Canadian Social Research Newsletter
March 5, 2006

Welcome to the weekly Canadian Social Research Newsletter, a listing of the new links added to the Canadian Social Research Links website in the past week.

The e-mail version of this week's issue of the newsletter is going out to 1569 subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

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IN THIS ISSUE:

1. One-Parent Families: Characteristics, causes, consequences and issues (Vanier Institute of the Family) - March 4
2. 2005 Report Card on Child Poverty in Ontario (Campaign 2000) - March 2, 2006
3. Wards of the Crown: A New Documentary on Youth in Care - Airing March 7, 8 on CBC Newsworld
4. Canada, Human Rights and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
5. Second Report Card on Homelessness in Ottawa, Jan-Dec 2005 (Ottawa Alliance to End Homelessness) - February 28
6.  International Women's Day (Status of Women Canada / United Nations) - March 8
7. What's New from Statistics Canada:
--- Study: Immigrants who leave Canada, 1980 to 2000 - March 1
--- Canadian economic accounts, fourth quarter 2005, December 2005 and annual 2005 - February 28
--- Education Matters: Insights on education, learning and training in Canada, February 2006 Issue - February 28
--- Gross Domestic Product by Industry: Sources and Methods with Industry Details - February 28
--- Revisiting Recent Trends in Canadian After-Tax Income Inequality Using Census Data - February 27
8.  What's new from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (University of Toronto) - March 3

International Content

9. Poverty Dispatch Digest : U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs --- March 2
10. January/February 2006 reports from the National Center for Children in Poverty - (U.S.)
--- Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems that Spend Smarter: Maximizing Resources to Serve Vulnerable Children
--- Low-Income Children in the United States: National and State Trend Data, 1994-2004
--- Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Birth to Age 18

Have a great  week!

Canada's One-Parent Families
Causes, Consequences, and Remedies
Press Release
March 4, 2006
"Ottawa— In 2001, over 16% of all families with dependent children were classified as one-parent families (OPFs), whether as a result of marriage breakdown, widowhood, or nonconjugal birth/adoption. Roughly 90% of OPFs are female-led. In a new paper released today by the Vanier Institute of the Family for its Contemporary Family Trends series, author Anne-Marie Ambert shines a spotlight on this population to examine the circumstances and prospects of OPFs and their members in some detail. Her well-supported arguments – particularly those presenting the effects of some forms of OPF on children – serve as a strong critique of our society."

Complete report:

One-Parent Families:
Characteristics, causes, consequences and issues
HTML version
PDF version (722K, 34 pages)

Version française:

Les familles monoparentales :
Caractéristiques, causes, répercussions, et questions
HTML
PDF (2MB, 37 pages)
Communiqué : Les familles monoparentales au Canada - Causes, conséquences et remèdes - [Le 4 mars 2006]

Source:
Vanier Institute of the Family

- Go to the Children, Families and Youth Links (NGO) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnngo.htm

Campaign 2000 Calls for an Ontario Action Plan to Address Child Poverty
News alert
March 2, 2006
"A new report by Ontario Campaign 2000 finds that 443,000 children in Ontario are living in poverty and the child poverty rate is stalled at 16%, despite strong economic growth."

Complete report:

Putting Children First:
2005 Report Card on Child Poverty in Ontario (PDF file - 346K, 8 pages)

Version française:
Les enfants d’abord : Rapport 2005 sur la pauvreté des enfants en Ontario (fichier PDF - 278Ko., 8 pages)
Le 2 mars 2006

Source:
Campaign 2000
Campagne 2000 (version française du site)

Poverty hits one in six kids in Ontario
Study blames increase in part-time, contract work
Report urges hike in minimum wage, quality child care
March 2, 2006
One in six children in Ontario lives in poverty, a study being released today found. That's 443,000 people under 18 across the province.
Source:
The Toronto Star

Google Web Search Results : "2005 Report Card on Child Poverty in Ontario"
Google News search Results : "2005 Report Card on Child Poverty in Ontario"
Source:
Google.ca

- Go to the Children, Families and Youth Links (NGO) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnngo.htm

Wards of the Crown

Andrée Cazabon's important film Wards of the Crown makes its English debut on CBC Newsworld's The Lens on March 7.

