This report measures how children from different racial backgrounds are faring in the United States and focuses particularly on children in immigrant families. The data presented are drawn from 2013-2015, and indicate significant racial and ethnic inequities among children, with Asian and Pacific Islander and white children generally doing better in almost every area of child well-being than their African-American, Latino, and American Indian peers. The data also indicate the number of children living in low poverty neighborhoods has decreased across all groups. Following an introduction,…
Senior year of high school can be a pivotal time in a young person’s life. For some, it is the last step on the path to college and work. For others, finding stable employment or attending university after high school is far from guaranteed.Urban Alliance, headquartered in Washington, DC, helps students at risk of becoming disconnected from work or school transition to higher education or employment after high school. Through its High School Internship Program, it offers participating high school seniors training, an internship, and mentoring to help them succeed. The Urban Institute recently…
Families on limited incomes can struggle to navigate low-wage jobs or education and training programs while also searching for quality early care and education for their children. Some programs provide integrated services to parents and their children in an effort to solve this problem. This practice is sometimes called a two-generation or whole-family approach. This report provides: (1) key findings from a literature review, an environmental scan, and field work to identify and describe existing program models; (2) development of a conceptual framework to inform program design and research;…
Relationships between children and their parents are the foundation on which children learn how to form and sustain healthy relationships. Disrupting those relationships—by losing a parent to incarceration, for example—can have long-term effects on children and may lead to antisocial behavior, poor school performance, and physical and mental health problems. To mitigate the risks of parental incarceration for children, some correctional agencies offer parent-child visits in prisons or jails. There are several types of parent-child visits, but many experts believe contact visits, where the…
Launched in 1995, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Jobs Initiative aimed to boost employment options for young Americans living in low-income communities in six cities. This report looks at how the initiative’s participating sites approached hiring and retention inequities related to race and ethnicity. Readers will learn the successes and challenges of their efforts to address cultural competence and what strategies the sites developed to expand opportunities for job seekers and workers of color. (Author abstract)
Research in behavioral economics has shown that small changes in the environment can make it easier for people to act and make decisions that support their goals. For example, research suggests that small changes to make processes easier — such as simplifying application instructions, prepopulating forms with available required information, and streamlining procedures — can improve human services program design and outcomes. The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project used behavioral insights to address issues related to the operations, implementation, and efficacy…
This report presents evidence for HOPE (Health Outcomes of Positive Experiences) based on newly released, compelling data that reinforce the need to promote positive experiences for children and families in order to foster healthy childhood development despite the adversity common in so manyfamilies. (Author abstract modified)
