As persistent inequities in health gained increased attention nationally due to COVID-19 and racial justice protests in 2020, it has become increasingly important to evaluate both the process and outcomes associated with coalition-based efforts to address health inequities. "The Two Georgias Initiative" supports coalitions in 11 rural…

Introduction: This article investigates an early STEM family engagement program offered during the pre-kindergarten (pre-k) year. Pre-k is an important juncture for community organizations to support children's STEM engagement and parental involvement in informal STEM learning. We evaluated a program called Teaching Together STEM, which offers a…

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the impact of a community development program meant to improve living standards of poor rural families through income generating activities (IGAs) based on conditional cash transfers (CCTs) in Doti, Nepal. Method: We use cross-sectional field data from a sample of 392 families representative of the village…

This report analyzes case studies of "more and better learning time" efforts around the country. With support from the Ford Foundation, America's Promise Alliance looked in Grand Rapids, MI; Louisville, KY; Memphis, TN; and Rochester, NY to see how time spent out of the classroom improved outcomes for students in low-income neighborhoods…

The Fostering Hope Initiative is a neighborhood-based Collective Impact initiative that promotes optimum child and youth development by supporting vulnerable families, encouraging connections between neighbors, strengthening systems to ensure collective impact, and advocating for family-friendly public policy. This article describes the…

Learn more about a promising follow-up, participatory group process designed to document the results of Extension educational efforts within complex, real-life settings. The method, known as Ripple Effect Mapping, uses elements of Appreciative Inquiry, mind mapping, and qualitative data analysis to engage program participants and other community…

Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on first 10, then seven sites. It…

These "Stories From the Field" describe five Wallace-funded programs working to expand learning and enrichment for disadvantaged children, so they can benefit from the types of opportunities their wealthier counterparts have access to, from homework help to swimming classes. The report details each program's approach, successes and…

This book presents some of the experiences of men and women, poor and not poor, who participated in a community's OEO poverty program. The research upon which this book was based focused upon those subcomponents of the program which best revealed the process experiences of the participants. The study was concerned with three major components of…

This report, along with its supplemental volumes, assesses the welfare system and its successes and failures, describes the frustrations felt by the poor in the United States, and proposes a basic change in public assistance policy. America's state and federal governments spend more than $150 billion a year on programs to alleviate poverty, yet…

This report provides an overview of the current welfare system. The number and size of federal public assistance programs have increased during the past 25 years, with particular growth in noncash benefit programs, which now constitute about three-quarters of all means-tested assistance. From mid-1983 to mid-1984, more than 52.5 million Americans…

Data from a stratified random sample of full-year 1967-1968 and summer 1968 Head Start programs were re-analyzed to compare centers operated by local educational agencies (LEA) and community action agencies (CAA). The analyses indicated that CAA-operated programs were more likely to report parent participation in decision making and as paid staff,…

This paper describes a multi-year evaluation of the Extended-Service Schools (ESS) Adaptation Initiative, sharing what has been learned about opening up schools and initiating collaborative school-based programs in poor communities during hours that school is not in session. The ESS included four unique school-community collaborative models. This…

This preliminary report describes the planning efforts undertaken by local demonstration projects involved in the development of Texas' State Plan for Early Childhood Development. Thirteen projects were begun in 1973 to demonstrate various ways in which the state government could work with local government officials, public agencies, parents, and…

Describes the first phase of the Urban Opportunity Program, which has studied the choices that determine lifetime opportunity for the poor and changes in the performance of urban markets and institutions that have historically supported opportunity. Characteristics of U.S. cities and future directions for the program are discussed. (SLD)