All Featured Highlights

• Apr 03, 2013  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch Supporting School Success for Children Receiving TANF This week, committees in the Tennessee legislature approved a bill that would cut parents' TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) cash assistance benefits if their children failed to be promoted to the next grade at school. This proposal is based on an inaccurate and stereotyped belief that poor parents need to be coerced into caring about their children's school achievement. If enacted, it will create new paperwork burdens for schools and welfare agencies, already straining under budget cuts. Most importantly, it risks pushing the most vulnerable children even deeper into poverty. Read Online
• Apr 03, 2013  |  Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt Bryant Taking Aim at Gun Violence: Rebuilding Community Education and Employment Pathways In a single generation, our nation is faced with the prospect of losing over 132,000 black men and boys to gun violence. In black communities, gun violence is about far more than reforming gun control laws and empowering law enforcement. The absence of opportunities in these communities gives rise to criminal activity and the loss of too many young lives. Solving the crisis of gun violence in communities requires that America address the issue of concentrated poverty and geography. Download PDF
• Apr 03, 2013  |  Christine Johnson-Staub States Strengthen Work Support Strategies in First Year of Initiative States involved in the Work Support Strategies (WSS) project are making administrative and programmatic decisions that help families more easily acquire benefits for which they're eligible. Reports on the initial planning year of the project (2010-2011), released by the Urban Institute today, indicate that participating states have made progress in simplifying application processes, streamlining eligibility policies, and coordinating the administration of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP - formerly Food Stamps), Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and child care assistance. Read Online
• Apr 01, 2013  |  Stephanie Schmit Sequestration, Budgets, and Continuing Resolutions: The Story Continues The recent continuing resolution (CR) Congress passed contained small increases for both child care ($50 million) and Head Start ($33.5 million). For child care, it is estimated that the additional funds will serve 9,000 children and help to lessen the blow of the estimated sequestration cuts still in place. However, the CR did not eliminate sequestration. Read Online
• Mar 29, 2013  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch TANF and SSI: The Rest of the Story In last week's This American Life episode, which focuses on income support programs for people with disabilities, one segment reports on contractors who are paid by states or counties to assist individuals receiving TANF benefits in applying for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), an income support program for low-income individuals who are unable to work due to disability. While not directly stated, many listeners may have been left with the impression that states are helping people who are not really disabled qualify for SSI, or that such efforts have been a significant driver of the growth in the numbers of individuals receiving SSI benefits. Neither of these is true. Read Online
• Mar 29, 2013  |  Helly Lee Budget Amendment Foreshadows Immigration Debate Ahead This week, it may seem quiet on Capitol Hill as Congress is in recess, but last Friday was full of action on the Senate floor as the budget vote-a-rama was in full swing. Among the hundreds of amendments introduced, Senator Sessions (AL) offered one that would have prohibited both undocumented and lawfully present immigrants from qualifying for health care subsidies through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicaid. Read Online
• Mar 27, 2013  |  Emily Firgens New Jersey Preschool Study Findings Bolster Call For Expanding Early Education Programs The recently released Abbott Preschool Program Longitudinal Effects Study: Fifth Grade Follow-Up shows that children who participated in the Abbott preschool programs increased their achievement in language arts and literacy, math, and science on fourth and fifth grade New Jersey standardized tests. Additionally, participation in the Abbott preschool program decreased the likelihood of grade retention and special education placement. Read Online
• Apr 01, 2013  |  Helly Lee What Do You Do if You're Poor...And Disabled? Recently, National Public Radio (NPR) ran a series about federal disability programs that largely reinforce myths and stereotypes about the programs and the people who access them. Read Online
• Mar 26, 2013  |  Neil Ridley Updated Resource for States: Toolkit on Federal Funding for Career Pathways CLASP announces the release of an updated resource, Funding Career Pathways and Career Pathway Bridges: A Federal Funding Toolkit for States. This toolkit is designed to help interagency state teams identify and facilitate "braiding" of federal resources to build career pathways for adults and out-of-school youth. Read Online
• Mar 22, 2013  |  Child Care and Early Education Head Start by the Numbers: 2011 State Profiles Released CLASP's Head Start State Profiles reflect the most recent Head Start Program Information Report (PIR) data from 2011. Each profile includes data on all Head Start programs in the state: Early Head Start, Head Start preschool, and Migrant/Seasonal Head Start. The profiles also include information on Head Start participants, families, staff, and programs. Read Online
• Mar 21, 2013  |  Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success Tax-Based Student Aid Accounts for Nearly Half of Non-Loan Federal Aid, Rivals Pell Grants Tax-based student aid has grown rapidly over the past decade and now represents nearly half of our nation’s investment in non-loan federal aid. The Office of Management and Budget estimates that tax-based aid programs will cost more than $34 billion in FY12 through reduced federal revenues. Similarly, Pell Grant outlays are expected to total $35.6 billion in FY12. Read Online
• Mar 21, 2013  |  Emily Firgens Providence's Early Childhood Initiative Wins Big for Its Focus on Early Language Development Providence, Rhode Island is working to ensure caregivers understand just how important a young child's early language development is, and how they can best support it, through their new early childhood initiative, Providence Talks. The initiative seeks to increase and improve upon young children's exposure to language and vocabulary. Pitched as part of Bloomberg Philanthropies' Mayors Challenge contest, Provide Talks was recently awarded the contest's $5 million grand prize. Read Online
• Mar 20, 2013  |  Helly Lee and Lavanya Mohan SNAP Benefits in the Crosshairs of Debate on Spending The budget resolutions introduced last week by House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan and Senate Budget Committee Chair Patty Murray are miles apart on funding for anti-poverty programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid. Threats to SNAP also continue outside of the budget debate as well with Senator Pat Roberts’ bill, S. 458, proposing drastic cuts totaling $36 billion. Read Online
• Mar 18, 2013  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch Follow the Money...or What Federal Budget Proposals Say about Our Priorities Last week, Senate Democrats and House Republicans moved forward on budget resolutions that offer visions of the role of the federal government and our nations’ priorities. Both set targets for federal spending and revenues in fiscal years 2014 and beyond, but they would move the nation in dramatically different directions. Read Online
