Blog

Peer-reviewed journal articles can provide clear evidence of the effectiveness of new approaches to caring for children and families. This week, the DULCE team published an article in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. This article–the first of several in the pipeline–presents CSSP’s evidence of the effectiveness of the DULCE cross-sector [...]

The central goal of a child allowance is to promote the health and well-being of children and families. By providing consistent and adequate income support, it can help families pay for immediate essentials, reduce the stress associated with struggling to make ends meet, and create a foundation for families to pursue their goals and aspirations. [...]

Photo courtesy of The California Endowment's Building Healthy Communities Initiative archive CSSP has a long history of designing, implementing, and evaluating community and system change efforts. One of the most significant challenges in such an undertaking is sustaining the investments and interest of funders over the long term that is needed to  achieve tangible results [...]

For decades, field leaders and funders have focused on developmental screening and kindergarten readiness as markers of child and family well-being. While those efforts have advanced a policy and community emphasis on Head Start, Universal Pre-K, and other efforts in early education, public officials have placed much less emphasis on the critical importance of foundational [...]

Today, the Census Bureau released its annual statistics on income, poverty, and health insurance. The data offer striking evidence that policy can effectively reduce poverty and address racial inequities, even in the context of the most devastating health and economic crisis of our lifetimes. The data released today, along with other analyses of hardship over the last year, underscore the particular value of providing cash to families to combat poverty and economic insecurity. Cash assistance, whether in the form of a stimulus check, enhanced unemployment benefits, or the Child Tax Credit, allows families to meet a wide range of needs in ways that make the most sense for them. When made inclusive and accessible, cash assistance can also effectively advance racial equity.

By July 15th, nearly 39 million families, covering 88% of children, will have automatically received their first month’s Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments, helping them with the cost of raising children. However, for the CTC to fulfill its potential to cut child poverty nearly in half, it must reach the nearly nine million children whose [...]

This week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a strong and unequivocal statement entitled Preventing Childhood Toxic Stress: Partnering  with Families and Communities to Promote Relational Health, that urges the field of pediatrics to commit to early relational health.[i] The National Early Relational Health (ERH) Coordinating Hub at the Center for the Study of [...]

Recognition is growing that health inequities in the United States are oceanic and that health justice matters. From COVID-19 crisis standards of care to vaccine equity to the eviction epidemic to the Flint, Michigan water crisis, widespread health injustices now are robustly, and appropriately, animating mainstream health policy dialogue. Health justice is a critical concept [...]

“Nothing about us, without us,” is a rallying cry that originated in the disability rights movement, but it has been widely adopted by young people who have been in foster care. The stakes are high. “One person frames your life before a court, and a couple of people decide where you live,” says Sixto Cancel [...]

CSSP works to transform systems and strengthen communities by developing and implementing policies and practices that promote justice, advance equity, and eliminate structural bias. We work in a number of different spaces and, consequently, use a number of different methods to communicate with our various audiences. But regardless of what we’re saying or how we’re saying it, we also work to center equity in our communications tools. One recent example is a video series developed by CSSP’s DULCE team.