Supporting Parent Engagement: Lessons from Settlement House Programs

This report is intended to give readers a picture of some of the challenges and best practices involved when settlement houses and other similar agencies undertake parent engagement programming. The report draws on the experiences of six UNH member agencies, all based in New York City, that have received grants from the MetLife Foundation to support parent engagement work

Advancing Literacy Through the Arts: Lessons from Settlement House After School Programs

The report opens with brief profiles of the seven arts/literacy projects supported by the E.H.A. Foundation grant. In the second section, the report describes some of the challenges involved in operating these kinds of projects and best practices used to make them as appealing and meaningful as possible to children. That discussion is followed by a section that offers insights from staff and program managers of the seven projects who reflect on how the projects have contributed to the education of children. The report ends with brief conclusions. The report draws on information gathered through site visits to the seven projects, observations made at UNH-sponsored discussion meetings of project managers, and interviews with selected staff and managers

Beacons In Brief

This second issue in P/PV's In Brief series focuses on the San Francisco Beacon Initiative and P/PV's recently released evaluation results. The Beacon Initiative established after-school programs in eight public schools in low-income San Francisco neighborhoods. P/PVs 36-month evaluation examined key developmental and academic outcomes. Beacons In Brief summarizes our findings and discusses their implications in the context of larger questions about the after-school field

Helping Public Housing Residents Find and Keep Jobs: A Guide for Practitioners Based on the Jobs-Plus Demonstration

This guide contains practical advice on implementing a program model -- known as the Jobs-Plus Community Initiative for Public Housing Families (Jobs-Plus) -- aimed at helping public housing residents find and keep jobs. The most rigorously evaluated employment program initiative ever tried in public housing, Jobs-Plus has shown strong potential for improving the employment outlooks of low-income workers and job-seekers. The guide draws on the experiences of six programs based in housing projects around the country that took part in MDRC's national Jobs-Plus demonstration

LODGING INDUSTRY DATA FOR MINNESOTA COUNTIES

Reported here are detailed 1970 lodging industry data for each Minnesota county.Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Faith in their Futures: The Youth and Congregations in Partnership Program of the Kings County (Brooklyn, NY) District Attorney's Office

Why would a law-and-order district attorney in one of the toughest, most crime-prone areas in the nation develop a faith-based alternative to incarceration for youthful offenders? District Attorney Charles J. Hynes credits his faith and a strong conviction that society can't prison-build its way out of the crime problem. Hynes established Youth and Congregations in Partnership (YCP), an innovative local program operated by the Kings County (Brooklyn, New York) District Attorneys Office. Through mentoring and other services, the program aims to reduce criminal recidivism, subsequent adult criminality and self-destructive behaviors among young offenders. This report chronicles the YCP experience; we hope its insights inspire similar innovations throughout the nation

Building Strong Systems of Support for Young Children's Mental Health: Key Strategies for States and a Planning Tool

Young children's mental health provides an essential foundation for early learning and development. In the early years, children's mental health can be seen in a wide range of behaviors that promote engagement in social relationships and learning. An infant who joyfully participates in "conversation" with parents is acquiring a capacity for strong social relationships while learning language and the patterns of communication. A toddler shows positive mental health by actively investigating her environment while gaining new cognitive and motor skills during play and exploration. A preschooler who helps his friend build a robot, shares his favorite markers, and rebuilds his block tower after it tumbles is learning social and problem-solving skills that will fuel learning in preschool and beyond. In sum, young children's "mental health" refers to emotional wellbeing and positive social development from birth through age 5. Young children with mental health problems miss out on developmental experiences that promote early learning. The behavior problems of some children result in actual expulsion from early care and education settings. For other children, mental health problems and challenging behavior may limit positive engagement in learning by contributing to conflictual relationships with teachers and classmates. Young children experiencing sadness or anxiety may find it hard to fully participate in growth-promoting play and learning activities. At home, young children with problem behaviors may be caught in a cycle of negative interactions with parents that disrupt a nurturing parent-child relationship and further limit support for the child's healthy development. Recent estimates suggest that between nine and 14 percent of children under age experience emotional and behavioral problems. The prevalence of mental health problems is markedly higher for children in families facing economic hardship and other stressful circumstances, such as maternal depression. In the absence of interventions, mental health conditions that emerge in the early years tend to persist and interfere with healthy development and learning. State leaders increasingly recognize the critical link between young children's mental health and later social adjustment and success in school. In recent years, states have begun to develop new policies and programs that help establish supports for young children's mental health across a wide range of settings, including pediatric offices and community clinics, early childhood and home-visiting programs, and child welfare agencies. These efforts focus on promoting positive mental health, preventing potential mental health problems, and treating identified delays or difficulties in social-emotional development. Many states' efforts include the use of evidence-based models and training experiences for service providers to increase their knowledge and skills. Part I of this report describes key strategies that should be part of a comprehensive system of supports for young children's mental health and examples from states that are developing and implementing them. These strategies are: promoting early childhood mental health (ECMH) in home visiting and parenting programs; enhancing supports for ECMH in early care and education programs; screening parents for depression; screening children for social-emotional problems; developing a better-trained workforce to address the social-emotional needs of young children; using evidence-based practices and evaluation to promote effective ECMH programs; and supporting the well-being of exceptionally vulnerable children. Part II of this report presents a simple tool that state planners can use for two purposes: 1) to assess the current status of the state's ECMH supports; and 2) to plan for specific enhancements in the state's current system, including expansion of certain ECMH strategies, such as child screening or training for early childhood teachers, and improvements in the quality of interventions. Since the creation of strong systems of ECMH supports requires collaboration among multiple agencies and programs, this tool may be especially useful for Early Childhood Advisory Councils, Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems initiatives, and similar state-level planning entities that bring together leaders from different sectors

Neonatal Exposure to Thymotropic Gross Murine Leukemia Virus Induces Virus-Specific Immunologic Nonresponsiveness

Neonatal exposure to Gross murine leukemia virus results in a profound inhibition of the virus-specific T and B cell responses of adult animals. Animals exposed to virus as neonates exhibit a marked depression in virus-specific T cell function as measured by the virtual absence of in vivo delayed type hypersensitivity responses and in vitro proliferative responses to virally infected stimulator cells. Further, serum obtained from neonatally treated mice failed to either immunoprecipitate viral proteins or neutralize virus in an in vitro plaque assay, suggesting the concurrent induction of a state of B cell hyporesponsiveness. The specificity of this effect at the levels of both T and B cells was demonstrated by the ability of neonatally treated mice to respond normally after adult challenge with either irrelevant reovirus or influenza virus. The replication of Gross virus within both stromal and lymphocytic compartments of the neonatal thymus suggests that thymic education plays a key role in the induction of immunologic nonresponsiveness to viruses