• Mar 18, 2013  |  Stephanie Schmit We Need a Budget that Works for Kids and Families Despite continued budget negotiations for the current fiscal year (FY 2013) and the recent onset of sequestration, Congress must also move forward with budget resolutions for FY 2014. The budget resolutions show us the priorities of the House and Senate, which prove to be vastly different. Read Online
• Mar 15, 2013  |  Marcie Foster Murray and Ryan Budgets Offer Divergent Visions for Access to Postsecondary Education and Student Financial Aid This week, two FY14 budget proposals emerged from Congress that presented contrasting paths for education and economic opportunity in the nation. Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget, once again titled Path to Prosperity, echoes similar themes from last year’s House budget, slashing critical higher education investments and cutting access to college for millions of low-income students. These and other draconian cuts are starkly different from Senator Murray’s proposed budget, Foundation for Growth, which improves college affordability and makes smart investments in postsecondary education to ensure that U.S. students and workers have the skills and education needed to support continued economic growth. Read Online
• Mar 15, 2013  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch and Neil Ridley Navigating Federal Programs to Build Sustainable Career Pathways in the Health Professions: A Guide for HPOG Programs Healthcare is one of the fastest growing sectors in our economy, and there are many jobs in this sector that require fewer than 4 years of college education, have high demand, and offer good pay. However, low-income workers often face barriers to accessing the education and training they need to enter these jobs, including lack of information, poor basic skills, confusing and poorly aligned training programs, cost of training, and need for supportive services, such as child care and transportation. The Heath Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG), authorized by section 5507 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA; Public Law 111-148), address this issue by supporting models for providing education, training, and support services to enable recipients of cash assistance under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and other low-income individuals to obtain well-paying jobs in high-demand healthcare occupations. The HPOG program is one of several provisions of ACA aimed at supporting training for the healthcare workforce of the future. Download PDF
• Mar 14, 2013  |  Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success Large Share of Tax-Based Student Aid Goes to Higher Income Families To maximize the nation’s investment in student aid, we must target resources to low- and modest-income families -- those most likely to respond to incentives to enroll in and complete college. Unfortunately, tax-based student aid provides substantial support to individuals who are already highly likely to attend college and so may have little effect on access or completion for these students. In 2013, the Tax Policy Center estimates that 25 percent of the benefits of American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) will go to families making more than $100,000 per year; 29 percent of the benefits of the Lifetime Learning Credit (LLC) will go to families making more than $75,000; and almost half of the benefits of the Tuition and Fees Deduction will go to households with annual incomes of $100,000 or more. Read Online
• Mar 13, 2013  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch SNAP, Medicaid Block Grants Would Weaken the Already-Fragile Safety Net House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) has put forward a budget proposal that calls for block granting of both Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps). Rep. Ryan justifies this proposal by citing the supposed "success" of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant as a model. Read Online
• Mar 13, 2013  |  Jodie Levin-Epstein Portland Wins Sick Day and Everybody Benefits Read Online
• Mar 13, 2013  |  Emily Firgens Using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) with Dual Language Learners The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) is a validated classroom assessment tool that measures and provides data on the quality of teacher-child interactions. As CLASS is considered by more states for use in quality initiatives, understanding whether and how CLASS can reliably be used in early learning classrooms serving dual language learners (DLLs) becomes increasingly important. Read Online
• Mar 12, 2013  |  Tom Salyers and Elizabeth Lower-Basch Confused by the Federal Budget? You Are Not Alone. We have a habit here Inside the Beltway of speaking in code and getting so deep into the woods on policy issues that we only see the trees and not the forest. Clearly, we are at that point right now in the continuing saga of the federal budget. Here’s a quick rundown on just three of the terms being bandied about that are very likely to confuse many nationwide – and probably even the majority of us in DC! Read Online
• Mar 12, 2013  |  Marcie Foster New York's Move to Abandon the GED is a Game Changer New York State made headlines last week after it announced it would be dropping the GED® as its high school equivalency exam—a move that can only be defined as a “game changer” in adult education. Instead, the state will be working with CTB/McGraw Hill to develop an alternative exam, the Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC), which New York believes will keep costs low and allow its Education Department to continue to serve adults and youth seeking to earn a high school equivalency diploma and gain greater economic mobility. New York’s shift to the TASC is one of the most significant developments in adult education in decades. Since 1942, the GED® has been synonymous with high school equivalency in the U.S. and widely recognized by potential candidates, employers, and postsecondary institutions. Read Online
• Mar 11, 2013  |  Neil Ridley, Kisha Bird, and Marcie W.M. Foster House Workforce Bill Moves Forward Amid Rising Tensions Last week the House Education and Workforce Committee voted to advance a bill that restructures a range of federal workforce programs, including the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). Tensions ran high during the legislative mark-up session and the hearing that preceded it, signaling a decline in the bipartisan spirit that has animated most reauthorization efforts in the past. Read Online
• Mar 11, 2013  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch and Lavanya Mohan Too Many Low-Wage Workers are Ineligible for UI Benefits A recent study by Policy Matters Ohio shows that several states, including North Carolina, Arkansas and Pennsylvania, have raised earning requirements to receive UI benefits. Such high monetary eligibility standards make it harder for low-income jobless workers, who already have the hardest time making ends meet, to receive UI benefits. They join states such as Washington and Ohio, which already had very high earnings requirements. Read Online
• Mar 07, 2013  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch In Face of Budget Constraints, State and Local Governments Find Creative Ways to Fund Subsidized and Transitional Jobs Programs Subsidized and transitional jobs are a proven way to give unemployed workers the opportunity to earn wages, build skills, and connect to the labor market, while also giving businesses an incentive to hire new employees when they might not have been able to do so otherwise. A variety of non-profit, social enterprise, and city and state public entities have operated transitional jobs and subsidized employment programs for almost 30 years. Funding from the TANF Emergency Fund in 2009-2010, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), enabled the operation of such programs at a larger scale, and in more places, than had previously occurred. More than 260,000 individuals were placed in subsidized positions in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Read Online