Wards of the Crown: A New Documentary on Youth in Care
"At age 13, Andrée Cazabon was briefly placed in a group home. Marked by this experience, she decided to track four young people for 10 months as they prepared to leave foster care. “I wanted to reveal the impact of an institutional upbringing,” she says. “When these young people were brought in, they were told they would be taken to someplace safer and better…..But were they really?” The result is Wards of The Crown / Enfants de la couronne, a stirring documentary about a little-known reality, available in both an English version and a French version." [total running time: 45 minutes]

Showtimes on CBC Newsworld
- the film will air three times: March 7 at 10:00PM --- March 8 at 1:00AM --- March 8 at 4:00AM

More info about the filmmaker
Andrée Cazabon and her two films about youth

More info about the movie
- from the National Film Board

Version française:
Les enfants de la Couronne
(infos de l'Office national du film)

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Youth Leaving Care

Canadian young people are depending on their parents well into their 20's for the ever growing costs of education and adulthood. But one group is expected to be self sufficient by their 18th birthday - the thousands of young people who don't have parents to help them through, who grow up and 'age out' of foster care.

In Ontario, in the past three years, it is estimated that over 2,000 youth who were removed from their first homes have left their second home - the child welfare system - because they became too old to remain in it. And they face considerable challenges in making the transition from state care to adulthood.

The Toronto-based Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults (MISWAA) prepared a widely acclaimed paper on this topic, entitled Youth Leaving Care – How Do They Fare? (PDF file - 242K, 31 pages,
September 2005), by Anne Tweddle.

The Laidlaw Foundation provided funding for the Youth Leaving Care report.

Youth Engagement Program Resources - from the Laidlaw Foundation
The Youth Engagement Program Resources page of the Laidlaw Foundation's website includes links to over a dozen reports, articles, etc., including reports on youth aging out of the child protection system in Canada by Deborah Rutman...

More info about the Youth Engagement Program (also from the Laidlaw Foundation website).

Related Links:

National Youth in Care Network
The National Youth in Care Network is the oldest national youth-directed organization in Canada. We believe that youth in care have the expert knowledge to make the system more humane. And we believe that by helping them voice their own opinions, we help them realize their own potential, develop strength and confidence in themselves and exercise control over their lives and futures.
- incl. links to : our bio (mandate - history - leadership - operational philosophy); our work ( consulting services - ken dryden scholarship - healing and training intensives - primer, our issues and sensitivity training - research and development) our people (youth in care - members and supporters - board of directors - staff - youth in care networks) our resources (tories - youth in care rights and resources - education - supporting youth in care networks - research - tools and manuals - links) our contact info

the networker (PDF file - 229K, 4 pages)
Newsletter
Winter 2005/6
In This Issue:
• Limited Time Offer for Foster Families
• Update from the Federation of BC Youth in Care Networks
• Stories on System Kidz
• Wards of the Crown: A New Documentary on Youth in Care [see above]

the networker is the quarterly newsletter of the National Youth in Care Network.

Child Protection Services in Ontario
Children's Aid Society Foster Care
Source:
Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services:

Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies (OACAS)
OACAS is a membership organization that represents 53 children's aid societies in Ontario. We have served our members, the community, the public and the government in a variety of ways since 1912. These services have included the promotion of child welfare issues, member services, government liaison and policy development, research and special projects, quality assurance in child welfare practice and training for all protection workers throughout the province.

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- Go to the Children, Families and Youth Links (NGO) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnngo.htm

Human Rights & Poverty- Get Involved!
An initiative of the National Anti-Poverty Organization
- incl. links to : Using human rights to fight poverty (an overview) * Core human rights concepts * Reporting Poverty to the United Nations * Tell your story to the United Nation * Right to adequate housing is at issue in Inter-American Commission on Human Rights hearings * Human Rights Links

- excellent collection of resources related to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

"The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that every person has the right to an adequate standard of living, including the right to be free from hunger, to have a job, be paid fair wages and get an education. Canada is a party to the Covenant which requires countries to turn these rights into realities. Yet poverty in Canada continues.

