Economic Opportunity Report articles from June 2004

Economic Opportunity Report archives from June 2004

More cuts ahead?(Slants & Trends)(funding for social service programs)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... MORE CUTS AHEAD?--Fears are abounding that cuts will be in store for social service programs, as a White House memo being circulated in Washington tells federal agencies to brace for deeper cuts for fiscal 2006. The budget memo, which directs...

Unemployment holds steady.(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... UNEMPLOYMENT HOLDS STEADY--The unemployment situation remained virtually unchanged last month, at a rate of 5.6 percent. Since December, the unemployment rate has been either 5.6 percent or 5.7 percent each month. In May, 138.8 million people...

House clears bill to create pilot worker reemployment accounts.(HR 444)
June 7, 2004... Unemployed workers could get up to $3,000 to purchase job training and other services to help them get back to work, under an administration-backed proposal passed by the House last week. Under the bill, H.R. 444, a pilot program would be...

Social service programs would see static funding under budget pact.(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... Social service programs would be essentially level-funded under a fiscal 2005 budget resolution agreed to by House and Senate Republican leaders last month. The budget agreement contains $81 billion for education, training and social...

Weekend feeding program fills the gap for hungry kids in some communities.(Profile)
June 7, 2004... In a few dozen communities across the country, children no longer go hungry on the weekends, since the advent of an innovative program that sends food home with children on Friday to tide them over until they get back to school on Monday. ...

Fewer children skip breakfast since School Breakfast Program begun.(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... The School Breakfast Program, begun two decades ago to help make sure poor children eat a morning meal, has succeeded in reducing the number of children who skip breakfast, new research shows. Since 1981, when the program was adopted in the...

Infants, toddlers in food-insecure homes more likely to have health problems.(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... Infants and toddlers who live in homes where food is lacking are more likely to have health problems than are other children their age, a new study has found. Overall, children age 3 and younger who are in food-insecure homes are about 30...

DOL delays in awarding NEGs cause aid to be delayed, denied.(U.S. Department of Labor failure to award National Emergency Grants)
June 7, 2004... Aid for laid-off workers has been delayed, interrupted or denied because of the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) failure to award most National Emergency Grants (NEG) in a timely fashion, a new federal report charges. While the...

WIC-only stores could result in higher food prices, study says.(Women, Infants and Children program)
June 7, 2004... Low-income families could be hurt by a loophole in the popular Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program that allows entrepreneurs to open WIC-only grocery stores with high food prices, a new report suggests. "WIC-only stores stock only...

Higher education reauthorization bill targets increased aid for poor students.(College Access & Opportunity Act)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... Low-income students would have access to larger grant amounts and lower loan costs, under a Higher Education Act reauthorization blueprint introduced last month by the chairman of the House Education & the Workforce Committee. Pell Grants...

Healthy marriage site.(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... HEALTHY MARRIAGE SITE: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched a healthy marriage Web site at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/healthymarriage/. The site provides an overview of the administration's Healthy Marriage initiative along...

Even qualified low-income students face closed doors to college access.(Studies & Surveys)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... Students from low-income families attend four-year colleges at just half the rate of students from higher-income families, according to a new report that found access to college remains unequal even among equally qualified students. But...

Limited English skills keep immigrants out of job training programs and jobs.(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... Immigrants could get jobs that would help support a family, even while they continue to work on their English skills. Yet their limited language skills, along with low educational attainment in their native language, tend to keep them out of...

Head start.(Grant Opportunities)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... * Head Start: The Head Start Bureau is seeking a new grantee to serve Laurel County, Ky. The previous grantee received $1.04 million to serve 180 children and families. The application deadline is July 15. Send applications to: ACYF Operations...

Assets for independence.(Grant Opportunities)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... * Assets for Independence: The U.S. Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has announced $18 million to fund 55 new grantees to help low-income families become economically self-sufficient through counseling and the use of matched...

Marriage education.(Grant Opportunities)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... * Marriage Education: ACF also has $2 million for seven demonstration projects in post-adoption services that incorporate marriage education. Applications are due July 23. Project periods are 60 months, and initial grants are for 12 months. For...

Domestic violence.(Grant Opportunities)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... * Domestic Violence: Homeless and runaway youth are being targeted for ACF grants under family violence prevention services. ACF has $450,000 for six awards on adolescent dating violence. Applications are due July 16. See the June 1 Federal...