• Mar 07, 2013  |  Lavanya Mohan and Abigail Newcomer Millions Eligible for Health Coverage through Medicaid Expansion The decision to expand health coverage is being weighed by Governors and state legislatures across the country. In the majority of cases, it comes down to three questions: -Will the expansion improve health coverage and health outcomes for the uninsured? -Will states have the flexibility to design a program that fits their individual state context? -Will states and the federal government be able to afford the reform? On all three questions, CLASP argues the answer is yes. Read Online
• Mar 05, 2013  |  Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success Tax-Based Student Aid Quadrupled - Largely Unnoticed - Over the Past Decade Read Online
• Mar 04, 2013  |  Christine Johnson-Staub Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Dollars Announced States working to coordinate and increase access to comprehensive services for young children in child care and early education settings have the opportunity to pursue new or renewed Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) funding through a competitive federal grant process announced on March 1. Read Online
• Mar 04, 2013  |  Liz Ben-Ishai Getting Down to Business Newsletter - March 2013 Getting Down to Business is a CLASP monthly update on the latest news about business and paid leave. Read Online
• Mar 04, 2013  |  Lavanya Mohan CLASP Work Supports Newsletter - February 2013 CLASP is inaugurating this Work Supports e-newsletter to highlight the efforts of CLASP and our colleague organizations to help ensure low-income families get the support they need to stay employed and provide for their families. Read Online
• Mar 01, 2013  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch and Lavanya Mohan Drug Testing of Safety-Net Applicants Stigmatizes Poor Families This week, Florida’s circuit court of appeals upheld the injunction on the state’s suspicionless drug testing program. The decision will continue to prevent Florida from implementing its 2011 suspicionless, or universal, drug testing law on TANF applicants. The court decision affirmed in strong language that poverty alone does not provide reasonable suspicion for drug testing safety-net program applicants. CLASP has long held that, in addition to the constitutional concerns, suspicionless drug testing is costly and ineffective at identifying substance abusers. Read Online
• Mar 01, 2013  |  CLASP and ASBC New Tool for Job Quality Advocates: A Primer on Business Certifications Today, CLASP and its partner, the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), released a new tool for job quality advocates, including advocates for earned sick days and paid family leave. The jointly produced brief provides advocates with a primer on the nuts and bolts of the business certification movement and suggests ways to foster fruitful relationships between the movement and campaigns for improved job quality, such as earned sick days campaigns. Read Online
• Feb 28, 2013  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch Waiving Work Requirements in the TANF Program Attached is an excerpt from Elizabeth Lower-Basch's February 28 testimony before the Human Resources Subcommittee of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee on waiving work requirements in the TANF Program. The subcommittee hearing focused on reviewing the Health and Human Services' proposed waivers of TANF work requirements. - See more at: http://www.clasp.org/issues/in_focus?type=temporary_assistance&id=0060#sthash.eFPhU5ig.dpuf Read Online
• Feb 28, 2013  |  Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success Financial Pressures Drive Down College Completion - CLASP RADD Chart Series Continues Confronted with high costs and unmet financial need, low- and modest-income students and their families face a difficult choice: work more while in college, borrow more, or do both. When students cannot afford college, it not only limits access to higher education and drives up debt, it also increases (sometimes significantly) the time it takes to earn a degree and/or ultimately complete a credential. Read Online
• Feb 27, 2013  |  Helly Lee SNAP: Just What the Doctor Ordered A new report by the Food Research Action Center (FRAC) confirms that there are significant health consequences associated with living in poverty and being food insecure. Research has shown that those living in poverty experience disproportionately worse health outcomes and often live in environments that do not promote healthy lifestyles such as fewer walking trails, parks, and full service-grocery stores offering affordable foods as well as poor air and water quality. Children living in poverty and experiencing food insecurity are also more likely to experience serious health issues such as obesity, poor oral and dental health, asthma and poor academic outcomes, behavioral and emotional problems. In addition, childhood poverty can have lasting implications into adulthood, increasing health risks and economic struggles later in life. - See more at: http://www.clasp.org/issues/topic?type=work_supports&topic=0004#sthash.WJV7Z9uP.dpuf Read Online
• Feb 27, 2013  |  Liz Ben-Ishai Implementing Earned Sick Days Laws: Learning from Seattle's Experience Advocates in Seattle fought hard to build the support necessary to pass this city’s Paid Sick and Safe Time (PSST) Ordinance. But the hard work did not end when the law passed in September 2011. Once the ink on Seattle’s ordinance had dried, the process of implementing the law began. Read Online
• Feb 25, 2013  |  CLASP Tax Policy Center's Elaine Maag Highlights CLASP's Recent Paper on Reforming Tax-Based Aid Read Online
• Feb 20, 2013  |  CLASP New C-PES Report Calls for Consolidating Tax-Based Student Aid, Using Metrics to Improve College Choices and Completion Read Online
• Feb 20, 2013  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch Using TANF to Fight Family Homelessness Today the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which administers TANF at the federal level, issued a memo reminding states of the range of services for homeless families that TANF funds can help support, from emergency services to longer term supports. ACF also highlights a few promising examples of states and localities that are using TANF to house homeless families as soon as possible and connect them to employment and support services so they can continue to pay rent when the temporary subsidy ends. Read Online
• Feb 20, 2013  |  Abigail Newcomer and Lavanya Mohan It is Too Hard for Students to Access Financial Assistance Safety net programs, such as SNAP, Medicaid or child care subsidies, can serve as temporary help to reduce low-income students' financial burdens. When students successfully graduate, they are more likely to secure jobs that enable them to support their families and pay increased taxes. And the best way out of poverty is through improved education and job skills that lead to more stable and better-paying jobs. Read Online
• Feb 19, 2013  |  Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt Bryant, Linda Harris, and Kisha Bird Investing in Boys and Young Men of Color: The Promise and Opportunity Boys and young men of color in the United States face challenges in the areas of education, employment, and health. In the last several years, there has been greater focus on understanding these challenges and identifying potential solutions. While we know more about effective programmatic solutions, we still have much to learn about the systemic barriers that impede the success of males of color. Effecting policy changes in these areas will produce sustainable gains for boys and young men of color. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commissioned CLASP to conduct a scan of these policy opportunities to inform the development of their Forward Promise Initiative. Download PDF