Governments are required to report every 5 years on how they are implementing the Covenant to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which has been set up by the United Nations to monitor how governments are living up to their international human rights commitments. Canada sent in its most recent Fourth Report in October 2004 and will appear before the Committee to answer questions in the Fall of 2006.

The National Anti-Poverty Organization, in cooperation with other Canadian non-governmental organizations, is going to submit an alternative report on poverty in Canada to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights because we don't think the government report presents a full or accurate picture of the extent of poverty in Canada or the way in which government policies at both the federal and provincial/territorial level violate provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

NAPO invites your participation in developing an Alternative Report to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on Canada's implementation of the Covenant. NAPO will be in Geneva on May 1st to present before the Committee."

Use Your Rights to Fight Poverty!
A Workshop* on the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
- the National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO), Low Income Families Together (LIFT) and KAIROS are conducting workshops across Canada to gather evidence for the Alternative Report.
* Personal note: I attended a NAPO/KAIROS/LIFT ICESCR workshop in Ottawa this past week, and I appreciated learning some of the finer points of the process surrounding the country reports to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. I strongly support the work of the groups involved in the preparation and presentation of the Alternative Report, because I feel that since the end of the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) in 1996, there's no forum in Canada, short of the Supreme Court, where social advocacy watchdog organizations can hold the Canadian federal and provincial-territorial governments accountable in matters relating to welfare, poverty and human rights. Representatives of the social advocacy community must travel to Geneva to hold their governments' feet to the fire on matters pertaining to the UN Covenant. It's all about accountability...

Read the latest Canada reports below - they contain a section for the federal government and one for each province and territory, and they all offer valuable nuggets of information on welfare reforms. To get the full picture, though, you should read both the government paper and the NGO Alternative Report.

Latest Canada Reports on the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- Fourth Report of Canada
Covering the period October 1994 - September 1999

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- Fifth Report of Canada
Covering the period September 1999 – December 2004

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- Third Report of Canada
Covering various periods (1987, 1992, 1994)

If you're inspired or motivated after reading the above, you can contact NAPO to tell them what you think of the Canada reports --- all contributions to the NGO Alternate report are welcome!

Related Links (partners)

Low Income Families Together (LIFT)
"Low Income Families Together began in response to Ontario's review of social assistance during 1986, when a group of single mothers came together to make suggestions for reform of the system. This group later expanded its membership and the scope of its activities to become a voice and an active group for low income families in the province. (...) LIFT staff and members continue to develop information and resources and make them available to our members and other low income people in Metro Toronto and throughout Ontario."

KAIROS
"KAIROS unites churches and religious organizations in a faithful ecumenical response to the call to "do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8). We deliberate on issues of common concern, advocate for social change and join with people of faith and goodwill in action for social transformation."
- incl. links to : Home - Who we are - Programme Areas - Take Action! - Resources - Network and Events - Media Room - Support Us - Aboriginal - Anti-poverty - Corporate - Ecology - Education - Economic - Human Rights - Partners - Refugees

National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO)
The National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO) is a non-profit, non partisan organization that represents the interests of low-income people in Canada.
NOTE: Highly recommended! If you haven't visited the NAPO site in awhile, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the amount of quality content that you'll find there.
- incl. links to : News/Commentary - Action/Campaigns - Living wage - Youth Initiative - Human rights - Issues - Popular Education - Events - About NAPO - NAPO News - Subscribe - Join/Donate - Contact NAPO - Resources - Need help? - Jobs - Feedback - Links

- Action/Campaigns - incl. info about the following campaigns : Make the Minimum Wage a Living Wage * Our Future Now! End Youth Poverty * Stop the Clawback of the NCBS * Make Poverty History * End Child Poverty * NAPO Action Campaigns

- Issues - incl. Child Poverty * Federal Budget * Guaranteed Adequate Income * Health and Poverty * Housing and Homelessness * Human Rights * Minimum Wage/Living Wage * Panhandling * Poverty in Canada * Poverty Measures * Poverty Reduction Strategies * Race and Poverty * Social Assistance * Social Transfer * Women and Poverty * Work and Unemployment * Youth Poverty

- Go to the United Nations Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/un.htm

Second Report Card on Homelessness in Ottawa, Jan-Dec 2005
Released February 28, 2006
Grade C+
Only slight progress made.
8,853 people were homeless and stayed in a shelter at some point in 2005.

