Reports & Analyses

• Nov 17, 2009  |  Rachel Schumacher Establish Core Competencies As part of its Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care project, CLASP recommends that states establish a core body of knowledge, skills, and expertise that providers and caregivers need in order to give babies and toddlers quality care, based on current research on social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development. This document presents supporting research, ideas for how state child care licensing, subsidy, and quality enhancement policies can move toward this recommendation, state examples, and online resources for state policymakers. Download PDF
• Nov 17, 2009  |  Rachel Schumacher Provide Access to Training, Education, and Ongoing Supports As part of its Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care project, CLASP recommends that states seek to ensure access to specialized professional development for providers working with infants and toddlers, including participation in higher education programs, community-level training, ongoing individualized consultations, and access to appropriate information and supports for caregivers, so that all those who care for infants and toddlers in all settings understand and implement a core body of knowledge and skills. This document presents supporting research, ideas for how state child care licensing, subsidy, and quality enhancement policies can move toward this recommendation, state examples, and online resources for state policymakers. Download PDF
• Nov 16, 2009  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch The TANF Emergency Fund: A New Resource for Domestic Violence Programs The TANF Emergency Fund can both provide victims of domestic violence with financial and in-kind services to help address domestic violence issues and also relieve some of the funding pressures on providers. Download PDF
• Nov 09, 2009  |  Teresa Lim Early Childhood Education Update - November 2009 CLASP's Early Childhood Education Update is a monthly roundup of news, legislative developments, research, and other developments of interest to the early care and education community. This update is part of CLASP's project, funded by The Joyce Foundation, to provide technical assistance to early childhood policymakers and advocates in Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Read Online
• Nov 03, 2009  |  Dorothy Smith Measure by Measure: The Current Poverty Measure v. the National Academy of Sciences Measure This report highlights alternative poverty measures for each state and the District of Columbia using a Census tool that calculates alternative measures based on a National Academy of Sciences recommendation and an NAS recommendation that considers geographic price difference adjustment. Download PDF
• Nov 02, 2009  |  Child Care and Early Education A Tool to Examine State Child Care Subsidy Policies and Promote Stable, Quality Care for Low-Income Babies and Toddlers This tool, part of CLASP's Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care project, is designed to provide a policy framework that lays out child care subsidy policies that can be implemented to better support babies and toddlers and their families. Users can download and save a copy of this tool, then fill in the appropriate columns with their state's current policies and opportunities for change. Download File
• Nov 02, 2009  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch Questions and Answers about the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund This document explains the opportunities for states to help low-income families using the new TANF Emergency Contingency Fund created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This version is updated to reflect the questions and answers posted by HHS in October 2009 Download PDF
• Oct 01, 2009  |  Teresa Lim Early Childhood Education Update - October 2009 CLASP's Early Childhood Education Update is a monthly roundup of news, legislative developments, research, and other developments of interest to the early care and education community. This update is part of CLASP's project, funded by The Joyce Foundation, to provide technical assistance to early childhood policymakers and advocates in Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Read Online
• Sep 21, 2009  |  Hannah Matthews Child Care Assistance in 2007: Spending Update This analysis details state child care expenditures from the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant programs. We find that spending on child care assistance increased slightly in 2007. Thirty-one states increased overall child care spending, while 20 states made cuts. The number of children receiving assistance, however, remains far lower than the number of children eligible for assistance. Download PDF
• Sep 18, 2009  |  Ronnie Kauder and Neil Ridley Earning and Learning: Options under the Workforce Investment Act Adults with limited work experience, low education and skill levels and other barriers to employment face the greatest challenges, especially at a time of rising unemployment. Strategies that combine work and learning are critical to help these individuals to enter or regain employment. This paper focuses on two program strategies that combine work and learning: on-the-job training and paid work experience combined with skill development. Download PDF
• Sep 08, 2009  |  Jodie Levin-Epstein Increasing Low-Income Access to Opportunity This article, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, focuses on the New England region's efforts to give visibility to poverty and opportunity through task force initiatives, summits, and state poverty targets. Download PDF
• Sep 01, 2009  |  CLASP Federal Policy Recommendations for 2009 and Beyond The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has developed an extensive federal policy agenda for President Obama and the 111th Congress directed at improving the lives of low income people. That agenda is outlined in this document. Download PDF
• Aug 06, 2009  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch Cash Assistance since Welfare Reform This Policy Brief summarizes trends in cash assistance since welfare reform -- declining caseloads, progress in employment and poverty reduction in the early years, with setbacks since 2001, and an intense focus on meeting work participation rate requirements. Download PDF
• Aug 06, 2009  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Block Grant This Policy Brief explores the wide range of programs for low-income families supported by the TANF block grant and the declining share of the grant dedicated to cash assistance. It also highlights the degree to which the grant has been eroded by inflation and population grown. Download PDF
• Aug 05, 2009  |  Teresa Lim Early Childhood Education Update - August 2009 CLASP's Early Childhood Education Update is a monthly roundup of news, legislative developments, research, and other developments of interest to the early care and education community. This update is part of CLASP's project, funded by The Joyce Foundation, to provide technical assistance to early childhood policymakers and advocates in Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Read Online
• Jul 24, 2009  |  Workforce Team CLASP Recommendations for Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (Title I) Adult Program CLASP's recommendations for changes to Title I of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) aim to re-focus the workforce investment system on raising the skills of the American workforce and better connect WIA with other education, training and work support programs to create multiple pathways to postsecondary and career success for low-income adults, dislocated workers and disadvantaged youth. Download PDF
• Jul 20, 2009  |  Amy Ellen Duke-Benfield and Evelyn Ganzglass Letter to the House Committee on Education and Labor on the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (HR 3221) Download PDF
• Jul 10, 2009  |  Teresa Lim Early Childhood Education Update - July 2009 CLASP's Early Childhood Education Update is a monthly roundup of news, legislative developments, research, and other developments of interest to the early care and education community. This update is part of CLASP's project, funded by The Joyce Foundation, to provide technical assistance to early childhood policymakers and advocates in Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Read Online
• Jul 07, 2009 CLASP Recommendations on Performance Accountability in the Workforce Education and Training System Recommendations on Performance Accountability in the Workforce Education and Training System urge the federal government to change current performance accountability provisions in WIA Titles I and II to address specific problems in each program and over time to implement a system of shared accountability across workforce and other education and training programs. Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Jul 01, 2009  |  Alan W. Houseman Civil Legal Aid in the United States: An Update for 2009 While there is new hope for increased federal funding and a renewed interest in civil legal aid at the federal level, civil legal aid is facing reductions in funding from state sources which, until 2009, had been expanding and had overtaken LSC as the largest source of civil legal aid funding. State funding actually increased for civil legal aid in 2008. Today, however, state budgets are facing far greater crises than the federal budget and have far fewer options for financing because most cannot create significant deficits. Download PDF