Brief
Low-skilled men, especially minorities, typically work at low levels and provide little support for their children. Conservatives blame this on government willingness to support families, which frees the fathers from responsibility, while liberals say that men are denied work by racial bias or the economy--either a lack of jobs or low wages, which depress the incentive to work. The evidence for all these theories is weak. Thus, changing program benefits or incentives is unlikely to solve the men's work problem. More promising is the idea of linking assistance with administrative requirements…
Brief
This brief discusses ways to leverage policy and practice opportunities to support positive outcomes for young men of color. It offers a set of solution-centered policies and strategies to address barriers to success for them, including education equity, workforce development and training, youth development and wellbeing, and public investment in young people.
Brief
Policies and practices that support young men of color in their teen years can help put them on the path to lead healthy and productive lives. Young men of color face more obstacles in education, employment, and health than their white peers. In order to improve health and success of middle- and high school-aged young men of color, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) launched Forward Promise in 2011.To inform this new initiative and better understand the issues at work, RWJF engaged the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) to conduct roundtable discussions, online surveys, and telephone…
Brief
This brief explains the importance of ensuring there is a match between an intervention for children and families and the local context and proposes a set of core elements that can be used to define contextual fit and guide practice, policy, and research. Eight elements are described and include: the extent to which an intervention meets an identified need for a particular target population; the extent to which the core features of an intervention are well defined; demonstrated effectiveness of the intervention for the target population and the outcomes of interest; the practicality of the…
Brief
This research brief, from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families, provides a national portrait of low-income Hispanic families in the U.S. Having a better understanding of these families will help programs and policymakers in their efforts to assist these families. We use recent nationally-representative data to describe the relationship and childbearing histories of low-income Hispanic men and women aged 15 to 44. Importantly, we distinguish by nativity—i.e., born in the U.S. versus in some other country—as family formation patterns vary greatly by nativity, and these…
Brief
To better understand what HMRE and RF programs are doing to reach and serve Hispanic families, the authors conducted an extensive review of federally- and non-federally-funded programs serving Hispanic couples and fathers. Based on this review, they developed a program guide summarizing multiple aspects of HMRE and RF programs that target and serve Hispanic populations, including location of the program, target population, and a range of implementation and evaluation factors. This guide is accompanied by detailed profiles for each program listed in the guide, and can be used to easily and…
Brief
This is the first in a series of briefs that draws upon WIFI's focus group findings conducted with diverse groups of women from across the country and online. The groups varied by socio-economic status, age, race/ethnicity, and profession. This series of briefs explores and expands upon what women believe to be the major issues around fatherhood including , barriers and solutions to father involvement, and the benefits of father involvement to children, women, and communities. (Author abstract)
Brief
This brief explains culture defines the values, beliefs, and practices surrounding when and how youth transition to adulthood, and presents a checklist to provide medical home teams with a tool to facilitate the programmatic and organizational change necessary to respond effectively to culturally defined beliefs, practices, and preferences and the inherent issues they raise in the provision of health care and related services for youth and their families. Characteristics of culturally competent organizations are described, and six core elements of health care transition are identified. The…
