This document is comprised of the single 2001 issue of a newsletter devoted to identifying and promoting strategies to reduce the poverty rate of young children and to improve the life chances of children still living in poverty. This summer issue features the following articles: (1) "Federal Resources Can Help States Invest in Young Children and…

Recent state efforts reflect a growing commitment to building state child care systems, but increasing child care capacity while simultaneously designing and expanding good quality, new child care systems remains a challenge. On November 17, 1997, the Child Care Action Campaign (CCAC) conducted an audioconference that focused on how Wisconsin,…

The paper reviews the Reagan administration's efforts to convert human services financing to a block grant approach and describes the response of the United Cerebral Palsy Association (UCPA). The Budget Reconciliation Act and its impact on funding for such services as developmental disabilities, vocational rehabilitation, and Title XX Social…

Six articles address issues in federal support for learning disabilities, including a summary of the amount and type of federal domestic assistance (descriptions of research projects); direct and indirect assistance to higher education; and effects on special education consultants, teachers, and the Arizona state education agency. (CL)

This research brief documents higher education's infrastructure needs, examines the effectiveness of existing financing vehicles and methods, and explores new approaches and methods of financing and long-term investment for buildings, equipment, and facilities. Currently, the bulk of capital funding occurs at the state level, and to a lesser…

This policy update presents key aspects of the statutory language of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-239), which provides states and localities with federal funds to be used as venture capital to underwrite the initial costs of planning and establishing statewide School-to-Work Opportunities systems. The paper focuses…

The Family Support Act (FSA) of 1988 is the result of congressional efforts to restructure the nation's welfare system. This report examines the impact of the FSA on state programs that serve pregnant, parenting, and high-risk teenagers. The objective of FSA is to help families started by teen mothers and other welfare recipients make a transition…

Historically, the financial responsibility for caring for those with mental illness has shifted back and forth from the local community, to the state, to the federal government. Today states provide the vast majority of the funds to the state mental health agencies and oversee local governments and most private resources for mental health funding.…

Although federal involvement in education has been reduced in the 1980's under the Reagan Administration's "New Federalism," it is far from clear that state and local governments are willing and able to adequately compensate for this decreasing involvement to ensure educational equity and quality. In the current debate over federalism,…

This document examines strategies for preventing working families and disadvantaged youth from needing cash assistance and becoming dependent on welfare. The document begins with a brief discussion of the tenuous nature of the boundary between families who need public assistance and families who don't and factors contributing to welfare…

A part-by-part comparison of the old Education of the Handicapped Act with the new law (P.L. 99-457) is presented. The new law reauthorizes the Education of the Handicapped Act through 1991, mandates education of handicapped children ages 3 to 5 by 1991, and adds a new Part H, which provides for early childhood intervention for handicapped…

A shrinkage of one-half or more in available federal funds designated for human services is expected to occur in the next five years. Despite this outlook, federal funds are available for increases in human services, provided that such services are organized into related systems of services and are planned and managed as such. This essay on…

The issue of unspent Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds has become increasingly important with the progression of welfare reform. Some support reserving the funds for an eventual economic downturn, whereas others urge investing the funds in services for hard-to-serve welfare recipients and broader low-income participation. States…