Child tax credit.(Child Credit Preservation and Expansion Act)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... * Child Tax Credit: The federal child tax credit would stay at $1,000 next year under an extension and expansion of the provision cleared by the House May 27. Without any action from Congress, the $1,000 credit would drop to $700 next year. The...

Illinois SCHIP.(State Children's Health Insurance Program)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... * Illinois SCHIP: Illinois plans to extend health care coverage to all low-income children under the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Illinois' plan for its KidCare program will allow service to children in families earning up to 200...

Kansas immigrant students.(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... * Kansas Immigrant Students: Illegal immigrants can now get in-state tuition at public colleges and universities in Kansas, as Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) last month signed legislation to ease the way for immigrants to attend college. As long as...

Job training grant.(National Hispanic Worker Initiative)
June 7, 2004... * Job Training Grant: The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded a $1.5 million grant to help train unemployed Hispanic youth and adults in the Baltimore area for new jobs. The grant, which will provide training for about 225 individuals, is the...

Housing assistance.(grants for first time home buyers)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... * Housing Assistance: A $2.8 million HUD grant will help low-income families in eight Maryland communities buy their first homes. Under the American Dream Downpayment Initiative, the funding will provide up to $10,000 or 6 percent of the home's...

ACF reporting.(Administration for Children and Families)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... * ACF Reporting: The Administration for Children and Families has an approved financial reporting form for the Child Care and Development Fund, beginning in the third quarter of fiscal 2004. See www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb/policy1/...

Head start grants.(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... * Head Start Grants: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded grants to 30 Head Start innovation projects for one year of future planning. Awards range from $51,000 to $100,000. Twelve of the projects will begin this spring;...

Barring a last-minute miracle.(Slants & Trends)(Education budget)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... BARRING A LAST-MINUTE MIRACLE, Head Start reauthorization will not happen this year, advocates for the program say. Congressional action seems to have come to a standstill, after a flurry of activity in the past year and heated arguments over...

Kerry on minimum wage.(Slants & Trends)
June 21, 2004... KERRY ON MINIMUM WAGE: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry Friday called for raising the minimum wage to $7 an hour by 2007, move he said would help almost 15 million low-wage earners. Saying today's minimum wage is worth just 33...

Administration rescinds Medicare policy that could have cut food stamp benefits.
June 21, 2004... The Bush administration last week rescinded federal policy that had threatened to cut food stamp benefits for several million low-income elderly and disabled people who save money on medication by using the new Medicare drug discount cards. ...

HHS appoints medicare drug commission.(Department of Health and Human Services)(State Pharmaceutical Assistance Transition Commission)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... Two dozen members have been named to the State Pharmaceutical Assistance Transition Commission to oversee the new provision for low-income Medicare beneficiaries to get prescription drugs through state-sponsored programs. The new...

Agriculture appropriations panel clears fiscal 2005 spending for food security.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... Food stamps would be funded at $33.6 billion, child nutrition programs at $11.38 billion and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program at $4.9 billion under a fiscal 2005 spending bill approved June 14 by the House Appropriations...

Child poverty declines in most states; nationwide rate still considered high.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... At a time when child poverty rates are declining in almost every state, the national rate stands at 16 percent, which is still one of the highest rates among industrialized nations worldwide, the latest KIDS COUNT report shows. State child...

Anti-Hunger organizations design 'a Blueprint to End Hunger'.(National Anti-Hunger Organizations)
June 21, 2004... Anti-hunger groups marked this month's Hunger Awareness Day by calling for a commitment to a new Blueprint to End Hunger that would broaden the national nutrition safety net and cut hunger in halve by 2010. The blueprint, which was put...

Controversial bills would cut spending for social service entitlement programs.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... Two bills introduced in the House would cut spending on some social service entitlement programs--the very programs that are guaranteed necessary funding from year to year. While the bills would exempt Social Security from the cuts, they...

GAO recommends better data collection to show national job training outcomes.
June 21, 2004... The federal government needs to do a better job of collecting and compiling data under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) to show the nationwide outcomes being achieved under the job training program, according to the U.S. General Accounting...

Most low-wage earners lack paid sick leave, study finds.
June 21, 2004... For most of the nation's low-wage workers, when they get sick they are out of luck. That is because 76 percent of low-wage workers in this country have no paid sick leave. In fact, no state in the nation is doing as much as it should to...

