinforcing positive attitudes. Opinions are expressed as to why some past…

Analysis of community social problems by 125 rural West community leaders revealed attitudes toward social services. Two perspectives emerged: focus on family-related problems and focus on public safety problems. Findings suggested--although links between public services and social conditions in health and education are understood--connections…

Alcoholism, and particularly alcoholism in the family, is an unsolved medical and social problem. Addictive drinking results in several social and psychological problems, most of which are caused by a change in brain function. Excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages operates as a stressor and produces alkaloids at the base of the brain that are…

Analysis of 65 high-risk adolescents admitted to psychiatric inpatient units found that social support was a protective factor in cases of family violence experienced as either a victim or witness. However, social support did not appear to buffer the maladaptive effects of community violence, although there was a generally insignificant…

This paper contains preliminary findings from a 1989 survey of over 400 rural health programs serving chronically ill, handicapped, or high-risk children. Respondents identified major problems affecting service delivery. Follow-up research is continuing, but present data indicate that transportation problems, for both clients and staff, will…

This paper presents the evaluation of the Family Stress Program, which was designed to deliver human services and save valuable police time through intervention in police calls involving individuals and families in crisis. A brief description of the program's structure, purpose, and development, and a listing of program goals (preventing the…

This book profiles over 30 local programs and policies designed to meet the needs of children and families in cities and towns. The first chapter concerns the examination of issues related to children and families in the context of policy and planning. It calls attention to the need for comprehensiveness and coordination in the strategic…

Millions of children are hungry in America, and it is clearly time to make childhood hunger a national priority. To document the need, a comprehensive study of hunger among low-income families was developed by the Connecticut Association for Human Services. National replication of the study, the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project…

Participants in a symposium concerned with issues affecting rural New York State identified strengths and weaknesses and suggested policy in relation to three broad goals in the area of human services and community life: (1) increase community awareness of problems affecting rural localities, including the causes and effects of crime, violence,…

The Rural Texas Domestic Violence Health Professionals Education Program (RTDVHPEP) was designed as an initial and circumscribed effort in the establishment of a comprehensive network of services for Texas victims of rural domestic violence. Immediate goals of RTDVHPEP were to provide rural health care professionals with knowledge and skills to…

The 12 states comprising the North Central Region have been affected in similar ways by the farm crisis of the 1980s. Statewide surveys show sizeable proportions of farm operations that are experiencing moderately high levels of financial stress. The problems caused by chronic stress on family structure and functioning, the loss of mainstreet…

This paper examines the attitudes of adults and teenagers in 10 predominantly rural Alaskan communities toward their own health and well-being and that of children and families in their community. The communities were located across the state and ranged in size from populations of under 900 to over 50,000. The proportion of Alaska Natives in the…

As part of a weeklong investigation into conditions among Native American families and children, the House of Representatives Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families met to hear testimony from tribal leaders, parents, young adults, and service providers from reservations and pueblos in New Mexico and Colorado. Topics include unemployment…

The House Select Committee met to receive testimony from representatives of Northwest tribes about conditions affecting Native American children and their families. Eloise King of Colville Confederated Tribes (Washington) summarizes a wide range of human needs and recommends that Congress make funding available directly to tribes. John Navarro and…