• Feb 15, 2013  |  Tom Salyers Maitre D': I Need a Place at the Table ... For 50 Million A Place at the Table is a new documentary that brings to life this country's chronic problem of hunger. Read Online
• Feb 15, 2013  |  Julie Strawn and Marcie Foster Pell Grants on Solid Ground for Now - Let's Keep It That Way Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released updated cost projections for Pell Grants, the program that helps over 9 million low-income students each year afford college. The good news in those projections: the sizeable funding gap previously estimated for FY14 has turned into a surplus. And while Pell Grants - which can be used for 2- and 4-year degrees along with shorter occupational certificates - still are not out of the woods over the long run, the funding gap is now much smaller. According to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, program costs are now expected to be $33 billion lower over ten years (from 2013-22) than CBO predicted a year ago. The current cumulative surplus in FY13 is projected at $9.2 billion. If this is carried over to FY14 and the Pell Grant discretionary appropriation continues at its current level, the surplus for FY14 is projected to be almost $4.5 billion. Read Online
• Feb 14, 2013  |  Vickie Choitz, Marcie W.M. Foster, and Patrick Reimherr Career Pathways Take the Next Step toward Quality and Scale Over the last decade, career pathways have evolved as an innovative approach to assist individuals in gaining marketable credentials and good jobs and to help employers access a skilled workforce. Postsecondary credentials (including both marketable noncredit, industry-based credentials such as Certified Manufacturing Technologist or Wind Turbine Technician and more traditional two- and four-year degrees) can be an avenue out of poverty and a lifetime of low-wage work. However, the nation's education and workforce development systems have not been designed to provide all workers with a seamless path to earning these credentials. Read Online
• Feb 14, 2013  |  Christine Johnson-Staub Working Together to Achieve President Obama's Vision of High Quality Preschool for All The details of President Obama's historic and far-reaching universal preschool initiative, unveiled in the 2013 State of the Union Address are out. CLASP applauds the Administration's goals, and particularly the President's approach toward expanding access to high quality preschool, which draws on policy strategies states and experts in early childhood development have honed over decades of research and innovation. Read Online
• Feb 14, 2013  |  Jodie Levin-Epstein Family Leave Insurance: Before the Smoke Settles "Holy smokes!" is how James Heckman, a Nobel prize winner in economics, enthusiastically reacted to the details of President Obama's early childhood education plans. Heckman's shout-out makes sense. One doesn't need to be a Nobel laureate nor an economist to see how this early education agenda could make a huge difference in providing opportunity to many more children. While the agenda is bold and multifaceted and deserves high marks, it also missed a vital opportunity by neglecting to address paid family leave. Read Online
• Feb 13, 2013  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch President Obama's Rendering of a Strengthened American Economy In the 2013 State of the Union address last night, President Obama set out an ambitious agenda to strengthen the American economy, and ensure that the fruits of economic growth are broadly shared. Read Online
• Feb 13, 2013  |  Stephanie Schmit and Christine Johnson-Staub President Announces New Preschool Initiative in the State of the Union Address Last night in the State of the Union address, President Obama took a bold step forward in improving the lives of children and families. President Obama's vision of making high quality preschool available to every child in the nation could impact the lives of all children, their families, and the country for generations to come with far-reaching educational, economic and social benefits. CLASP supports the President's proposal and will work with the administration to see it move forward as the official details of the initiative emerge. Read Online
• Feb 12, 2013  |  Emily Firgens FMLA: 20 Years of Building Bonds Between Babies and Parents, Time Now For Paid Leave! As we celebrate FMLA 20 years later, we are also reminded of how far the U.S. still has to go in offering paid leave and fully supporting the needs of children and families. Read Online
• Feb 08, 2013  |  Stephanie Schmit and Emily Firgens States Can Shape Child Care Subsidy Policies to Improve Access and Continuity Under the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), states have significant flexibility to set their policies that determine how families apply for and receive child care assistance. Given the impact that child care subsidy policies have on children, families, and child care providers, it is imperative for states to design their subsidy policies based on the needs of low-income working families in their states, and with an aim of easing families' access to quality child care. Read Online
• Feb 07, 2013  |  Liz Ben-Ishai Business Support for the Family and Medical Leave Act The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which enables workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave to care for their own serious illness, a sick family member, or to bond with a new baby, has been used by millions of workers since its passage in 1993. As this important piece of legislation celebrates its 20th anniversary, new data shows that the vast majority of businesses find administering the law easy, and 80 percent of small businesses favor the legislation. But the data also point to a pressing need for paid leave programs, like those in California and New Jersey. In those states, family leave insurance programs have made it possible for employees to take paid family leave, easing the financial burden of caring for oneself and one's family. Research shows that businesses in California have found the state's Paid Family Leave (PFL) program to be good for or have little effect on business. This brief from CLASP demonstrates business support for both the FMLA and paid family leave, while highlighting the pressing need for paid leave. Download PDF
• Feb 07, 2013  |  By Patrick Reimherr, Marcie W.M. Foster, and Julie Strawn College Costs, Debt Still Top Public Concerns New public opinion research that emerged from a coalition of postsecondary education stakeholders, College Is Worth It, provides new evidence that Americans resolutely believe that college matters - and not just for an elite few. Moreover, the public believes that financial aid reform is necessary and should place a high priority on increasing the number of individuals with a postsecondary degree and making sure that college is affordable and accessible, particularly in light of a changing student demographic that includes higher proportions of adults with work and family responsibilities. Read Online
• Feb 05, 2013  |  Helly Lee and Lavanya Mohan The President, the Gang of 8, and Immigration Reform The President and the Senate's bi-partisan Gang of 8 each introduced broad outlines of proposals to reform our broken immigration system. This is tremendous progress as immigration has remained a contentious issue in Congress and decision makers have steered away from addressing the issue for many years. Read Online