Complete report:
English
Français

Related Link:

First Report Card on Homelessness in Ottawa, 2004
Experiencing Homelessness

Source:
Alliance to End Homelessness - Ottawa
The Alliance to End Homelessness in Ottawa is a coalition of community stakeholders committed to working collaboratively to eliminate homelessness by gaining a better understanding of homelessness and developing and implementing strategies to end it.
- incl. links to : About the Alliance * About Homelessness * Report Card on Homelessness in Ottawa * Alliance Briefs * Research * 2006-2008 Community Action Plan on Homelessness * Homeless & Using the Internet
* Ottawa Service Inventory for Agencies * Events

- Go to the Homelessness and Housing Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/homeless.htm
- Go to the Ontario Government Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk.htm

International Women's Day
Beyond Laws: The Right to Be Me
March 8, 2006
Did you know that March 8 is International Women's Day? Established in 1977 by the United Nations, this special day provides an opportunity to celebrate the progress made to advance equality for women and to assess the challenges that remain. This special day also provides an opportunity to consider steps to bring about equality for women in all their diversity. Canadians will celebrate International Women's Week from Sunday, March 5, to Saturday, March 11, 2006, with the highlight being International Women's Day on March 8.
- incl. links to : Theme * News releases and statements * Products available * Ordering products * Calendar of activities * For more information
Source:
Status of Women Canada

International Women's Day
Women in decision-making : meeting challenges, creating change
March 8, 2006
- incl. links to : Message of the Secretary-General - Women in Decision-Making - Commemoration - UN Webcast - History of the Day - Commission on the Status of Women - WomenWatch - UN News Centre - Press Releases - Resources - Women's Day 2005 - UN Home
Source:
United Nations

Go to the Links to International Sites about Women's Social Issues page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/womeninternat.htm

What's New from The Daily [Statistics Canada]:

March 1, 2006
Study: Immigrants who leave Canada, 1980 to 2000
Migration to Canada for some immigrants is not a permanent move, according to a new study, which shows that many newcomers subsequently leave Canada. Among young males, those admitted to the country under the business and skilled worker classes were most likely to leave.

Complete study:

Return and Onward Migration
among Working Age Men (PDF file - 368K, 49 pages)

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February 28, 2006
Canadian economic accounts, fourth quarter 2005, December 2005 and annual 2005
Investment spending, exports and personal expenditure all advanced in the fourth quarter, pushing up real gross domestic product (GDP) 0.6%. In December, monthly output was up 0.4%, after increasing 0.2% in November and 0.3% in October. A more detailed analysis is available in the [free] Canadian Economic Accounts Quarterly Review.

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February 28, 2006
Education Matters: Insights on education, learning and training in Canada
February 2006 Issue
This free online periodical provides summary information on issues and gives access to education indicators and Canadian education analysis. It presents information, statistics and analysis in a non-technical, highly readable format for teachers, students, parents, education associations, researchers and policy makers. It is published bimonthly by Statistics Canada's Centre for Education Statistics."

The Feb. 2006 issue of Education Matters comprises the two articles below:

Literacy skills among Canada's immigrant population
A growing proportion of Canada's newest immigrants speak a language other than English or French most often at home; immigrants will also account for virtually all of the net growth in the labour force in Canada over the coming decade. The proficiency of individuals in prose, numeracy and problem solving is clearly linked to their labour market outcomes. Find out how the immigrant population compares to individuals born in Canada on literacy tests taken in either of Canada's two official languages.

Census at School: Engaging students in statistics
Learn how Census at School, an international classroom project in which Statistics Canada participates, teaches students aged 8 to 18 about statistical enquiry and census-taking. Students anonymously fill in an online questionnaire about themselves - their height, time use, reading and eating habits, and much more - and then use the results to learn statistical concepts, analyze data and explore social issues.

