In 1988, IBP, the world's largest meat processing firm, announced it would open a beefpacking plant in Lexington, Nebraska. This was part of the latest wave of meatpacking restructuring which moved plants away from urban centers and union strongholds to rural communities. This paper examines community changes accompanying the opening of a large…

This report addresses the failure of U.S. systems of support for homeless families, the impact of this failure on the nature of poverty across the country, and common sense options for turning failure into success. Extensive histories of participation in U.S. institutions of support are not spread evenly across the homeless population. While about…

This report provides a comprehensive portrait of America's most vulnerable children and families, gathered as a quick reference to national and state data on the U.S. child welfare system. Data were derived from the Child Welfare League of America's 1996 State Survey of Child Welfare and from U.S. Government agencies and other national sources.…

The importance of integrating developmental research and social policy is becoming increasingly evident as researchers focus on ways to address the needs of children and families. This article discusses these developments, focusing not only on the possibilities but also on the challenges inherent in bridging the disparate worlds of research and…

An estimated 250 million children are working worldwide, and child labor is one of the most devastating consequences of persistent poverty. This monograph proposes that the World Bank take stronger action, and outlines what to do and how, to help address the issue more pro-actively by partnering with other world organizations. The monograph first…

A major objective of this collection is to involve researchers in a wide range of disciplines who share an interest in the long-term effects of early childhood education on poor children and their families. The book begins with a series of reviews that provide general overviews of research on the long-term effects of early childhood education. The…

A crucial key to preventing and ending poverty is the system of education and training for employment. The 104th Congress is considering several proposals to reform vocational education, employment training, and welfare. The most sweeping would consolidate all employment training programs and vocational education into a single block grant to each…

One of the major structural changes facing European economies is the adjustment to an older and more slowly growing population. Aging and lower fertility rates will result in a smaller proportion of the population being in the working age, especially after the year 2010. Estimates are that by 2030 there could be only 2 employed persons for every…

Intended to inform policymaking in the public and private sectors, this booklet compiles secondary data for 59 health status indicators. The book provides both graphical and textual summaries of data and addresses long-term trends where applicable. Data are presented for the target populations of Title V funding: infants, children, adolescents,…

This publication presents portraits of nine teachers from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Jordan, Myanmar, New Zealand, Senegal, and Trinidad and Tobago who are opening up young minds and nurturing their potential. The portraits describe how these teachers created an educational situation in which students could thrive and grow. Some of the…

This paper asserts that the growth and maintenance of failed urban school districts that have miseducated minority children in poverty for over 50 years is a predictable, explainable phenomenon. The essay suggests that the extensive resources funneled into these systems are used for increasing district bureaucracies rather than improving…

This report summarizes the responses of students in two Philadelphia high schools to the second year of implementation of the Talent Development comprehensive school reform model. Both schools served low-income, predominantly African American and Hispanic American students. The Talent Development model was intended to improve schools facing…

This study attempted to estimate special education expenditures at kindergarten from material and infant medical and sociodemographic factors known at birth. The study consisted of all students born in Florida between September 1, 1990 and August 31, 1991 who subsequently attended kindergarten in Florida. A total of 125,430 birth records were…

As part of the 2002 Current Population Survey, this report presents information on several characteristics of children, covering different aspects of their lives. It focuses on demographic characteristics of the child population of the United States and family living arrangements, including single parent families, cohabiting parent families, and…

A conference brought together the leaders of the 11 projects funded by the National Science Foundation's Rural Systemic Initiative (RSI) to reflect upon their efforts to improve mathematics and science education in poor rural communities. A variety of themes emerged. The RSI projects serve small, rural communities suffering from decades of…