This report describes four Responsible Fatherhood programs that focus primarily on low-income Hispanic fathers: Futuro Now from KidWorks, a partner of The East Los Angeles Community Union, in Santa Ana, California; Project Fatherhood at The Children’s Institute, Inc., in Los Angeles County, California; Project Padres at Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Program in Imperial County, California; Responsible Fatherhood Program at Southwest Key in San Antonio, Texas. This study provides information about how these federally funded programs are implemented in a culturally relevant way and…
Father Facts 7 contains the research you need to be more effective in your work to promote involved, responsible, and committed fatherhood. As with past editions, it includes abstracts of the most recent studies, published since the last edition, and helpful tables that organize the data on rates of father absence. For this edition, we added brief summaries at the start of each chapter and section on the state of the research in each area that distills what we know related to that fatherhood-related topic. (Author abstract)
This fact sheet focuses on children in poverty in South Dakota. It begins by explaining federal poverty thresholds for 2014, poverty guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, South Dakota benefits that use poverty guidelines, and the Supplemental Poverty Measure. It concludes that poverty thresholds vary by family size and number of children, but not geographically, while guidelines vary by family size and geographically. The use of the Supplemental Poverty Measure to extend the Official Poverty Measure is discussed and key differences between poverty thresholds…
This fact sheet focuses on the implementation of the Head Start program in South Dakota. It begins by explaining the establishment of the South Dakota Head Start State Collaboration, the history of Head Start, and the beliefs and goals of Head Start related to school readiness. Head Start program options are reviewed, as well as an early learning framework and the racial characteristics of children enrolled in Head Start in South Dakota in 2012/2013. It is reported that in 2013-2014 a total of 3,990 families participated in Head Start, 22% of the parents had less than a high school diploma,…
This report describes in detail how researchers, policymakers, and program administrators can recognize opportunities for experiments and carry them out. Specifically, the report focuses on opportunistic experiments, defined as randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that study the effects of initiatives, program changes, or policy actions that agencies or programs plan or intend to implement – as opposed to studying an intervention or policy action that is developed and implemented specifically for a research study. (Author abstract)
This fact sheet focuses on the implementation of the Early Head Start program in South Dakota. It begins by explaining the history of the Early Head Start program, the establishment of 8 Early Head Starts in South Dakota, and the goal of Early Head Start programs to prepare children to be ready for school. It is reported that in 2013-2014 a total of 868 families participated in Head Start, 18% of the parents had less than a high school diploma, and 53% were single parent families. Data on parental employment, racial characteristics of children enrolled in Early Head Start, pregnant women in…
This fact sheet provides ideas and resources for beginning a conversation with participants about two specific financial empowerment topics: starting an emergency savings account and building credit. It examines some common concerns about financial topics like "We don’t have enough money to start a savings account" and "Will pulling my credit report hurt my credit score?" and offers ways to help participants take the first step. The fact sheet also directs HMRF practitioners to where they can find financial institution and credit counseling partners. (Author abstract)
This report presents the findings of a study of 1,085 U.S. parenting adults of 3 to 13 year olds that explored how families experience developmental relationships, how experiences of developmental relationships vary among different families, the extent to which developmental relationships contribute to children’s development and well-being across different types of families and circumstances, everyday interactions in families that facilitate (or interfere with) developmental relationships, strategies that hold promise for engaging families through a focus on developmental relationships, and…
U.S. women graduate from high school at higher rates than U.S. men, but the female-male educational advantage is larger, and has increased by more, among black students and students of low socioeconomic status (SES) than among white and high-SES students. The authors explore why boys fare worse than girls in low-SES households—both behaviorally and educationally—by exploiting matched birth certificates, health, disciplinary, academic, and high school graduation records for more than 1 million children born in Florida between 1992 and 2002. They account for unobserved family heterogeneity by…
Blue Star Families’ Annual Military Family Lifestyle Survey provides a comprehensive understanding of the experiences and challenges encountered by military families. Military families are much like their civilian neighbors; however, the unique demands of military service result in unique issues and challenges. Supporting military families is vital to sustaining the All-Volunteer Force and a strong national defense. Service members and their families will continue to be asked to do more with less. Military families are central to service member recruitment and retention decisions, and to…