Earlier issues of Education Matters - back to April 2004, links to 20+ education-related articles
Other StatCan Publications on Education

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Gross Domestic Product by Industry:
Sources and Methods with Industry Details (PDF file - 1.1MB, 388 pages)
February 28, 2006
This document describes all aspects of output-based Gross Domestic Product (GDP), also known as GDP by industry or simply monthly GDP. It contains a comprehensive record of specific methodologies and data sources, on an industry by industry basis. It is meant to complement a previous Statistics Canada publication, released in November 2002, entitled Gross Domestic Product by Industry, Sources and Methods (see the link below), which discusses in general terms the concepts, definitions, classifications and statistical methods underlying the monthly GDP measures.
Gross Domestic Product by Industry, Sources and Methods - November 2002 (PDF file - 393K, 83 pages)

Related Link:

GDP by income and by expenditure
Release date: February 28, 2006
Investment spending, exports and personal expenditure all advanced in the fourth quarter pushing up real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 0.6%.
Highlights in The Daily
Detailed analysis
Statistical tables (15 tables)

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Revisiting Recent Trends in Canadian
After-Tax Income Inequality Using Census Data (PDF file - 312K, 28 pages)
by Marc Frenette, David Green and Kevin Milligan
February 2006
"...the 1980s can be characterized as a period in which strong increases in pre-tax and transfer income inequality were fully offset by the tax and transfer system. In contrast, equally strong pre-tax and transfer income inequality increases in the 1990s were not offset to nearly the same degree in the 1990s. This opens interesting questions about the impacts of changes in several parts of the social safety net in the 1990s. (...) While definitive statements on changes in the impact of taxes and transfers are not possible from these comparisons since pre-tax and transfer income will partly reflect behavioural responses to the tax and transfer system, the differences in the movements of market and disposable income inequality in the 1990s compared to the 1980s is a smoking gun pointing to a potential weakening of the effectiveness of redistributive policies [bolding added]. One of our goals in this paper is to point out that smoking gun, opening an avenue for future research."" [Excerpt from the Conclusion, p. 26]
Source:
Analytical Studies Branch research paper series <===links to 500+ free studies and reports!

- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Fisheries and Oceans to Veterans Affairs) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk2.htm

What's New - from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) - University of Toronto

Each week, the Childcare Resource and Research Unit disseminates its "e-mail news notifier", an e-mail message with a dozen or so links to new reports, studies and child care in the news (media articles) by the CRRU or another organization in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC). What you see below is content from the most recent issue of the notifier.

3-Mar-06

---------------------------------------------------
WHAT’S NEW
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>> Putting children first
Report Card from Ontario Campaign 2000 finds "443,000 children in Ontario are living in poverty and the child poverty rate is stalled at 16%, despite strong economic growth."

>> Investing in tomorrow, today: 2006 Manitoba Alternative Provincial Budget
Manitoba Alternative Provincial Budget from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives recommends a 6% increase in funding to child care services.

>> Globalisation and privatisation: The impact on childcare policy and practice
by Vandenbroeck, Michel
Working Paper from the Bernard van Leer Foundation examines how "views about children, parents and public services have changed as a result of globalization."

>> Newborns and new schools: Critical times in women's employment
by Brewer, Mike & Paull, Gillian
Report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies for the British government "investigates how and when differences in work behaviour between men and women develop."

