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The Annie E. Casey Foundation's quarterly Center for Family Economic Success (CFES) Newsletter provides updates on our work promoting family economic success in the context of building supportive communities for children and families. The aspiration of the new center is to link people, place and opportunity. CFES embraces the traditional FES goals of enabling parents to advance in the workforce and build the assets needed to secure better futures for their families. It also encompasses investments in creating affordable, mixed-income communities with access to a rich array of services, opportunities, and supports. |
NEWS
Deportation Manual Helps Families Protect Children, Assets
The Casey Foundation supported Appleseed in developing a manual that helps protect children and family assets when immigrants are deported. Nearly 5 million children are living in families at risk of separation due to increased immigration enforcement. When these working parents are deported, their U.S.-born children often remain here. The manual helps providers counsel their clients on issues such as establishing child custody, closing a bank account and transferring assets into their children's names. The Mexican government has translated the guide into Spanish and is distributing it through its network of consulates in the United States and Mexico.
See the manual
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CFES Works With Connecticut to Secure TANF Funds
Casey worked closely with the state of Connecticut this spring to secure more than $34 million in federal dollars supporting subsidized employment and benefits programs for low-income families. Casey provided consultant support to help the state prepare a complicated application for resources under the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund. The state was granted 80 percent reimbursement in the period from October 2008 through September 2010. Connecticut has become a national leader in engaging service providers in its application by including 78 nonprofit providers under the third-party expenditure provisions of the TANF fund.
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Casey Supports I-BEST in Maryland Community Colleges
The Foundation is providing seed money to five Maryland community colleges which this fall are launching a evidence-based model program that accelerates and improves education and labor market outcomes for low-skill adult students 25 or older. CFES is also working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to link a network of states interested in creating such programs for English language learners and adult basic education students into a learning network. The Maryland effort is being co-sponsored by the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, which has offered to provide matching project grants, in addition to Casey's planning grants.
Read the study underpinning the I-BEST approach
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National Fund Recognized for Collaborative Work
The National Fund for Workforce Solutions received the Distinguished Grantmaking Award for Collaboration from the Council on Foundations. The award, announced at the council's annual convention in April, reflects the National Fund's work bringing together public, private and philanthropic resources in the 22 cities where it operates. The National Fund is a partnership involving approximately 200 funders nationwide, including the Casey Foundation.
See more about the award
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Publications, Presentations and Other Resources
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Profiles Highlight Construction Pre-Apprenticeship Programs
The Aspen Institute's Workforce Strategies Initiative, with support from the Casey Foundation, has published profiles of 13 construction pre-apprenticeship programs across the nation, describing each program and its approach to industry engagement and funding. CityBuild in San Francisco, for instance, works with unions to adjust curriculum and assess the jobs skills. Jumpstart in Baltimore contracts with the Associated Builders and Contractors to provide training, career counseling and job placement services.
View the profiles
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Persistent Poverty Plagues One in 10 American Children
More than one-third of American children live part of their lives in poverty, and 10 percent are persistently poor, according to a study released in June by the Urban Institute, with support from the Casey Foundation. The analysis of data from 1968 to 2005 showed that black children are about 2 ½ times more likely to experience poverty than white children and seven times more likely to be persistently poor, meaning they spend half their childhood below the poverty threshold. Persistent poverty can affect a child's future, dooming them to worse adult outcomes.
Read the report
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Rural Children Have Limited Access to Summer Food Programs
Less than one third of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's sites for its Summer Food Service Program are located in rural communities, meaning that children there participate at a lower rate that those in urban areas, according to a brief from the Carsey Institute. Lack of transportation and lack of interest among children and parents contributed to low participation rates. With support from the Casey Foundation and others, Carsey conducts policy research on vulnerable children, youth and families.
Read the brief
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State Policies Help Build Clean Energy Careers
The "clean energy" economy has the potential to bring renewed prosperity to working families and create high quality, middle-skill jobs, according to a policy brief by the Working Poor Families Project. The brief explores targeted state government policies that can increase opportunities for skill development, raise wages and ensure employer commitment to hiring low-income, disadvantaged workers. The Project is supported by the Casey, Ford, Joyce, and Mott foundations.
Read the brief
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Child Poverty in the South Outstrips Other Regions
Children in the Southern states, particularly the Deep South, appear to be at increased risk for poverty and the long-term adverse effects that poverty can bring, according to a national and state-by-state analysis by the Carsey Institute. The policy brief, funded in part by the Casey Foundation, recommends improved education, health, childcare and nutrition programs to address the problem, as well as family-friendly employment policies.
Read the policy brief
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Please let us know if this newsletter is helpful to you and how it might be improved to meet your needs. Contact fesnewsletter@aecf.org with questions or suggestions. Feel free to forward this newsletter to interested colleagues.
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