This report provides an overview of President Bush’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative. The Initiative was developed in 2001 by President Bush to help eliminate government barriers inhibiting partnerships with faith-based and community organizations. This report gives a seven year overview of the Initiative’s progress.

Recent research shows that when work and education programs are combined, low-income families have improved outcomes. This research is from MDRC and provides evaluation information from programs that include education components to increase earnings of low-wage workers. Specifically, performance-based scholarships can have a large positive effect on academic achievement among a single-parent student population that faces multiple barriers to completing college.

This toolkit was authored by the Council for Labor and Economic Growth, Low Wage Worker Advancement Committee and provides information on how employers can support employees. Employers can often provide work supports to help retain workers by helping workers to build assets, which in turn, reduces employer turnover. Specifically, the Council provides strategies to help employers inform workers of asset building programs in the community.

From the Commonwealth Fund, this study provides insights on community health initiatives that seek to serve the uninsured by connecting people to health care services and health insurance. Community health initiatives unite key stakeholders and build on relationships to support the local safety net within the community. Findings from the study show the importance of a state context for community initiatives and challenges in replicating such initiatives.

This newsletter, from the Casey Foundation, provides information on initiatives to promote community engagement. The Plain Talk initiative was designed in the mid-1990s to help educate youth on pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Through many Casey Foundation initiatives, resident engagement strategies have been successful by giving residents a voice in shaping solutions to local challenges and in linking residents together.

This Child Trends Research Brief reviews the neighborhood support index in terms of how neighborhoods can affect children and families. Research has shown that recreation centers in disadvantaged neighborhoods are associated with reductions in crime and violence. Additionally, researchers have found that neighborhood characteristics, such as too few play areas, heavy street traffic, or too many abandoned homes, can have a negative impact for children. Utilizing data from the 2003 National Survey of Children’s Health, authors construct a Neighborhood Support Index.

The Workforce Strategies Initiative published this update on how community colleges and sector initiatives are collaborating to benefit businesses and low-income workers seeking. As there is a continued demand for workers educated beyond high school, 43 percent of adults between the ages of 25 and 64 in the United States are not educated beyond a high school level.

The use of faith-based organizations to delivery public services has increased over the last two years due to program devolution and privatization. Researchers gathered information on faith-based organizations in each State, and outline the findings in the following report.

Engaging employers is key in supporting youth transition in the workforce and foster job retention and advancement. This paper, from the Center for Children at the University of Chicago, provides the findings from interviews with youth program providers, employers, and policy makers. Researchers conclude by identifying disconnects in the service delivery and offer recommendations on how providers can expand employer involvement.

This report, co-authored by the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices and Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) is based largely on a roundtable meeting conducted in April 2000 by both organizations to discuss expanding postsecondary opportunities for low-income working parents and welfare recipients.