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CHILD CARE IN THE NEWS
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>> Long-term vision for quality child care worth preserving: women's council [CA-NL]
Western Star (Corner Brook), 3 Mar 06

>> Tory day-care plan worries industry [CA-AB]
by Guttormson, Kim / Calgary Herald, 2 Mar 06

>> Child care plan's demise costly for B.C. [CA-BC]
by Bailey, Ian / Vancouver Province, 2 Mar 06

>> Destroying child care program kills national dream [CA]
by Piatkowski, Scott / rabble.ca, 2 Mar 06

>> Calvert says province won't claw back child care money [CA-SK]
CBC News - Saskatchewan, 1 Mar 06

>> Liberals vow child care battle in Parliament [CA]
CTV News Staff, 28 Feb 06

>> Parents, day cares need cheques: premier [CA-NS]
CBC News – Nova Scotia, 28 Feb 06

>> Conservative child care plan comes at high price [CA]
by Jacobs, John (director, CCPA-NS) / rabble.ca, 28 Feb 06

>> Cathers, child care providers to discuss $1.3 million [CA-YT]
by Skikavich, Julia / Whitehorse Daily Star, 28 Feb 06

>> Competing concerns [CA]
Hamilton Spectator, 25 Feb 06

>> Premiers talk tough over cuts [CA]
by Authier, Philip / Montreal Gazette, 25 Feb 06

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This message was forwarded through the Childcare Resource
and Research Unit e-mail news notifier. For information on the
CRRU e-mail notifier, including instructions for (un)subscribing,
see http://www.childcarecanada.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Related Links:

What's New? - Canadian, U.S. and international resources
Child Care in the News - media articles
ISSUE files - theme pages, each filled with contextual information and links to further info
Links to child care sites in Canada and elsewhere
CRRU Publications - briefing notes, factsheets, occasional papers and other publications

Also from CRRU:

Towards a national system of early learning and child care
Regularly updated
NOTE: this is a large (and growing) collection that includes government and non-governmental reports, press releases, news articles and other documents dealing with the new federal-provincial-territorial arrangements for early learning and child care in Canada.

Current developments in Early Childhood Education and Care: Provinces and territories
Regularly updated

- Go to the Non-Governmental Early Learning and Child Care Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ecd2.htm

POVERTY DISPATCH Digest
Institute for Research on Poverty - U. of Wisconsin
This digest offers dozens of new links each week to full-text articles in the U.S. media (mostly daily newspapers) on poverty, poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, and much more...
The Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers a free e-mail service that consists of an e-mail message sent to subscribers each Monday and Thursday, containing a dozen or so links to articles dealing with the areas mentioned above. The weekly Canadian Social Research Links Poverty Dispatch Digest is a compilation, available online, of the two dispatch e-mails for that week --- with the kind permission of IRP.

Here's the complete collection of U.S. media articles in this week's Poverty Dispatch Digest:
(click the link above to read all of these articles)

March 2, 2006

Today's subjects include: Health Care for Immigrants // Health Care Bill – Massachusetts // Hurricane Katrina and Poverty – Utah // Health Care Program – Tennessee // Health Care for Immigrants – Maryland // Health Care for Immigrants – North Carolina, Texas // Medicaid Cuts – Oregon // Child Support Order Guidelines – New Hampshire // Minimum Wage – Iowa // Child Care - New Jersey // Kids Count – Maine // Early Childhood Education – Ohio // High School Dropouts – Indiana

February 27, 2006

Today's subjects include: Measuring Poverty - Editorials // Wealth Disparity - Editorial // Hunger - Editorial // Minimum Wage - Opinion // Earned Income Tax Credit // Economic Benefits of Preschool // Wisconsin's Influence on Israeli Welfare Program // Evaluating Welfare Reform - Hawaii // Working Poor - Tippecanoe County, IN // Poverty and Food Assistance - Central Wisconsin, Indiana // Food Assistance - Various Localities // Universal State Health Care Proposal - Illinois // Universal Preschool - California // Student Achievement Gap - Utah, Waterloo, IA, Madison, WI // Testing, Dropouts, and Achievement Gap - Washington and Massachusetts // State Income Tax and Low-Income Families - New Jersey // EITC - Rochester, NY // Stealing Garbage - Wisconsin // Tackling Homelessness - Westchester County, NY

Each of the weekly digests offers dozens of links or more to media articles that are time-sensitive.
The older the link, the more likely it is to either be dead or have moved to an archive - and some archives [but not all] are pay-as-you-go.
[For the current week's digest, click on the POVERTY DISPATCH Digest link above]

Subscribe to the Poverty Dispatch!
Send an e-mail message to John Wolf [ jwolf@ssc.wisc.edu ] to receive a plain text message twice a week with one to two dozen links to media articles with a focus on poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, health, Medicaid from across the U.S.
And it's free...

