With many cities showing an interest in afterschool system building and research providing a growing body of useful information, this Wallace Perspective offers a digest of the latest thinking on how to build and sustain an afterschool system, and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for this promising work. The report (a follow-up to a…

As numerous studies from 1906 on have confirmed, children lose ground in learning if they lack opportunities for building skills over the summer. Nonetheless, summer learning loss comes up but rarely in the national discussion of education reform. By the end of summer, students perform on average one month behind where they left off in the spring.…

Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on first 10, then seven sites. It…

This document discusses the development and implementation of a multiservice center that could offer a variety of human social services in a single location. The paper focuses on seven components of the center's operation: governance, organizational structure, core services, joint funding, joint planning, joint programming, and evaluation. The…

"After School: Connecting Children at Risk With Responsible Adults to Help Reduce Youth Substance Abuse and Other Health-Compromising Behaviors (After School)" helped develop intermediary organizations in Boston, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area in order to create citywide systems of after-school programs. The…

Developed as part of a study which attempted to integrate students with severe disabilities into regular recreational and leisure activities, this report focuses on integrating summer camps in the Greater Waltham (Massachusetts) area. It documents how a segregated camp for children and teens with disabilities can be closed down and the campers…

Academic achievement and high test scores are not the only indicators of a successful school. A good school is also a safe school. Unfortunately, every year in the United States, approximately 3.7 million students suffer an injury at school severe enough to require medical attention or to limit activity. Most of the injuries are preventable. Data…

Based on a study by the Department of Community Service Education, Cornell University, to evaluate human service planning (HSP) nationwide, this paper discusses the premises that HSP may be defined as community learning and that the community (according to the Robert Boyd and Jerold Apps model for adult education) is both a beneficiary of and…

This handbook records the joint planning process for development of a family literacy program suited to each of six Massachusetts communities. Part 1 discusses the national background to collaborative projects, national educational goals and concept of family and intergenerational literacy programs, justification for family literacy, libraries'…

This report outlines the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' plan to address the educational needs of homeless children and youth, as required by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. The major purpose of the plan is to guide local education agencies and supply them with resources as they attempt to meet the educational needs of homeless…

Because it is based upon the premise that learning is a lifelong process and that citizen involvement is essential to neighborhood problem solving, community education is particularly attuned to the current needs of cities and can be particularly effective in responding to urban housing needs. One way in which leaders can simultaneously address…

A study regarding the implementation of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) in four eastern Massachusetts prime sponsor areas (Cambridge, Lowell, New Bedford, and the Balance of State) was done to (1) examine the impact of the decisions made during the implementation of CETA on manpower services and institutions, program…

The numerous layoffs of low-income workers that occurred when the nation's economy slowed in 2001 have created numerous challenges for local Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs. By increasing collaboration between community economic development and workforce development efforts to serve low-income residents, states and…

This evaluation of programs conducted in fiscal 1978 under the Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act (YEDPA) consists of an overall picture of the 1978 YEDPA program experience and case studies of programs in 12 states. Findings and recommendations are presented concerning the implementation of YEDPA programs by Comprehensive Employment…