• Feb 05, 2013  |  Stephanie Schmit Head Start Data Show Slight Changes in Use from 2010 to 2011 Annually, CLASP does an analysis of the Program Information Report (PIR) from the Office of Head Start. Using the PIR data provided by all Head Start programs, we develop analyses on such issues as participation, access to services, staff qualifications, and family characteristics. CLASP's DataFinder is now updated to reflect the PIR data from 2011. Read Online
• Feb 01, 2013  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch Congress: Do Not Prescribe the Wrong Medicine for Our Fragile Economy This week's economic report showed that the economy contracted slightly in the last quarter of 2012, and today's jobs figures showed that unemployment remains elevated at 7.9 percent. Long-term unemployment remains a problem as nearly five million workers have been jobless for six months or more. This news confirms that the recovery is still fragile and that we have a long way to go to get back to full employment.t would be a mistake to allow these deep cuts to take place at a time when the economy is still fragile. A number of the programs subject to the sequestration, including education and workforce programs, are supporting the economic recovery by helping people find jobs and by investing in the skills that employers will need to expand. Deep cuts at this time would be counter-productive. Read Online
• Feb 01, 2013  |  Marcie W.M. Foster Shifting Gears States Driving Innovation in Education and Training for Low-Skilled Adults Read Online
• Jan 25, 2013  |  Lavanya Mohan National EITC Awareness Day: Spread the Word The EITC reduces poverty, encourages work, sustains local economies, and has lasting outcomes on health and children's educational performance. On National EITC Awareness Day, and as we head into tax filing season, we encourage you to spread the word about the benefits and impact of the EITC and the child tax credit. Read Online
• Jan 25, 2013  |  Hannah Matthews and Stephanie Schmit As Negotiations Continue, a Balanced Approach is Essential Once again policymakers have an opportunity to negotiate and come to agreement on action that would prevent harmful cuts to a host of important programs, including child care, Head Start, and a range of other education, health and human services programs. And so, while there was much build up and uncertainty approaching the January cliff, we must recognize that this isn't over yet -- and child care and early education programs, as well as other non-defense discretionary programs, are still at risk. Read Online
• Jan 22, 2013  |  Christine Johnson-Staub Nontraditional Work Hours Influence Child Care Choices for Working Families To understand the needs of low-income working families and their child care providers, Illinois Action for Children recently examined the child care utilization of 50 single parents working nontraditional hours. The findings have been released in the report Choices in the Real World: the use of family, friend and neighbor child care by single Chicago mothers working nontraditional schedules. The study found that cost, flexibility, and availability during nontraditional hours frequently led low-income parents to use license-exempt family, friend and neighbor (FFN) child care providers. Read Online
• Nov 02, 2012  |  Emily Firgens New CLASP Paper Looks at State Child Care Policies for Limited English Proficient Families CLASP's new paper, State Child Care Policies for Limited English Proficient Families, summarizes state-reported activities to better serve and engage with Limited English Proficient (LEP) families and providers through state child care assistance programs. The CCDBG State Plans, last revised for FFY 2012-2013, serve as the source of new information on how states' activities and policies target LEP and immigrant families, children, and providers. Read Online
• Jan 18, 2013  |  Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt Bryant Race Still Plays a Role in Defining Poverty Recently, I was on Huff Post Live (a live-streaming program on Huffington Post) with an interesting panel of people discussing whether class defines segregation and poverty in our nation and whether race has lost its relevance. This discussion was based on a blog by Janita Poe on AI.com which asserts that class, not race, is what separates society today. If race were no longer a factor, then the experiences of the poor would not vary along racial lines. In fact, black and white families experience poverty very differently. Read Online
• Jan 18, 2013  |  Liz Ben-Ishai Chicago City Council Unanimously Passes Strong Anti-Wage Theft Ordinance Workers deserve to be assured they will be paid for the hours they work - this basic proposition seems obvious to most of us. Yet, for millions of workers across the country who are victims of wage theft, something that appears to be a question of simple fairness is out of reach. But there is hope for workers in Chicago, where yesterday City Council passed one of the strongest municipal anti-wage theft laws in the country. In a unanimous vote, the Council passed the law, which will allow the City to revoke or deny licenses to employers that steal their workers' wages. Read Online
• Jan 18, 2013  |  Liz Ben-Ishai Earned Sick Days: What Consumers Want While many people assume that paid sick days are widely available to all, that is far from the truth for too many workers. This critical workplace protection is important both to workers and consumers. A new poll demonstrates that restaurants that do not offer their employees the opportunity to earn paid sick days do so at their own peril. The survey, put out by the National Consumers League (NCL), found that 92 percent of consumers believe that it is very important or important that the servers and cooks in the restaurants they patronize do not cook or serve while sick. Well over half of respondents agreed on the importance of allowing these workers to earn paid sick days. With consumers expressing a clear preference for fair sick leave policies, the message to business owners is also clear: to satisfy customers, employers must provide restaurant workers with just working conditions, including earned sick days. Policymakers should take note as well. Read Online
• Jan 17, 2013  |  Emily Firgens Families and Children Experienced Decade-Long Decline in Economic Well-Being The Foundation for Child Development's (FCD) recent report on the well-being of children and youth in the U.S., finds that from 2001 to 2011 the percentage of children living below the poverty line rose from 15.6 percent to 21.4 percent, and the median income of families dropped $6,300 (in real dollars) during this ten-year period. Read Online
• Jan 15, 2013  |  Stephanie Schmit High-Quality Early Education Provides Homeless Children with Continuity and Stability More than 1.6 million children in the United State live on the streets or in homeless shelters, and 42 percent of these children are under the age of six. Research shows that well-designed and well-implemented, high-quality early care and education programs can improve outcomes for all children, particularly those in low-income families, by connecting families to needed resources, providing stability, and, ultimately, helping children learn and develop skills they need to succeed in school and in life. Read Online
• Jan 07, 2013  |  Liz Ben-Ishai For Safe Food System, Workers Need Earned Sick Days On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration proposed two broad new food safety rules -- marking the first major food safety rulemaking since the 1930s. These rules are a major step forward for consumer safety. However, policy makers should take note that a major gap in labor protections for workers who handle our food continues to imperil the safety of our food system: most farmworkers and restaurant workers, as well as other food chain workers, receive no earned sick days, which means many are forced to come to work when sick. This lack of protections is not only unfair to workers, but also 1) dangerous for consumers, who risk infection and illness when they eat food handled by sick workers, 2) bad for businesses, and 3) harmful to the U.S. economy. Read Online
