Publications & Resources

Clear all filters
Webinar

Policy in Action – Building a Community that CARES for Young Adults: Mental Health and Well-Being

October 2024

Hosted by the CARES Initiative and the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), this session discussed youth-centered policy recommendations for mental health and well-being, co-designed with young people who have transitioned out of foster care. During the conversation, we heard reflections on the importance of policies for mental health and well-being and the Atlanta CARES mental health and well-being policy agenda.

This event was part one of a two-part discussion on reimagining a future where public policy empowers young people to pursue their goals and live fully.

Featured Speakers:

  • Malaka "Mali" Y. Nzinga, CHES, Program Manager in the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine
  • Dimple Desai, MSW, Senior Policy Analyst, Voices for Georgia's Children
  • Jada Brigman, CARES Ambassador, Atlanta
  • Tiffany Cannon, CARES Ambassador, Atlanta
  • Shadi Houshyar, Senior Associate, Center for the Study of Social Policy
Header image for Policy in Action webinar - Building a Community that CARES for Young Adults - Mental Health and Well-Being
Webinar

Policy in Action – Building a Community that CARES for Young Adults: Housing Policies for NYC & L.A.

October 2024

Hosted by the CARES Initiative and the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), this session discussed youth-centered policy recommendations for housing—developed in collaboration with young people who have transitioned out of foster care. During the conversation, we heard reflections on the importance of housing policies and discussed the NYC and L.A. CARES policy agendas and the recommendations they elevate.

This event was part two of a two-part discussion on reimagining a future where public policy empowers young people to pursue their goals and live fully.

Featured Speakers:

  • Michael Santos, Associate Director, RESULTS Educational Fund
  • Jenny Pokempner, Policy Director, Youth Law Center
  • Cara Baldari, Vice President of Family Economics, Housing, and Homelessness, First Focus
  • Kayonda Branch, CARES Ambassador, New York City
  • Elizabeth Villa, CARES Ambassador, Los Angeles
  • Alex Citrin, Senior Associate, Center for the Study of Social Policy
Header image for Policy in Action webinar - Building a Community that CARES for Young Adults - Housing
Policy Paper

Advancing Culturally Responsive Services: Incorporating Community-Defined Evidence When Evaluating What Works

October 2024

Despite the body of research demonstrating the benefit of services that respect cultural and racial identity, government funders are increasingly favoring “colorblind” programs that have been approved by research clearinghouses as evidence-based practices (EBPs). This limited approach to evidence promotes services that may be non-responsive to diverse communities’ needs while hampering the development and dissemination of responsive services that have community buy-in. This publication outlines the concerns with exclusively relying on empirical data at the expense of community-defined evidence and identifies actions government agencies can take to ensure services are evaluated according to the standards set by the community members who are supposed to benefit.

(4 pp)

Advancing Culturally Responsive Services Incorporating Community Defined Evidence When Evaluating What Works
Publication

Manifesto for Race Equity & Parent Leadership in Early Childhood Systems

October 2024

Manifesto 2.0: The Parent Edition and its 5 Commitments for Change is a “Bill of Rights’’ for parents. Together with other parents and allies, you can use it as a platform to call on leaders in early childhood systems to support more opportunities for parent voice and leadership and equitable outcomes for children and families. The Manifesto is also available in Spanish.

Additional Resources


Manifesto 2.0: The Parent Edition - Supporting Materials

[accordion]


Video Resources

[accordion]

Manifesto On Race Equity English
Publication

Manifiesto Para Equidad Racial y Liderazgo de Padres

October 2024

Manifiesto 2.0: La Edición de los Padres/Madres y sus 5 Compromisos para el Cambio es una ‘declaración de derechos’ para los progenitores. Junto con otras madres/padres y aliados, usted puede utilizarlo como una plataforma para hacer un llamado a los líderes en los sistemas de primera infancia para que apoyen mas oportunidades para las voces de padres/madres y su liderazgo y resultados equitativos para las niña/o/s y familia.

El manifiesto también está disponible en inglés.

 

Manifesto On Race Equity Spanish
Report

I Just Want to Be a Father: Protecting the Rights of Young Fathers Involved with Child Welfare Systems and Promoting Family Well-Being

October 2024

This brief spotlights systemic barriers faced by fathers who are themselves youth in New York City's foster care system or who co-parent with a young parent in foster care when they try to exercise their rights to be with their children. It highlights nine key recommendations with action steps that ACS and its contracted agencies can take to ensure that they respect the rights of fathers to family autonomy and that they treat young fathers in their care equitably and without discrimination based on race, gender, and intersecting identities.

(15 pp)

I Just Want To Be A Father (1)
Policy Paper

Strategies to Compensate Unpaid Caregivers: A Policy Scan

March 2024

Caregiving is essential work, but this work too often falls on individuals with little or no support from society as a whole. As a result, many caregivers experience severe economic security and hardship—especially women, and Black, Latinx/e, and other women of color and immigrant women in particular, who provide the most care. To better understand the current policy gaps and how we might better support unpaid family caregivers moving forward, this new report summarizes the policies in place to compensate family caregivers in the United States and abroad and offers recommendations for ensuring future policies more effectively support unpaid caregivers and their families.

(29 pp)

Strategies to Compensate Unpaid Caregivers Small Cover
Brief

Direct File: How Parent and Family Engagement in Design Can Improve Access to Refundable Credits

March 2024

The IRS, with the support of partners like the CSSP, has been ensuring that families who are most impacted by barriers to tax filing, such as the  complexity and costs, have been delivering feedback throughout the design and development process of this new Direct File program. Based on what CSSP heard through this engagement, several early lessons emerged not only about how to improve the tool based on feedback that reflects a diversity of circumstances and situations, but also about the needs that tax filers have as they go through the process that the tool itself cannot  address.

(3 pp)

Direct File Small Cover
Video

Culture is Healing: Removing the Barriers from Culturally Responsive Services (Webinar)

January 2024

In this webinar, community providers discuss the challenges they face in providing responsive services, including building evidence and operating in the context of restrictive “evidence-based” standards, as well as recommendations for actions state and federal policymakers can take to ensure all families have the support they need through expanding access and availability of programs that are developed by and for communities of color.

Read the report here

Culture Is Healing Webinar Small Cover
Policy Paper

Culture is Healing: Removing the Barriers Facing Providers of Culturally Responsive Services

January 2024

Ensuring child and family well-being requires a radically different, anti-racist response of supports that center the voices of diverse children and families of color, are dignified and strengths-based, and that are offered in spaces they trust. As this brief highlights, community-based organizations across the country are striving to answer that call despite numerous barriers. This brief lifts up the voices of those community providers, with the goal of highlighting and addressing the barriers that stand in the way of all families having the support they need.

Watch the webinar here

(19 pp)

Culture Is Healing Small Cover