Source:
Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)
[ University of Wisconsin-Madison ]

For the current week's digest, click on the POVERTY DISPATCH Digest link at the top of this section.
Recently-archived POVERTY DISPATCH weekly digests:

- February 23, 2006
- February 16
- February 9
- February 2
- January 26

POVERTY DISPATCH description/archive - weekly issues back to August 2005, 50+ links per issue
NOTE: this archive is part of the Canadian Social Research Links American Non-Governmental Social Research page.

- Go to the Links to American Government Social Research page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (M-Z) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us3.htm

What's New from the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP): (U.S.)

Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems that Spend Smarter: Maximizing Resources to Serve Vulnerable Children
Project THRIVE Issue Briefs
February 2006
States planning early childhood comprehensive care systems will use this first Issue Brief from NCCP's Project THRIVE to identify ways to use federal and state fiscal resources more effectively to promote the social and emotional health and well-being of the most vulnerable young children.
Abstract - HTML
Complete report - PDF (276K, 24 pages)

Low-Income Children in the United States:
National and State Trend Data, 1994-2004
January 2006
After nearly a decade of decline, the number of children living in low-income families has been steadily increasing, a pattern that began in 2000. NCCP's new data book brings together national and 50-state trend data on the characteristics of low-income children over the past decade.
Abstract - HTML
Complete report - PDF (429K, 56 pages)

Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Birth to Age 18
January 2006
Millions of children with low-income parents find themselves without the basics, even though the majority of low-income parents work. Young children continue to be disproportionately low income. NCCP's series, Basic Facts About Low-Income Children, 2006 edition, tracks children in the United States who live in low-income families by age: birth to age 18; birth to age 6; and birth to age 3.
HTML version - includes links to separate reports, one dealing with children birth to age 6 and the other from birth to age 3
PDF version (196K, 4 pages)

- Go to the International Children, Families and Youth Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chn2.htm

Disclaimer/Privacy Statement

Both Canadian Social Research Links (the site) and this Canadian Social Research Newsletter belong solely to me, Gilles Séguin.

I am solely accountable for the choice of links presented therein and for the occasional editorial comment - it's my time, my home computer, my experience, my biases, my Rogers Internet account and my web hosting service.

I administer the mailing list and distribute the weekly newsletter using software on the web server of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Thanks, CUPE!

If you wish to subscribe to the e-mail version of newsletter, go to the Canadian Social Research Newsletter Online Subscription page:
http://lists.cupe.ca/mailman/listinfo/csrl-news

You can unsubscribe by going to the same page or by sending me an e-mail message [ gilseg@rogers.com ]

------------------------

The e-mail version of this newsletter is available only in plain text (no graphics, no hyperlinks, no fancy bolding or italics, etc.) to avoid security problems with government departments, universities and other networks with firewalls. The text-only version is also friendlier for people using older or lower-end technology.

Privacy Policy:
The Canadian Social Research Newsletter mailing list is not used for any purpose except to distribute each weekly issue.
I promise not share any information on this list, nor to send you any junk mail.

Links presented in the Canadian Social Research Newsletter point to different views about social policy and social programs.
There are some that I don't agree with, so don't get on my case, eh...

To access earlier online HTML issues of the Canadian Social Research Newsletter, go to the Newsletter page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/news.htm

Please feel free to distribute this newsletter as widely as you wish, but please remember to mention Canadian Social Research Links when you do.

Cheers!
Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com

What is "Infectious Laughter"?
[NOTE: this is a Windows Media Audio (.wma) file; to listen to this audio clip, you need a sound card, audio software and speakers on your computer. Also, the network firewall at your office or university might prevent access to audio files.]

This audio file is an answering machine message from a guy who is driving his car in to work. He's in the middle of a call on his cell phone to say hell be late when he witnesses a fender-bender.
Listen to his account of the accident and the aftermath. Very funny, and it's even suitable for the office!