This packet contains 14 consumer education guides concerning financial and legal issues for families at various life stages. The guides are especially aimed at persons living in Montana. The guides cover the following topics: (1) helping people to cope with financial crisis; (2) using a check register to track expenses; (3) individual retirement…

A survey was conducted of 111 certified school personnel from several school districts in northeastern Arkansas, to assess their attitudes toward claims for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for school-aged children. Respondents reported a significant increase in disability claims in the 1992-93 school year over the 1991-92 school year.…

This report examines one subset of the 1980 U.S. Census to assess the socioeconomic status of Blacks and Hispanics relative to non-Hispanic Whites in Chicago, and to minorities in the 10 other Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) in the United States with populations greater than 2.5 million. Eight indicators of socioeconomic disparity…

Aspects of the student benefit program under the Social Security Act and the consequences of phasing out the program are considered. The 1981 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act phases out the Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) student benefit program under the Social Security Act. The OASDI was one of the largest programs offering…

This guide contains six lessons developed to help parents teach their children to handle money wisely. Each lesson consists of a synopsis of the main ideas; key words; information covered in the lesson; self-rating questions for parents; what parents need to know about children in various age groups (preschoolers, 6-9, 9-12, and teenagers);…

This paper examines the impact of increasing service sector employment and decreasing manufacturing employment on the distribution of income across communities on the urban-rural continuum. Changes in the differential distribution of industries and family income across this continuum have important consequences for local services, including…

The three papers in this briefing provide guidance for planners and program designers responding to the child care challenges of the 1990s. Rebecca Maynard explores the child care market for low-income parents, finding that even though family day care is plentiful in low-income areas, child care centers operate at or near capacity, and neither…

Georgia ranks fifth in the nation in the size of its black population, fourth in percentage of blacks, and fifth in number of black elected officials. The social and economic situation of black Georgians has generally improved over the last 20 years. This report provides statistics and charts which show that: (1) during the 1970s, for the first…

The gains of economic recovery have been unevenly distributed to benefit the rich much more than the poor. According to Census Bureau data, poverty, especially among children, is significantly higher than five years ago. Poverty has worsened despite decreased unemployment because of widening gaps between rich and poor. Even modest changes in…

Children diagnosed with environmentally based failure to thrive early during their first year of life were seen at 12 and 18 months for assessment of psychological development (cognition, language, symbolic play, and behavior during testing). Based on a transactional model of outcome, factors reflecting biological vulnerability (wasting and…

The shifting structure of production agriculture in Louisiana, characterized by technological change and economic growth, has created problems for farmers, forcing them either to get large, get out of farming, or get off-farm work to survive. A survey of 142 farmers living in parishes surrounding the Baton Rouge metropolitan area indicates…

This report compares the relative adequacy of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan household income in Wisconsin. In 1981, 1,133 respondents completed the Wisconsin Basic Needs Survey, covering income, assets, debts, and taxes, filled out two-week diaries of food expenditures and small recurring expenses, and answered questions on perceived income…

Reported in this document are findings of a preliminary analysis of congressionally mandated changes in the application process for government-sponsored school meal benefits and an examination of low-cost quality assurance procedures implemented in Phase I of the Income Verification Pilot Project (IVPP). Discussion is based on an analysis of two…

Comparing the experiences of different types of families, this report analyzes family incomes in the United States from 1970 to 1986. The adjusted family income (AFI) measure used in the analysis corrects for family size and for inflation, but does not take account of either in-kind income or taxes. After a section summarizing the report's…

Total family income is attributed either to marriage and to personal achievement (earnings) for both spouses, also taking account of the educational attainment of each. Data were taken from the 1973-1977 General Social Surveys conducted by the National Opinion Research Center. The research consisted of yearly interviews with approximately 1500…