“Ban-the-Box” (BTB) policies restrict employers from asking about applicants’ criminal histories on job applications and are often presented as a means of reducing unemployment among black men, who disproportionately have criminal records. However, withholding information about criminal records could risk encouraging racial discrimination: employers may make assumptions about criminality based on the applicant's race. To investigate BTB’s effects, we sent approximately 15,000 online job applications on behalf of fictitious young male applicants to employers in New Jersey and New York City…
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This report highlights the changing socio-demographic composition of program participants for AFDC/TANF, SNAP and SSI between 1988 and 2015 and discusses the importance of addressing the needs of program participants from diverse backgrounds. (Author abstract)
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Journal Article Largely overlooked in the theoretical and empirical literature on the crime decline is a long tradition of research in criminology and urban sociology that considers how violence is regulated through informal sources of social control arising from residents and organizations internal to communities. In this article, we incorporate the “systemic” model of community life into debates on the U.S. crime drop, and we focus on the role that local nonprofit organizations played in the national decline of violence from the 1990s to the 2010s. Using longitudinal data and a strategy to account for the…
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Training Materials As communities become more culturally and linguistically diverse, community-based service organizations (CBOs) are called to do more to reduce disparities in access and use of important social services. An important strategy is developing cultural competency—behaviors, attitudes, and policies that enable CBOs to work effectively in cross-cultural situations. This resource guide identifies easily accessible resources on cultural competency that CBOs can use to become more responsive to the needs of their targeted populations, and to help attract funds to support their important work. (Author…
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Journal Article Many Asian Americans tend to report receiving lower quality services from direct service providers. Improving the cultural competence of social workers and other professionals who work with Asian Americans may address this dissatisfaction. To date, there are few tools to help educators and supervisors evaluate the level of cultural competence of social workers and other health professionals. This study reports on the development and testing of a cultural competence measure to evaluate social workers’ preparedness for working with Asian American clients. Method: Based on a sample of 294…
This report explains that on March 17, 2016, after two years of effort, the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities (CECANF) issued its final report, Within Our Reach, that included over 100 recommendations, many of which were directed toward the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This report is HHS’s response to the Commission’s report and recommendations. It describes HHS’s overall vision for improvements to the federal infrastructure of policies and programs most directly related to protecting children from maltreatment, serious injury, or death. It…
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This excerpt from the Federal Register presents federal regulatory guidelines for working with federally recognized Indian tribes. It reviews the purpose of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and offers overarching principles for working with federally recognized Indian tribes and guidelines for consultation and communication with tribes, culture and mutual respect, nation-building and effective delivery of human services to Indian communities, coordination and outreach, administrative data management, and sustainability.
Brief
Employment Pathways for Boys and Young Men of Color: Solutions and Strategies That Can Make a Difference is part of a larger issue brief series aimed at identifying and disseminating best practices that support the well-being and empowerment of boys and young men of color. In particular, this brief discusses promising strategies to improve employment outcomes for young men of color and the role of public policy in dismantling discrimination and promoting pathways to work. (Author abstract)
Brief
This brief is a resource for human service professionals on child safety and risk assessments in AI/AN communities. It is informed by the work of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) with tribal child welfare professionals and by concerns in the field about the effectiveness of standard assessments in tribal communities. A majority of the tribal organizations that received ACF grants in 2011 to coordinate Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and child welfare services (9 of 14 grantees) used safety and risk assessments in their practice (Ahonen et al., 2016).…
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Journal Article This study reports the results of a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) needs assessment of programs, services, and support systems for fathers in the City of Detroit, Michigan. The goal of this needs assessment was to assess the availability of parenting support services to men through multiple perspectives. To enact a CBPR approach, the research team collected qualitative data through interviews with service providers and community dialogues with fathers and consulted a community advisory board for further guidance on the research efforts. The research team engaged in member…