• Jan 02, 2013  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch The Fiscal Cliff Deal: What Changed and What's Still in Play As has been widely reported, due to last-minute Congressional action, the so-called "fiscal cliff" has been avoided with the passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) of 2012. However, some taxes did go up on January 1, and the automatic, across the board budget cuts known as sequestration have only been postponed, not prevented. Here's a handy guide to what happened to programs and taxes that affect low-income people, and what's still in play. Read Online
• Jan 04, 2013  |  By Patrick Reimherr, Elizabeth Lower-Basch, and Julie Strawn No Cliff for Tax-Based Student Aid Several major tax incentives for higher education were scheduled to expire at the end of 2012. These incentives benefit college students -- or their parents, in the case of dependent students. Thanks to the bill averting the "fiscal cliff," the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA), these tax-based student aid provisions have all been extended. Read Online
• Jan 02, 2013  |  Emily Firgens Improving Preschool Access for Small Immigrant Communities It is widely accepted that high quality early education programs can have a significant impact on the academic, social, and health-related outcomes of young children, particularly those considered "at-risk" such as low-income children, immigrants, and English language learners (ELLs). In our increasingly diverse country, ensuring that these populations have access to high quality child care and early education opportunities should be a top priority. To examine how children and families in immigrant communities fare in Chicago, the Urban Institute has released a series of papers exploring the Illinois Preschool For All (PFA) program and the barriers and opportunities families in smaller immigrant communities face when it comes to accessing PFA. Read Online
• Jan 01, 2013  |  Abigail Newcomer and Elizabeth Lower-Basch Affordable Care Act: One Year to Go To make sure that we all wake up on January 1, 2014 without regret, we propose the following New Year's resolutions to work together over the next year to spread the word and reduce barriers to accessing coverage under health care reform. Read Online
• Dec 21, 2012  |  Hannah Matthews A Look Back and a Look Ahead This time last year, news of the first Early Learning Challenge grant recipients dominated early childhood headlines and advocates celebrated modest increases in funding for core early childhood programs in what was a very tight federal budget. This year, as we prepare to close the book on 2012, it feels as if challenges dominate. Read Online
• Dec 20, 2012  |  Fiscal Cliff Update Harsh and Unbalanced In less than two weeks, a combination of expiring programs, automatic spending cuts, and tax increases, popularly called the "fiscal cliff," is scheduled to take effect. This week, Speaker Boehner appears to have abandoned attempts to come to agreement with the President on a comprehensive package to prevent this. Read Online
• Dec 19, 2012  |  Stephanie Schmit New CLASP, ZERO TO THREE Profiles Outline State Early Head Start Initiatives To help states identify strategies for reaching more families with EHS, CLASP and ZERO TO THREE (ZTT) recently released "Expanding Access to Early Head Start: State Initiatives for Infants and Toddlers at Risk." Read Online
• Dec 19, 2012  |  Stephanie Schmit and Emily Firgens Expanding Teacher Competencies to Support Young Dual Language Learners In an effort to ensure that all early care and education providers are prepared to meet the needs of children, the Alliance for A Better Community in collaboration with National Council of La Raza (NCLR) published the Dual Language Learner Teacher Competencies (DLLTC) Report, which provides extensive information on the need for, development of, and implementation of teacher competencies to support young dual language learners (DLLs). Read Online
• Dec 18, 2012  |  Helly Lee SSI Supports Families Raising Children with Disabilities In a recent column in the New York Times , Nicholas Kristoff recommended cutting Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs and diverting resources to early education initiatives to help children living in poverty. This column set off a series of public response from advocates across the country who work on poverty and SSI issues, three of which were published by the New York Times. Kristof is right that poverty in America remains largely an invisible issue. And, yes, there is a need for additional resources to be allocated toward child care and early education initiatives, but this should not be funded by cutting a vital program that provides desperately needed income support to low-income Americans who are elderly or have significant disabilities, including 1.3 million children. Read Online
• Dec 18, 2012  |  Liz Ben-Ishai Businesses Can Avoid the High Cost of Workplace Injuries by Offering Earned Sick Days Add one more piece of evidence to the increasingly-difficult-to-ignore body of facts that suggests earned sick days -- particularly for lower-wage workers -- are crucial to our country's economic success and families' economic security. A new study by health economist J. Paul Leigh shows that the economic cost of workplace injuries among low-wage workers amounted to more than $39 billion in 2010. Read Online
• Dec 13, 2012  |  Emily Firgens The Nation's Infants and Toddlers Need Our Full Support There are over 12 million infants and toddlers under the age of 3 in the United States. Twenty-five percent of them live in poverty and 48 percent live in low-income families (families earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level). Adverse experiences like poverty can negatively affect the development of infants and toddlers, having long-term impacts on their health and learning. Understanding the demographics, families, health, and early learning experiences of infants and toddlers is crucial to effectively providing these supports to infants, toddlers, and their families. Read Online
• Dec 10, 2012  |  Helly Lee Immigrant Issues Are American Issues Members of Congress from both parties are, once again, becoming more vocal about the need to address our broken immigration system. It seemingly happened overnight (the night of November 6th, election night, to be exact), and has been gaining momentum since. This momentum brings excitement to an issue that is long overdue for reform and a hope that lawmakers now have the will to come together to work on immigration. Read Online
• Nov 28, 2012  |  Abigail Newcomer Nineteen Colleges Commit to Providing Vulnerable Students with Vital Supports In late October, leadership and staff from nineteen community colleges gathered at Skyline College in San Bruno, California for the annual Center for Working Families Learning Network Conference, which focused on strengthening and expanding use of strategies to improve the post-secondary success of low-income community college students. All of the colleges in attendance -- and an increasing number of institutions across the country -- are expressing a commitment to meeting the financial as well as the academic needs of low-income students in order to promote college completion and success. Read Online
• Nov 27, 2012  |  Emily Firgens New Project Focuses on Young Children in Black Immigrant Families A new project from the Migration Policy Institute's (MPI) National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy examines the well-being and development of black immigrant children from birth to age 10. The project's reports have identified both strengths of black immigrant families and children, as well as potential areas of risk. Read Online
