RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Julia B. Isaacs and Isabel V. Sawhill, Fourth Quarter 2008, The Milken Institute Review
The past few decades have led to more inequality in both income and wealth than we have seen since the late 1920s. Despite this, Americans seem to care more about equality of opportunity than about equality of outcomes. Julia Isaacs and Isabel Sawhill describe ways to ensure greater equality of opportunity and economic mobility. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ron Haskins and Laurence Steinberg, Fall 2008, The Future of Children
Ron Haskins and Laurence Steinberg, in this companion to the new edition of The Future of Children devoted to juvenile justice, examine the problem of youth confinement in correctional facilities, including adult jails and prisons. They pay special attention to why harsh punishment of adolescents is not only often unjust but also counterproductive and make recommendations for more appropriate and cost-effective responses to youth crime. Read More
PAST EVENT
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Washington, DC
After a decade of declining juvenile crime rates, the forces that fueled the “get-tough” reforms of the 1990s have waned, as has enthusiasm for the reforms that eroded the boundaries between juvenile and criminal court, exposing juvenile offenders to harsh punishments. The antisocial acts that bring young people into contact with the justice system are often accompanied by other problems, most of which the justice system alone is ill-equipped to address. A slate of panelists, will discuss reforming juvenile justice to reflect these differences between adolescent and adult offenders. Read More
PAST EVENT
Monday, September 29, 2008
9:30 AM to 2:00 PM
Washington, DC
On September 29, several prominent scholars and policy advocates outlined their key recommendations for improving the quality of life for people at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, including proposals to improve employment and earnings, strengthen families, enhance opportunities for children, and improve neighborhoods. Discussions of the proposals were followed by comments from policy experts. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Rebecca M. Blank, September 25, 2008, Joint Economic Committee
In this testimony, Rebecca Blank argues for the need to modernize our poverty statistics so that we may have a better understanding of who is poor and how these numbers are changing over time. She discusses anti-poverty strategies for the next decade. Read More
PAST EVENT
Friday, September 19, 2008
9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Washington, DC
Since 2002, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families has provided substantial funding for healthy marriage and relationship programs, which are increasingly reaching out to serve African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, refugees and immigrants from many different cultures. On September 19, the Brookings Institution and the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center will host a discussion to focus on what is being learned about how these programs need to be designed, and curricula adapted, to be relevant to ethnically, racially and culturally diverse populations. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ron Haskins, September 2008, First Focus
Ron Haskins offers ways policymakers could create an entitlement to housing assistance that would more fairly distribute housing benefits and convert housing into a more effective element in the nation’s work support system. The goal of reform would be to get the most out of the resources now devoted to housing by providing at least some benefit to all eligible families that want a housing subsidy. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Julia B. Isaacs, September 2008, First Focus
Julia B. Isaacs details how the growing evidence about the importance of children’s early years is changing public attitudes toward early childhood programs. Adopting a well-designed package of investments in children from birth to five will improve children’s health, school achievement, and opportunities for future economic success. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Isabel V. Sawhill, September 2008, First Focus
Advocates for children are hoping that with a new administration and a new Congress in 2009, investments in children will get enhanced priority. Isabel Sawhill argues that we need a new intergenerational contract that invests more in people when they are young, but then expects them to assume somewhat greater responsibility for their own support during their retirement years. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Julia B. Isaacs and Emily Roessel, September 2008, The Brookings Institution
Julia Isaacs and Emily Roessel assess the effects of five early childhood education programs—State Pre-K, Head Start, Early Head Start, Model Early Childhood Programs and Nurse Home Visiting—that have had positive impacts on children’s cognitive skills and/or school outcomes. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ron Haskins, August 2008, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Project
A host of demographic and economic trends in the United States are making it difficult for the nation to make progress against poverty and income inequality. However, Ron Haskins argues, government policies that raise work levels and provide public benefits to supplement earnings have proven to be effective in fighting poverty among female-headed families. But further progress against poverty and economic inequality seems unlikely unless more poor adults work, reduce the number of births outside marriage, and marry at higher rates. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Rebecca M. Blank, August 2008, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Project
The poor in American cut across all groups, but are disproportionately represented by single mothers and their children, by persons of color, by immigrants, by less-skilled individuals, or by those with physical or mental disabilities. Many working poor and near-poor families face problems with low wages or unstable jobs. This paper by Rebecca Blank outlines three strategic areas where policy and research attention should focus over the next decade. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Julia B. Isaacs, August 29, 2008, Real Clear Politics
Julia B. Isaacs calls for both presidential candidates to consider effective preschool programs in their domestic policy platforms. Read More
VIDEO
Ron Haskins and Rebecca M. Blank, August 26, 2008
The Brookings Center on Children and Families held its sixth annual briefing on the new Census poverty figures and their implications for families and policy-makers. The nation’s poverty rate held steady for in 2007 as median household income edged upward and the number of Americans without health insurance decreased by more than 1 million.
PAST EVENT
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Washington, DC
On August 26, the day the Census poverty report was released, the Brookings Center on Children and Families held its sixth annual briefing to discuss the new figures and their implications for families and policy-makers. Read More