School desegregation and equitable access to educational opportunity takes alignment in the housing and education sectors. Racist housing policies and practices have systematically limited access to opportunity for generations of people of color, profoundly affecting their wealth, and perpetuating racial disparities in opportunity and well-being…

The body of evidence supporting a relationship between the social determinants of health and adolescent sexual and reproductive health is vast. To advance health and have a greater impact on adolescent health outcomes, sexual and reproductive health practitioners need to take into account the relationships, community, and society within which…

Inclusionary zoning (IZ) has become an increasingly popular tool for providing affordable housing in an economically integrative manner. IZ policies typically require developers to set aside a proportion of units in market-rate residential developments to be made affordable for lower-income households in exchange for development rights or zoning…

Over the past three years, the Boston Birth to Eight Collaborative has convened more than 200 individuals and organizations from across the early childhood field--center and family-based providers, pediatricians, public health researchers, hospitals, family engagement organizations, and parents--to ensure all children are ready for sustained…

This newsletter, published five times a year, features articles on issues of concern to adult, family, and youth literacy practitioners, as well as recommended resources, announcements, and teaching strategies. This issue includes: (1) Literacy Zones Fight Poverty and Close Education Gaps (Robert Purga); (2) Staying at the Table: Building a…

This is the third in a series of briefs summarizing findings from the newest and most rigorous research related to racial and socioeconomic diversity in public schools. The studies on which this brief is based were published recently in three special issues of the peer-reviewed journal, "Teachers College Record," edited by Professors…

Objective: To assess the cost-effectiveness of two alternate forms of Family Connections (FC), a child neglect prevention program, in relation to changes in risk and protective factors and improvements in child safety and behavioral outcomes. Methods: In the original FC study, a sample of 154 families (473 children) in a poor, urban neighborhood,…

The author describes his own school closure procedures in the Paramus, New Jersey, school district of which he is superintendent, advocating long-range planning and an emphasis on the educational benefits of such closures. Also included is advice on when and how to lay off administrators. (JBM)

"Good Schools in Poor Neighborhoods" contrasts highly effective schools serving urban, low-income, minority youth with their more typical, struggling counterparts. Highlighted are two disparate schools: one serving predominately African American students in a large northeastern city and one serving Latino students in a southwestern urban area.…

This state-of-the-art practitioner resource and course text provides a comprehensive view of adolescent development and spells out effective ways to help teens who are having difficulties. The book illuminates protective and risk factors in the many contexts of adolescents' lives, from individual attributes to family, school, neighborhood, and…

Community, demographic, familial, and personal risk factors of childhood depressive symptoms were examined from an ecological theoretical approach using hierarchical linear modeling. Individual-level data were collected from an ethnically diverse (73% African-American) community sample of 197 children and their parents; community-level data were…

In 2006, more than 6 million individuals were victimized by violent crimes. Although violence is below levels of the early 1990s, it remains high. The extent of violence and its impact highlight a critical need to develop and implement effective programs to reduce violence and victimization. Communities have initiated a wide range of such…

This paper proposes a model for a neighborhood program to help enough low-income individuals improve their employment and financial standing so that the impacts are meaningful at a neighborhood scale. Section I describes the project. Section II explains why neighborhood-focused employment programs are an important part of the solution for…

The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is designed to encourage banks and thrifts to meet the financial credit and service needs of low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, requiring that lenders use their private-sector resources to meet the financing needs of all communities in which lenders conduct business. This brief outlines several types of…

Proposes a method of accurately predicting neighborhood population through the idea of a neighborhood life cycle that draws a connection between the overall projected population and the specific demographic characteristics of individual neighborhoods. (MLF)