• Nov 21, 2012  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch and Lavanya Mohan Access to Food Stamps in Early Childhood Leads to Better Adult Health and Economic Outcomes We already knew that food stamp benefits (now officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) reduce poverty and improve children's health. A new National Bureau on Economic Research paper finds that having access to food stamps in early childhood also has positive effects on adult outcomes years later, including health and economic self-sufficiency. Read Online
• Nov 20, 2012  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch, Neil Ridley, and Kisha Bird When it Comes to Job Creation, "Do No Harm" Isn't Enough The economy in general, and job creation in particular, was the top priority for voters in this month's general election. But Congress could put the country back into recession if it fails to act during the post-election session to avoid sequestration (automatic, across-the-board, spending cuts), allows federal extended unemployment insurance benefits to run out, and fails to extend middle-class tax cuts. Read Online
• Nov 19, 2012  |  Stephanie Schmit No Matter How You Add It Up, Children Do Not Fare Well The release of the 2011 supplemental poverty measure findings grants us the opportunity to look at poverty from a different perspective. Unfortunately, no matter which calculation you use or how you add it up, children are still not doing well. The supplemental poverty measure shows data for 2011 and only confirms that far too many children and families continue to struggle with meeting basic needs. Read Online
• Nov 15, 2012  |  Marcie W.M. Foster Department of Education Launches New Initiative to Help States Integrate Career-Technical Education and Career Pathways A new federal initiative announced last week, Advancing Career and Technical Education (CTE) in State and Local Career Pathways Systems, will help five states build the capacity to align career-technical education (CTE) with existing and developing career pathways. Funded by the Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) and run by Jobs for the Future, the activities supported by this effort come at a critical time in the career pathways field. An ever-growing number of states are interested in and developing cross-system career pathways, yet policy and program firewalls often prevent statewide systems from blossoming into a true collaborative, cross-system effort. Read Online
• Nov 15, 2012  |  Stephanie Schmit New CLASP Fact Sheets Highlight 2010-2011 Program Year Data on Head Start and Early Start Using data from the Head Start Program Information Report (PIR), CLASP has developed two new fact sheets providing a look at the Head Start preschool and Early Head Start programs in the 2010-2011 program year. These new fact sheets explore the characteristics of children and families served by the programs, as well as the programs themselves and their staff. Read Online
• Nov 13, 2012  |  Ariana Mozafari If the Law Exists, Why Aren't People Using It? Implementation of paid leave laws in states is a giant step forward. The California and New Jersey laws, although differing in detail, generally allow five to six weeks of partially paid family or medical leave. Unfortunately, many eligible workers are unaware of these laws, which are designed to help them meet their family and health concerns. Read Online
• Nov 07, 2012  |  Stephanie Schmit Resources to Help Families and Children Affected by Superstorm Sandy Superstorm Sandy disrupted many children and families' lives -- leaving them without power, in flooded areas, and, in some cases, homeless. As families and communities begin the hard work of cleaning up and rebuilding, we must remember the mental and emotional impact disasters have on children and families that remains after the last power lines have been restored. Read Online
• Nov 02, 2012  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch One Person's 'Welfare' Is Another Person's Ticket to the Middle Class In an effort to drum up support for further budget cuts, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) released a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report recently on the state of "means-tested" spending, a category that he chooses to label broadly as "welfare." Some of these programs provide funding to states to support services such as foster care for children who are neglected or abused. Others offer money to cities to build housing. Some help pay for child care so that parents can go to work knowing that their children are safe, while others help students go to college or get job training in order to obtain better jobs and escape poverty. Read Online
• Nov 05, 2012  |  Ariana Mozafari We All Do Better with Earned Sick Days A new report sheds light on the challenges working parents face when their children get sick. According to the 2012 C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, 33 percent of parents with children under age 6 say taking time off work when a child is sick is difficult because they may lose pay or even their job. Read Online
• Nov 02, 2012  |  Helly Lee Removing Red Tape: New Strategies for Strengthening the Safety Net The Coalition for Access and Opportunity, of which CLASP is a co-convener, and the New America Foundation hosted an event on Removing Red Tape: New Strategies for Strengthening the Safety Net.This event focused on the critical role safety net programs play in supporting families and individuals facing difficult financial situations and ways that these programs could be improved. Read Online
• Nov 02, 2012  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch News Reports Highlight Why TANF Flexibility Is Needed Recent news stories highlight the problems with the current work participation rates and the reasons that HHS is on the right path in inviting states to propose thoughtful alternatives that would more accurately reflect the states' performance in helping clients achieve self-sufficiency through work. Read Online
• Oct 25, 2012  |  Helly Lee ACTION ALERT: Don't Deny Health Care Access to DREAMers CLASP is greatly concerned by the Administration's new statement that youth granted deferred action under DACA are not considered lawfully present for purposes of health care access. Under this policy, individuals would not even be able to purchase their own private health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges that will start operations in 2014. Read Online
• Oct 24, 2012  |  Emily Firgens Cultivating Strong Parenting Practices in Latino Homes As the population of Latino children grows, it's important that our early education efforts include an intentional focus on preparing Latino children for school and future success. Recent reports highlight the positive impact strong parenting practices can have on children's social, emotional and cognitive development. The reports focus specifically on the impact strong parenting practices can have in Latino and immigrant families. Read Online
• Oct 24, 2012  |  Ariana Mozafari The Need for Earned Sick Days Sprained ankles, back injuries, vomiting, and stomach cancer. These are conditions that many workers without earned sick days silently endure in fear of losing their job if they take a day off work. Every day, poorly paid employees decide between their health and their paychecks, even giving up taking care of their children in order to provide a meal for them that night. Read Online
• Oct 22, 2012  |  Christine Johnson-Staub Home Visiting Investments Create Opportunities for Family, Friend and Neighbor Partnerships Public investments in home visiting, such as the federal Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) grant and the U.S. Department of Education's Innovative Approaches to Literacy Program, which recently awarded a $3 million grant to Parents As Teachers (PAT), expand important services and resources to young children and their families. Read Online
