Who Plays, Who Pays? Funding for and Access to Youth Sports. RAND Corporation. Anamarie A. Whitaker et al. July 18, 2019
To better understand sports participation rates for middle and high school-aged youths, the funding landscape, and participation barriers and enablers, RAND researchers surveyed parents, school administrators, and community sports program leaders. [Note: contains copyrighted material].
[PDF format, 15 pages].
Building beyond Policing: A Case Study of Eden Night Live in Alameda County, California. Urban Institute. Cameron Okeke. September 25, 2018
Key takeaway: How community parties have helped California sheriffs rethink public safety
This report describes how the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office used Eden Night Live, a community festival and pop-up marketplace, to creatively reimagine and rebuild community-police relations in Ashland/Cherryland. Through interviews with officers, community members, and staff, this case study examines how artistic performance, community participation, and community-based economic development can build local commerce, foster community cohesion, and change perceptions of public safety. [Note: contains copyrighted material].
[PDF format, 42 pages].
Safety Net Investments in Children. Brookings Institution. Hilary W. Hoynes and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. March 8, 2018
In this paper, the authors examine what groups of children are served by core childhood social safety net programs—including Medicaid, EITC, CTC, SNAP, and AFDC/TANF—and how they have changed over time. They find that virtually all gains in spending on the social safety net for children since 1990 have gone to families with earnings, and to families with income above the poverty line. These trends are the result of welfare reform and the expansion of in-work tax credits. The authors review the available research and find that access to safety net programs during childhood improves outcomes for children and society over the long run. This evidence suggests that the recent changes to the social safety net may have lasting negative impacts on the poorest children. [Note: contains copyrighted material].
[PDF format, 67 pages].
Child and Dependent Care Tax Benefits: How They Work and Who Receives Them. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. Margot L. Crandall-Hollick. March 1, 2018
Two tax provisions subsidize the child and dependent care expenses of working parents: the child and dependent care tax credit (CDCTC) and the exclusion for employer-sponsored child and dependent care. The child and dependent care tax credit is a nonrefundable tax credit that reduces a taxpayer’s federal income tax liability based on child and dependent care expenses incurred. The policy objective is to assist taxpayers who work or who are looking for work. A taxpayer must meet a variety of eligibility criteria including incurring qualifying child and dependent care expenses for a qualifying individual and have earned income.
[PDF format, 21 pages].
Spending on Children Ages 8 and Younger. Urban Institute. Heather Hahn et al. December 7, 2017
Investments in young children can positively influence childhood well-being and long-term social and economic outcomes.
To provide a better understanding of public spending on young children, this report tackles questions about federal, state, and local investments. We provide information on how much the federal government spent on children ages 8 and younger in 2006 and 2016 and estimate projected spending in 2026. We also address where and how those funds are used. [Note: contains copyrighted material].
[PDF format, 39 pages, 1.30 MB].
Child and Dependent Care Tax Benefits: How They Work and Who Receives Them. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. Margot L. Crandall-Hollick. October 26, 2017
Two tax provisions subsidize the child and dependent care expenses of working parents: the child and dependent care tax credit (CDCTC) and the exclusion for employer-sponsored child and dependent care.
The child and dependent care tax credit is a nonrefundable tax credit that reduces a taxpayer’s federal income tax liability based on child and dependent care expenses incurred. The policy objective is to assist taxpayers who work or who are looking for work. A taxpayer must meet a variety of eligibility criteria including incurring qualifying child and dependent care expenses for a qualifying individual and have earned income.
[PDF format, 20 pages, 842.02 KB].
Helping Kids and Families Cope With Violence: Safe Start Promising Approaches. RAND Corporation. Dana Schultz et al. March 30, 2017.
Although rates of children’s exposure to violence have been declining in the United States, the problem remains extensive. The most recent study found that more than half of children in a national sample had been exposed to violence in the past year. Children who have been abused or witnessed violence are more likely than other children to develop mental health problems and engage in risky behaviors. Some of these problems can persist into adulthood. [Note: contains copyrighted material].
[PDF format, 4 pages, 88.27 KB].
Paternity and parental leave policies across the European Union. RAND Corporation. Janna van Belle. October 20, 2016.
Despite the positive effect of paternity- and parental leave uptake by fathers on a number of economic, social and demographic outcomes, the current uptake of leave by fathers across Europe is low. Research has shown that there is a large number of interlocking factors that affect uptake of leave by fathers, including the height of compensation, the availability of affordable childcare, the flexibility of leave arrangements, gender norms and cultural expectations. The author describes the different policies available across Europe that address the uptake of paternity leave and parental leave, discusses the link between uptake of leave by fathers and the various outcomes associated with uptake, and gives an overview of the existing barriers to uptake. She finds that although low or absent compensation levels during the leave are a key factor why fathers will or cannot take their leave entitlement, an increase in uptake will most likely result from an interlocking set of family policies that help dual earner families to combine work and family life in a sustainable manner. These include policies that directly encourage fathers to take up leave, such as well-compensated individual leave entitlements, policies aimed at creating a sustainable solution to the challenges of combining work and family life, such as leave arrangements that are flexible and adaptive to individual needs, but also policies aimed at changing workplace culture. [Note: contains copyrighted material].
[PDF format, 26 pages, 1.6 MB].
The long-term impact of the Head Start program. The Hamilton Project. Lauren Bauer and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. August 19, 2016.
A growing body of rigorous evidence suggests that policy interventions aimed at early childhood bear fruit for decades. For example, reductions in air pollution in the first year of life and more experienced kindergarten teachers are associated with increases in later earnings, while childhood access to food stamps and Medicaid causes better health in adulthood. Across many studies of several programs, preschool attendance among disadvantaged children has been found to positively impact participants. [Note: contains copyrighted material].
[PDF format, 8 pages, 703.84 KB].
The Educational and Mental Health Needs of Syrian Refugee Children. Migration Policy Institute. Selcuk R. Sirin and Lauren Rogers-Sirin. October 2015.
The Syrian civil war, which began in March 2011, has subsequently displaced nearly 12 million people, more than 4 million of them beyond Syria’s borders. Children under the age of 18 represent about half of the Syrian refugee population, with approximately 40 percent under the age of 12. As the refugee crisis continues to unfold, the report takes stock of what is happening to these displaced children. [Note: contains copyrighted material].
[HTML format with a link to the full text PDF file].
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