After an initial inventory of community indicators in its 2008 Shreveport-Bossier City "Community Counts" annual report, the Community Foundation of Shreveport-Bossier decided to focus existing funding related to children and families on the areas of education, health, and poverty, as well as develop new funds in these areas. These focal…

In 2008, the Shreveport-Bossier Community Foundation selected education, health, and poverty as funding priorities. But the foundation realized that it needed more specific guidelines on how best to distribute grants. RAND developed a framework for making investment decisions that incorporates the best of traditional decision making approaches.…

The Promising Practices Network (PPN) on Children, Families and Communities (www.promisingpractices.net) began as a partnership between four state-level organizations that help public and private organizations improve the well-being of children and families. The PPN website, archived in June 2014, featured summaries of programs and practices that…

Children's exposure to violence (CEV)--including direct child maltreatment, witnessing domestic violence, and witnessing community and school violence--can have serious consequences, including a variety of psychiatric disorders and behavioral problems, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Fortunately, research has shown…

This first national estimate suggests that the economic cost of methamphetamine (meth) use in the United States reached $23.4 billion in 2005. Given the uncertainty in estimating the costs of meth use, this book provides a lower-bound estimate of $16.2 billion and an upper-bound estimate of $48.3 billion. The analysis considers a wide range of…

The Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) was developed for use by school-based mental health professionals for any student with symptoms of distress following exposure to trauma. The Supporting Students Exposed to Trauma (SSET) was adapted from CBITS for use by any school personnel with the time and interest to work with…

The study identifies some of the greatest disparities for boys and men of color relative to their white counterparts across specific socioeconomic, health, safety, and school readiness indicators in California and provides information about different strategies for reducing the disparities--including effective programs, practices, and…