News
NEWS
Our news page is dedicated to providing timely information about the current work and activities of the firm. But we will also use it to share insights and lessons from our work and/or to report on promising practices and programs of our clients. Where possible we will provide links to related sites that will allow readers to explore these stories and issues in more detail. Our current stories are headlined below and can be accessed through the links provided.
Youth Development News
Hyman Firm's Work with SSRHY Demonstration Now in Second Year
On October 1, 2008, the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) launched the 5-year demonstration – Support Systems for Rural Homeless Youth: A Collaborative State and Local Demonstration (SSRHY). SSRHY focuses on a highly vulnerable population of the nation’s youth – young people ages 16-21, in rural areas (including Tribal lands and other rural Native communities) who are approaching independence and young adulthood, but who have few or no connections to supportive, family structures or to their surrounding communities.
The Demonstration began with grants to three states (Colorado, Iowa, and Minnesota) who spent the first full year planning for the demonstration. On October 1, 2009 they began implementing their plans to operate the Demonstration and begin serving rural youth. Also in 2009, a second cohort of 3 states (Nebraska, Oklahoma and Vermont) received SSRHY grants and are now engaged in their own planning.
Over the past two years, the Hyman firm has provided consultation services to FYSB and to the states -- making site visits to each project, conducting monthly conference calls, and planning and conducting Annual Meetings -- to assist in their planning and implementation efforts. The firm is now designing the SSRHY evaluation that will be conducted in 2013 and 2014. More information on the individual Demonstration Projects will be provided in future updates. A list of the SSRHY Demonstration Grantees is below.
Grant Recipients - Cohort 1
Project Period: 9/30/2008 to 9/29/2013Grant Recipients - Cohort 2
Project Period: 9/30/2009 to 9/29/2014
Colorado:
Colorado Dept. of Human Services
Child Welfare Div./Permanency Unit
Iowa:
Iowa Department of Human Services
Child and Family Services
Minnesota:
Department of Human Services
Office of Economic Opportunity
Nebraska:
Department of Health and Human Services
Children and Family Services
Oklahoma:
Department of Human Services
Vermont:
Department of Program Management
Dept. of Children and Families
Family Services Division
Hyman Firm Helps Design Federal Homeless Youth Demonstration
On July 10, 2008 the Family and Youth Services Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families issued a grant announcement for a new 5-year demonstration focused on rural homeless youth. The announcement — Support Systems for Rural Homeless Youth: A Collaborative State and Local Demonstration (SSRHY) — was designed with assistance from James B. Hyman, Ph.D., Inc. and the firm is in negotiations to provide technical assistance and support.
SSRHY will provide grants of up to $200,000 per year to selected Departments in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. It is targeted to young people ages 16-21, in rural areas (including Tribal lands and other rural Native communities) who are approaching independence and young adulthood, but have few or no connections to a supportive family structure or community. It is intended to influence policies, programs and practices that affect the delivery of services to runaway and homeless youth in Transitional Living Programs (TLP), as well as to homeless youth aging out of State child welfare systems and into Independent Living Programs (ILP). As such, SSRHY will focus on improving coordination of services and creating additional supports for rural homeless youth, especially in three vital areas of positive youth development: (1) Survival Support Services (e.g., housing, healthcare, substance abuse, and/or mental health); (2) Community Supports (e.g., community service, youth and adult partnerships, mentoring, and/or peer support groups), and (3) Education/Employment (e.g., high school/General Equivalency Diploma (GED) completion, post secondary education, employment, training, and/or jobs).
Applications were due August 25, 2008.
Hyman Firm Produces Report Highlighting Achievements from Youth Demonstration
James B. Hyman, Ph.D., Inc. has just issued a report highlighting the achievements from the Youth Development Project entitled "Collaborating For Youth: Highlights From the Positive Youth Development State and Local Collaboration Demonstration Project". The purpose of this report is to provide a brief assessment of efforts by the Family and Youth Services Bureau to encourage a more positive and proactive approach to the development of young people in the United States. This report can be accessed from the Youth Development section of our Publications page, or you may click here to view the report.