Bill calls for grants to full-service schools to coordinate social, education services.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... Low-income children and families would have another connection for getting the social services they need, under a bill introduced last week by house Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.) to create "full-service community schools." The schools,...

Calif., Idaho SCHIP expansion plans get federal government approval.(State Children's Health Insurance Program)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... More poor families in California and Idaho will gain eligibility for enrollment in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), now that the federal government has approved expansion plans from both states. The U.S. Health and...

Serious gaps remain in access to specialty health care for the poor.
June 21, 2004... Even though gains have been made, serious gaps remain in the access that low-income people have to health care services, especially for specialty physician, mental health and dental care, a study released last week shows. "Access to...

One of three people under 65 lacked insurance in 2002-03.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... One of every three Americans under 65 years old lacked health insurance at some time--and most often for long periods of time--during 2002 or 2003, a new report based on U.S. Census data has found. Nearly two-thirds--65.3 million--of the...

Head start grantees may get funding to meet one-time needs, HHS says.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... Some Head Start grantees may get additional funding to meet one-time needs, under new guidance recently issued by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS). Grantees can apply for the one-time supplemental funds to support...

Head start mentoring.(Grant Opportunities)(Administration for Children and Families)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... * Head Start Mentoring: Some $20 million is available for grants of up to $50,000 each for projects to encourage older youth to help with Head Start programs. Under the Head Start Youth Mentoring Initiative, youth would participate in child and...

Family violence.(Grant Opportunities)(Administration for Children and Families)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... * Family Violence: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has $450,000 available for six awards for teen dating violence projects of up to $75,000 each over a 17-month project period. Eligible applicants include local public...

Fighting poverty.(Grant Opportunities)(Global Action Awards)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... * Fighting Poverty: Awards will be made to honor youth ages 14 to 18 who have worked to fight against global poverty. The $5,000 awards will be applied to the winners' college education or to the charitable cause of their choice. Applications...

Early learning.(Grant Opportunities)(Administration for Children and Families)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... * Early Learning: ACF has more than $33 million available to fund 30 to 50 discretionary grants under the Early Learning Opportunities Act. Letters of intent are due July 6; applications are due July 27. Projects must enhance literacy and also...

Free supplies.(National Association for the Exchange of Industrial Resources)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... 'FREE' SUPPLIES--Social service agencies and other nonprofits are eligible to receive free supplies, including office supplies, maintenance and cleaning supplies and tools, through an exchange program that takes donations of excess inventory...

Head start data.(Administration on Children and Families)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... * Head Start Data: The Administration on Children and Families is beginning the process of collecting new Head Start Program Information Report data. The data examine the number of children served, staffing, program services and other areas....

First-time claims.(Department of Labor)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... * First-Time Claims: First-time unemployment claims rose to a seven-week high last week, the Labor Department reported. For the week ending June 4, 352,000 first-time unemployment claims were filed, up 12,000 from the previous week and the...

Fair housing.(General Accounting Office)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... * Fair Housing: A U.S. General Accounting Office report has found that fair housing complaints typically take federal officials 200 days to investigate, although 100 days is the benchmark set in federal law. For copies of Fair Housing:...

After-school hours.(Surveys)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... * After-School Hours: Some 14.3 million schoolchildren are left unsupervised after school each day during what experts consider the dangerous afternoon hours, according to a new report. Only 6.5 million children are in after-school programs,...

Support for boys/girls clubs.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... * Support for Boys/Girls Clubs: The Senate June 3 passed legislation to extend federal funding to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Now scheduled to expire in fiscal 2006, the program would be extended through fiscal 2010, under the bill...

Hygiene in inner-city households.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... * Hygiene in Inner-City Households: A new study suggests that infections could be kept down in inner-city households by doing laundry with hot water and bleach. The study, which researchers said could be the first to look at hygiene in the...

Student loan rates.(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... * Student Loan Rates: Student loan interest rates have dropped for the fourth straight year, the U.S. Education Department has announced. Effective July 1, the new variable rate on federal Stafford loans issued since July 1998 will drop to 2.77...

HUD downpayment grants.(Department of Housing & Urban Development)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... * HUD Downpayment Grants: To launch National Homeownership Month, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson this month announced $161.5 million in downpayment assistance for first-time homebuyers. The funding will go to more than 400 state and local...