Seattle, WA, Feb. 16, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Court Appointed Special Advocate/Guardian ad Litem (CASA/GAL) Association for Children is pleased to announce the appointment of James Rishwain, Jr. as Chair of its Board of Trustees. Rishwain has served on the board of National CASA/GAL since 2016, serving as head of the Governance Committee before accepting the role of board chair.

Seattle, Wash., June 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On June 6, 2022, the National Court Appointed Special Advocate/Guardian ad Litem (CASA/GAL) Association for Children collaborated with Unbelievably Resilient to host the second annual CASA/GAL Volunteer’s Day to honor and thank CASA/GAL volunteers nationwide, who work hard to ensure children and youth in the child welfare system have their voices heard every day. Unbelievably Resilient is a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the negative narrative surrounding foster care.

Leading child advocacy organization is celebrating 40 years of impact

Leading child advocacy organization is celebrating 40 years of impact

Leading child advocacy organization is celebrating 40 years of impact

Leading child advocacy organization is celebrating 40 years of impact

Local CASA/GAL programs across the country are galvanizing support nationwide to participate in this virtual unifying event, in support of children and families in the child welfare system.

Local CASA/GAL programs across the country are galvanizing support nationwide to participate in this virtual unifying event, in support of children and families in the child welfare system.

This brief presents findings from an exploratory impact evaluation of the New York City Performance Partnership Pilot (P3) program, which enhanced youth workforce services for young parents. We find that after leaving the program, NYC P3 enrollees had better outcomes than the comparison group in their occupational training participation rate, participation in other education and job-oriented services, high school equivalency credential attainment, and education/training enrollment and credential attainment. On average, NYC P3 participants earned high school equivalency credentials nearly four months sooner than comparison group members. We do not find significant impacts on employment or earnings. The brief concludes with recommendations for policy and practice.

Child care subsidies and other safety net programs are crucial for the well-being of families with low incomes, including parents’ economic stability and children’s development. But research has shown that policies and practices in the child care subsidy system can prevent families from accessing and keeping child care benefits that ensure their children receive care in stable, quality settings.

This fact sheet pulls out lessons from previous research on seven ways states can make child care more accessible and equitable for families and more efficient for agencies: (1) examine customer service flexibility, quality, and efficiency; (2) simplify application, reporting, and verification requirements; (3) change eligibility thresholds; (4) talk with parents, providers, and caseworkers to identify barriers to subsidy access and retention; (5) improve coordination across programs; (6) align and integrate policies and systems across programs; and (7) build data, information, and reporting capacity.

Millions of working parents qualify for food, medical, and child care assistance that can help them support their families. When parents receive these crucial supports, they are better able to stabilize their lives, advance their careers, and raise their children. But many eligible families do not receive the help they need, partly because of barriers in cumbersome state safety net benefit systems.

This fact sheet highlights lessons from previous research on how states can streamline their technology systems, policies, and business processes—and prioritize the customer’s point of view—to improve the customer experience, advance equity by expanding access to supports, and reduce programs’ administrative burden on states.

This report summarizes the latest decennial census data for the greater Washington, DC, (Greater DC) region, including the District of Columbia’s eight wards and 24 cities and counties in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. The region grew from 5.6 to 6.4 million people between 2010 and 2020, an increase of 13.0 percent. Since 2000, the adult share of the region’s population has slowly increased while the share of children has decreased. The Greater DC region became more racially and ethnically diverse over the past decade, with large increases in both the Hispanic/Latinx and non-Hispanic/Latinx Asian and Pacific Islander populations. The District experienced the fourth-largest decade of population growth in its history, but the Black population continued a 50-year decline. The non-Hispanic/Latinx Black population became the largest group overall in the region’s five Maryland counties, surpassing the non-Hispanic/Latinx white population, with even larger growth for the Hispanic/Latinx population. Growth over the past decade in the Virginia counties and cities was driven largely by increases in the non-Hispanic/Latinx Asian and Pacific Islander populations and Hispanic/Latinx populations.

The report appendices include charts showing population changes for adults, children, and racial and ethnic groups for the District’s wards and the Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia jurisdictions in the Greater DC region.

This technical report describes the steps taken to design and administer a survey of early educators employed in child care programs participating in Capital Quality, the District of Columbia’s quality rating and improvement system (QRIS). The survey collected data on a range of topics including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on early educators’ employment and job earnings; perspectives toward Capital Quality; professional development and career plans; job qualifications, compensation, and employee benefits; work environment; physical and mental health; and demographics and financial well-being. The research team programmed the web survey in Qualtrics and administered it between February 24 and May 3, 2021. The report details survey response rates; the steps taken to clean, weight, and analyze the survey data; and characteristics of the study sample. A copy of the final survey instrument is appended to the report.

Research briefs presenting survey findings may be found on the project web page.