The Family and Youth Services Bureau (DHHS) Enters 5th Year of Nine-State Positive Youth Development Demonstration.
On October 1, 2007, the Family and Youth Services Bureau (DHHS) entered it's 5th year of a nine-state Positive Youth Development Demonstration.
In 2003, the Family and Youth Services Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families, DHHS, engaged James B. Hyman, Ph.D., Inc. to consult with them in designing an innovative demonstration in community youth development. (read more)
Michigan Adopts STAR in Pilot Project to Improve Minority Male Education.
On April 17 and 18, 2007, the Phelps Stokes Fund sponsored a conference in Flint, MI to celebrate the inauguration of the Michigan STAR Project. The Smart Teachers As Role models (STAR) program is an initiative of the Phelps Stokes Fund that prepares outstanding young men of color for careers as educational leaders and classroom teachers. (read more)
Community Building News
Hyman Firm Releases Conference Report on Volunteering Among Minorities and the Poor
On June 1 – 3, 2008, the Corporation for National and Community Service sponsored its annual meeting titled, The Urgency of Now, in Atlanta, GA. Co-sponsored by the Points of Light and Hands On Network, the conference drew over 4,000 people who are active in volunteering and service around the nation. The sponsors engaged the firm, James B. Hyman, Ph.D., Inc, to plan and moderate an “Immersion Learning Session” entitled: Engaging the Poor and People of Color in Organized Service: Challenges and Opportunities. The firm just issued a report of proceedings along with a full transcript of the 3-hour conference session. Links to those materials are provided below.
To access other papers prepared for the workshop, click here.
Dr. Hyman Moderates Workshop at National Meeting in Atlanta, GA
On June 1-3, 2008, the Corporation for National and Community Service held its National Conference on Volunteering and Service in Atlanta, GA. Dr. James B. Hyman designed and moderated one of six concurrent ... (read more)
Dr. Hyman Contracts With the Corporation for National and Community Service to Design a Session on Minority Volunteering for its National Meeting in Atlanta, GA.
Historically African Americans and Latinos, from disadvantaged backgrounds, have not been well represented in many of the larger, nationally operated community service programs (e.g., AmeriCorps NCCC, Peace Corps, Teach for America, etc.). This raises a question as to whether there is something inherently different in or about disadvantaged communities and communities of color that makes their residents less willing and/or less able to volunteer in these initiatives and/or to be civically engaged. Or alternatively, are there barriers to participation, or biases and impediments in the programs themselves, which contribute to this result?
In building the agenda for its June1-3, 2008 annual meeting, in Atlanta, GA, the Corporation for National and Community Service engaged Dr. James B. Hyman to design and moderate a workshop entitled: Engaging the Poor and People of Color in Organized Service: Challenges and Opportunities. Dr. Hyman and colleagues are drafting position papers for the conference and Dr. Hyman will produce a "Report of Proceedings" this fall.
Prisoner Reentry News
San Francisco Foundation Renews 2007 Grant for CSGP Explorations in Oakland, CA.
In May 2008, the San Francisco Foundation approved an additional $20,000 grant award to the Phelps Stokes Fund to support continued consultations between Dr. James B. Hyman and officials in the City of Oakland, CA about piloting the Community Service Gateway Project (CSGP) in Oakland. The new award adds to the $10,000 granted for the initial consultations in 2007.
CSGP is based on Dr. Hyman's research on black men chronicled in his 2006 report to the Dellums Commission on Minority Males entitled, Men and Communities: African-American Males and the Well-Being of Children, Families and Neighborhoods. CSGP is an initiative designed to work with minority males pairing ex-offenders and high risk young adults in community service projects that are intended to: build job-related skills, instill a sense of community, restore pro-social values and act as a gateway to other developmental opportunities in education and employment. You can read more about the fundamentals of the Community Service Gateway Project below.
The Community Service Gateway Project - Hyman Firm Proposes Community-based Initiative for African-American Men.
Across the nation, there is a growing concern about the current status and the declining life prospects of African-American Men - in particular, the social decline evident in their rates of: education, employment, incarceration, infirmity, mortality, paternity establishment and a host of other social indices...(read more)