Special Interest Areas
You are in the Special Interest Areas section of the Casey Foundation Knowledge Center. This section contains resources published and or funded by Casey that you may download.
See also the Our Work: Special Interest Areas, an overview of the Casey Foundation's investments in this issue.
Featured Publications
Integration of Immigrants in Maryland's Growing Economy
2008
This brief summarizes the contribution of immigrants to Maryland’s workforce and trends in the workforce between 2000 and 2006. Maryland’s immigrant workers are unusually highly educated and work in key skilled industries such as healthcare, information technology and the sciences. However, there are also large numbers of immigrant workers with low educational attainment and English proficiency—they largely work in construction, agriculture, and services. Education, English language, and job training programs if properly tailored to immigrants’ and employers’ needs could potentially raise the incomes of immigrant workers and increase their tax contributions to the state.
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Borrowing Trouble: Predatory Lending in Native American Communities
2008
Developed by First Nations Development Institute, through the support of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, this landmark report details the practices of lenders targeting Native American communities with loan products that are often designed to exploit vulnerable borrowers who generally cannot afford to repay the loans. As a result, borrowers often end up in foreclosures, bankruptcy, or having to endure other financial hardships.
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Urban Indian America: The Status of American Indian and Alaska Native Children and Families Today
2008
This report by the National Urban Indian Family Coalition discusses the status of American Indian and Alaskan Native families today.
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Adult Literacy Education in Immigrant Communities: Identifying Policy and Program Priorities for Helping Newcomers Learn English
2007
This report offers an in-depth exploration of the pressing language barriers facing the estimated 2.23 million adults in this country who are Limited English Proficient – and how best to solve them. The report provides an overview of issues discussed at the Adult Literacy Education in Immigrant Communities summit held in Washington, D.C., led by the Asian American Justice Center and held in partnership with the National Immigration Forum and the National Council of La Raza.
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Focus on Children with Incarcerated Parents: An Overview of the Research Literature
2007
This report provides an overview of major research findings on children whose parents are incarcerated as a means of further informing this developing area of research, practice, and policy. The findings and policy and program suggestions offered in this synthesis are based primarily on research published during the last 20 years.
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Understanding the Experiences and Needs of Children of Incarcerated Parents: Views from Mentors
2008
To better understand the experiences and needs of children with incarcerated parents, Urban Institute researchers collaborated with mentors from Big Brothers, Big Sisters organizations in Baltimore, Maryland; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Washington, D.C. Researchers were able to gather qualitative data through the use of focus groups with the mentors of children whose parents are incarcerated. The group discussions focused on the children’s living situations, relationships with their parents, and emotional and behavioral outcomes. Findings from the discussions indicate considerable variation between children with incarcerated mothers and those with incarcerated fathers.
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Banking in a Global Market: A Financial Institution Guide for Offering International Remittance Service—A Supplement
2008
This supplement to the financial institution guide for offering international remittance service contains detailed profiles of financial institution remittance programs.
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Using Local Creativity and Entrepreneurship to Build Family-Supporting Jobs in North Carolina
2008
Residents of the Appalachian region of western North Carolina are redeveloping their economy by building on their age-old tradition of crafts and using it as a springboard to also expand their agricultural and tourism industries. An Asheville nonprofit, Handmade in America, is providing support, inspiration and know-how to help the region build on its strengths.
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Merging Local Data to Explore the Experiences and Needs of Children of Incarcerated Parents
2008
The Urban Institute partnered with organizations in Chicago, Illinois; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Providence, Rhode Island to merge local and state level criminal justice and human services data to learn about children of incarcerated parents in their localities. This report presents findings from the three sites and a discussion of the possibilities and difficulties involved in merging and analyzing administrative data on this population.
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Parental Incarceration and Child Wellbeing in Fragile Families
2008
In this policy brief, the authors highlight findings from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, conducted through Columbia University’s School of Social Work. The study explores the extent to which children of incarcerated parents are at a greater risk for material hardship, family instability, and developmental challenges.
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