During 1997, in cooperation with 17 southern states and the District of Columbia, the Southern Institute on Children and Families held site visits to identify ways to uncomplicate the delivery of health coverage, child care and other benefits to assist low wage families. This report presents key findings and recommended actions states can take to…

To assist states in easing the burden of Medicaid application procedures and verification requirements for families, the Southern Institute on Children and Families conducted a regional meeting to discuss child health coverage verification issues in September, 1998. Participating in the dialogue were Medicaid and state child health insurance…

Universities can contribute significantly to the improvement of human welfare by directing academic resources toward solving problems. They need a radical mission-oriented focus devoted to using reason to improve the human condition and local public schools and school districts. The article describes programs that have succeeded to this end. (SM)

Many urban schools are providing high-quality education and are producing high-achieving students, despite facing high student poverty and mobility rates, large number of English language learners and unsafe neighborhood. Positive behavioral supports, caring connections, and social and emotional learning are very essential in creating positive…

The strategy of development in rural areas of Croatia includes several factors. Among them is education. The education system in Croatia has a number of institutional, infrastructural and regional characteristics that are a frame of research for this article. Rural areas confront additional factors such as population migrations, poor…

This report provides an overview of Joining Forces' first year and summarizes the substantive knowledge gained from cross-sector collaboration, in four sections. Section I discusses the background of the Joining Forces initiative. With an initial grant from the Ford Foundation, in late 1987, the National Association of State Boards of Education…

Based on direct observation of farmworker housing, reviews of the literature on the subject, "openended" interviews with migrant workers or members of their families, and visits to some 75 camps in Texas, Florida, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, and Colorado, this report examines the conditions of migrant housing. Part I provides a brief historical…

Reports on monetary awards made by MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence Awards to two colleges: West Hills Community College (WHCC), California; and Sinclair Community College (SCC), Ohio. The awards spotlight the singular role outstanding community colleges play in helping underserved youth and adults succeed in college and career.…

This paper discusses the disadvantaged state of women in South Africa, including statistics that illustrate effects of their lack of status on their health and well being. It then focuses on the role in South Africa of the community library and information services in empowering especially women. Barriers experienced in information delivery to…

This past year, Jobs for the Future studied strategies that community colleges are using to improve the quality and effectiveness of their services to low-income youth and adults. Much of this research was conducted for the MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence Awards Initiative. Across the country, in urban, rural, and suburban…

This "issue report" contains three articles centered around the concept of "social capital", and the role of the schools in community revitalization. "Social captial" consists of organizational networks of communication and shared values that provide collective support for adults and youth in a community. In "Social Capital and the Rebuilding of…

This document describes approaches in conducting naturalistic studies in two different countries with contrasting educational settings. Naturalistic research methodology is described by one of the writers as "an explicit undertaking to lay aside our ideas and concern ourselves with finding the subjects' perspectives in their non-theoretical…

The Carnegie Corporation's mission is to continue Andrew Carnegie's philanthropic preoccupations with promoting education and world peace. In this essay, retiring Carnegie Corporation President David A. Hamburg provides a detailed accounting of his stewardship of the foundation since 1983, when he set forth new program directions in the context of…

Describes the development and implementation difficulties with the California Wellness Foundation's initiative to improve children's environment, how children's participation helped resolve initiative difficulties, and the development of several pilot projects. Articles describing research conducted in various parts of the planning project and the…

Describes the work of young people in four pilot projects in which they developed strategies to address issues considered by them to be problematic within their communities. The implications of this kind of work for public health are discussed. (GR)