The federal government's key summer nutrition programs for low-income children are the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the SFSP is an entitlement program funding public and private non-profit organizations to serve nutritious meals…

This report details a study designed to test the sustainability of a school-based Collaborative Action Team (CAT) process, which attempted to address the need to enhance family and community involvement in education and to be self-sustaining over time. Based in communities across five Southwestern states, the intervention tested the sustainability…

This video presents some of the best good news stories from schools and communities in the past three years' Satellite Town Meeting broadcasts. This Satellite Town Meeting features several stories where schools and communities are working together to improve reading, math, teaching, technology, early childhood programs and many other important…

This report was prepared at the request of ED>Net, the California Community College Economic Development Network. The primary purpose of this study was to learn from other states about revenue streams outside the general fund that could support and promote economic development programs at community colleges, particularly sources of revenue that…

This report describes economic development programs operated by California Community Colleges during fiscal year 1998-1999. Report highlights include: (1) 60 of 107 community colleges (48 of 72 districts) operated an economic development program; (2) eight economic development programs engaged primarily in delivering training and technical…

Conventional notions of leadership have focused on the leader alone rather than on the situation that leaders must enable. The common threads to successful rural community development in Australia over the last few decades lie in the way the community develops its stores of social capital, which is based on trust, shared values, networks, and…

After-school programs help to improve student academic achievement, keep children safe after school, keep children out of trouble, and build self confidence. This pamphlet summarizes the benefits of after-school programs, provides suggestions for locating a program, and delineates features of quality programs. The pamphlet also briefly describes…

The development of community-based programs to support inexperienced parents through home visits by experienced mothers, who are in turned facilitated by child health and development professionals, has become an increasingly common approach in Europe and the United States. This edited volume presents proceedings from an invitational conference on…

Many faith communities partner with schools to provide tutoring, safe havens, after-school programs, mentoring, and summer activities; they also inspire their membership to volunteer on behalf of children, youth, and families in the nation's schools. This booklet describes several faith community initiatives in a variety of areas that support…

Within the past decade, the movement toward family and community empowerment in literacy has grown dramatically. It is readily accepted that students' academic performance at school is closely related to the family literacy environment. Community-based programs that celebrate diversity and personal strength while strongly supporting literacy have…

AEL's contract with the U.S. Department of Education includes work partnering with faith-based organizations in Kanawha County, West Virginia, to (1) build their capacity to better serve at-risk youth and (2) document what best helps such organizations to successfully impact youth and their families. One of the first faith-based organizations with…

This paper suggests that research has shown that street youth are running from homes characterized by domestic violence, parental drug and alcohol abuse, or child abuse or neglect. This packet describes federal support for helping runaway and homeless youth and reviews implementation of the "Street Outreach Program" and best practices.…

This kit is a tool for enabling communities to work together to motivate children and families to make food choices for healthy diets. Team Nutrition is the implementation tool for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children. Its goal is to empower schools to serve healthy meals and motivate students to make…

Sustainability is a critical issue for the vast array of community initiatives that promote healthy children, strong families, and safe communities. Noting that sustaining an initiative over time requires maintaining sufficient fiscal resources as well as a combination of nonfiscal resources from the initiative itself and the broader community,…

This handbook provides guidance to schools operating Community-based Vocational Education (CBVE) programs for students with disabilities and encourages the adoption of CBVE programs by schools not presently using this approach. By following the information and examples contained in this handbook, schools can proceed with confidence to operate…