• Oct 17, 2012  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch, Helly Lee and Lavanya Mohan New Report: Nutrition Programs are Critical Supports During Economic Downturns A recent study by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows that economic conditions influence all major nutrition assistance programs. Past studies have documented the relationship between economic conditions and participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps). However, this is the first study to analyze the relationship between economic conditions and participation in all the major nutritional assistance programs which include SNAP, WIC, NSLP, SBP and CACFP. Read Online
• Oct 11, 2012  |  Hannah Matthews Building on a Weak Foundation Early learning has never been more prevalent in policy discussions. Across the country, states are increasingly looking at issues of quality to improve early childhood programs and promote positive child outcomes. A report released today by the National Women's Law Center shows that these early education quality initiatives are building on an extremely weak foundation. Read Online
• Oct 10, 2012  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch and Lavanya Mohan An Action Plan to Assist Workers Exhausting Unemployment Benefits An estimated 5.5 million workers have already exhausted their state and federal unemployment benefits from 2007 to 2011; another 500,000 will exhaust their unemployment benefits by the end of 2012. Many of these workers are struggling to pay their bills and provide the necessities of life for their families while they continue to search for work. Contrary to stereotypes, exhausting and ending unemployment benefits will affect workers across all income levels, regardless of age, education, gender and occupations. A recent paper published by the National Employment Law Project highlights actions that state and local agencies can take to connect workers exhausting unemployment benefits with other benefits and supports. Read Online
• Oct 09, 2012  |  Stephanie Schmit Poverty Is More Than a Number Strong evidence details the impact that childhood poverty has on children from birth throughout adulthood. According to the Urban Institute, over the past four decades, almost half of the children who were born to poor parents were poor for at least half of their childhoods. Their new report looks at the impact of child poverty into the next phase of life. Read Online
• Oct 05, 2012  |  Jillian Holzer A Recap of CLASP's Live Tweet of the First 2012 Presidential Debate Like the rest of the country, CLASP was closely following the first Presidential debate the other night. We were happy to see so much discussion of job training and getting the economy back on track. And then there were quips and misinformation - and omission of important topics all together - that made us not so happy. Because there are still two debates and a vice presidential debate left, here's a re-cap of the @CLASP_DC Twitter feed with our reactions to what got mentioned in the first debate - and what we're still waiting to see the candidates address in the remaining #debates. Read Online
• Oct 04, 2012  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch and Lavanya Mohan Alternatives to Drug Testing of TANF Applicants In recent years, proposals to require TANF applicants to take drug tests have received a great deal of attention. However, states have other, more effective and less stigmatizing ways to identify applicants and recipients for whom substance abuse is a barrier to employment. In a new policy brief, CLASP explains options states may use for addressing addiction among TANF recipients and highlights some promising practices. Read Online
• Oct 03, 2012  |  Alan W. Houseman What's the Plan? Time for the Presidential Candidates to Fess Up We at CLASP have been following the presidential election closely. Not because of who the candidates are, but because there's so much at stake for the country's future. 46 million Americans live in poverty. 16 million of them are children. The economy is slowly coming back from the brink of complete devastation, and everyday families are looking for real solutions to the continued hardship many face. They deserve a plan from the candidates for meaningful solutions and a vision that will carry us all forward. Read Online
• Oct 02, 2012  |  Hannah Matthews 16 Million Reasons for the Candidates to Care about Poverty Read Online
• Oct 01, 2012  |  Kisha Bird Transportation Policy: An Opportunity to Put More Black Men into Good Jobs Transportation in America -- it represents our highways and our roads, our trains and our railroads, buses and trucks. Transportation -- it's how we get from point A to point B - to work, school, doctors' appointments and weekend baseball and football games. Transportation in America is public transit, too - it's SEPTA in Philadelphia, BART in the San Francisco Bay Area, MTA in New York City and WMATA in Washington, DC. It is as American as apple pie and essential to the connectivity of communities and the nation. I am reminded of this everyday as I commute to and from work on the X2 bus in Washington, DC. Read Online
• Sep 28, 2012  |  Ariana Mozafari Reclaiming Our Nation's Disconnected Youth This week, the Campaign for Youth, along with United Way, First Focus, Forum for Youth Investment, and the National Collaboration for Youth partnered to host the Congressional briefing "Reclaiming our Nation's Disconnected Youth." The briefing featured a cross-section of community leaders discussing their efforts to employ integrated dropout prevention and recovery approaches that support young people in achieving successful life outcomes. Participants also heard real-life experiences from three young people who at one point were disconnected from both education and work. With the country facing not just an upcoming election, but tough budget battles and changing priorities, the event was an opportunity for pointed questions and real discussion of racial inequality, education, and improving youth outcomes. Read Online
• Sep 25, 2012  |  Linda Harris Plugging Disconnected Youth Back into the Labor Market Increasing attention has been paid to the growing ranks of America's youth who are disconnected from school and work, and who face endemic challenges to accessing opportunity. Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity recently asked several experts to address the challenge of "disconnected youth" and what we can do about it. Read CLASP Youth Policy Director Linda Harris' commentary. Read Online
• Sep 25, 2012  |  Media Release CLASP Explores New Approaches in Federal Policy to Help Low-Income Students Complete College Two unfortunate phenomena have been converging to make college even more elusive for low-income students: the affordability of postsecondary education is waning at the same time that low-income students in this slowly recovering economy must juggle school, family and work to earn credentials of value in an increasingly competitive job market. Against this backdrop, CLASP has received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to participate in the Reimagining Aid Delivery and Design (RADD) project with 13 other organizations. Read Online
• Feb 21, 2013  |  Stephanie Schmit Continuum of Learning Act Reintroduced Last week, Representatives Polis (D-CO) and Young (R-AK) reintroduced the bipartisan Continuum of Learning Act. The legislation, which is complementary to the President's new Early Learning Initiative, would strengthen the connections between early childhood programs, local education agencies, and elementary schools by making changes to Titles I and II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Read Online
• Feb 21, 2013  |  Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success College Costs Rising Four Times Faster Than Income, Two and a Half Times Faster Than Pell Read Online