Category: Uncategorized

Several Republican-led states are including expanded Medicaid coverage in their state budgets, according to a report by NPR. These include both Indiana, where Vice President Pence expanded Medicare when he was governor, and Ohio, where Governor John Kasich has included sustained Medicare expansion within his state budget proposal, which was announced on January 30, 2017.

In Indiana, Governor Eric Holcomb, who assumed office on January 9^th, 2017, applied for a federal Medicaid waiver that would extend coverage until January 1, 2021. Without federal approval, funding for Indiana’s Healthy Indiana plan will cease in January 2018.

The article quoted Holcomb’s statement: “Indiana has built a program that is delivering real results in a responsible, efficient, and effective way. I look forward to maintaining the flexibility to grow this remarkably successful tool and to preserve our ability to respond to the unique needs of Hoosiers.”

In addition to filling for a waiver for current services, Indiana also hopes to expand coverage for substance abuse treatment and support preventative services that help individuals quit smoking, manage chronic disease, and even train for jobs.

Ohio, Kentucky, and other states are considering plans similar to Indiana’s.

The unanswered question, however, is what happens if federal funding for Medicaid is discontinued through Congress’ efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act; a conversation that ACS is monitoring closely.

Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC (ACS) has worked on Medicaid policy since its inception and has helped various organizations navigate health-related policy at the state and federal level. A long time client in this work is HMS, the nation’s leader in cost containment, program integrity, and coordination of benefits solutions for government-funded and commercial healthcare entities.  HMS works with the state Medicaid agencies to help detect fraud as part of its contract to provide program integrity services. For several years, ACS has helped HMS identify and pursue growth opportunities for its business in Ohio. As a result of HMS’s work, clients like the State of Ohio are able to recover millions of dollars every year and save billions more through the prevention of erroneous payments. That’s a win-win for everyone! Learn more about how ACS works with clients like HMS here.

In a time of uncertainty for America’s social safety net, programs like Solutions for Change located in San Diego, CA offer a ray of hope for homeless families.

A recent article in the “Opportunity Lives” section of Forbes.com highlights the work of this San Diego nonprofit that is making family homelessness a thing of the past. Since its inception in 1999, the organization has helped more than 800 families, including more than 2,000 children, permanently end their homelessness.

Solutions for Change provides support that goes deeper than emergency or short-term assistance. Instead, it uses a “transformational housing model” that provides a wide range of services to address root causes of homelessness – from financial instability to mental health issues, to addiction and more. Transformational housing provides the supports to ensure that families have the job skills, job placements, parenting assistance, mental health supports, financial management, personal accountability and other skills to survive solidly in their own homes and avoid any repeat experiences with homelessness. Participants attend “Solutions University” for up to 1,000 days, get on-the-job training at businesses run by Solutions for Change, pay rent for their housing, and give back to the community as soon as they are able.

For this organization, programmatic success is measured by the number of families who stay permanently out of homelessness, rather than those who receive short-term assistance.  Solutions for Change’s success model is important because it makes their client’s independence the measure of success for both families and their program.

Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC (ACS) is proud to partner with A Place 4 Me (AP4M), cross-sector initiative that harnesses the strengths and resources of its partners to prevent and end homelessness among young adults age 15 to 24 in Cleveland/Cuyahoga County. A Place 4 Me is a collaboration led by a steering committee consisting of the YWCA Greater Cleveland; Cuyahoga County Department of Health and Human Services, including the Division of Children and Family Services and the Office of Homeless Services; FrontLine Service; the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative; and the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland.  AP4M secured housing for 103 homeless youth by using a “by-name” list to track and evaluate the needs of homeless youth, deploying team of 12 navigators to work directly with youth, creating a resource guide to help youth connect to needed services, expanding the pool of age-appropriate options, and ensuring that youth leaving the foster care system receive extra support.  Learn more about how ACS works with non-profits, government agencies, and foundations here.

A January 9th, 2017, New York Times article explored the attempts of several cities to issue citations for homeless people living on public lands, and the backlash that can cause among advocates for the homeless. At issue is whether policies such as citations are criminalizing homelessness. The article features a video of police taking away tents and sleeping bags from homeless individuals living outdoors in the city.

While homelessness is declining overall nationwide, some cities – particularly in the Western U.S., are seeing increases in homelessness due to soaring housing prices and the lack of affordable or subsidized alternatives. In some cases, homeless individuals do not wish to stay in shelters because of the conditions there.

Challenges for housing the homeless abound, but Cleveland recently provided a powerful demonstration of what is possible by securing housing for 103 homeless youth in 100 days between September 9^th, 2016 and December 18^th, 2016. Cleveland’s effort was led by A Place 4 Me is a cross-sector initiative that harnesses the strengths and resources of its partners to prevent and end homelessness among young adults age 15 to 24 in Cleveland/Cuyahoga County. A Place 4 Me is a collaboration led by a steering committee consisting of the YWCA Greater Cleveland; Cuyahoga County Department of Health and Human Services, including the Division of Children and Family Services and the Office of Homeless Services; FrontLine Service; the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative; and the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland.  AP4M secured housing for 103 homeless youth by using a “by-name” list to track and evaluate the needs of homeless youth, deploying team of 12 navigators to work directly with youth, creating a resource guide to help youth connect to needed services, expanding the pool of age-appropriate options, and ensuring that youth leaving the foster care system receive extra support.

Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC (ACS) partnered with A Place 4 Me (AP4M) on maximizing media coverage for the 100-Day Challenge.  The 100-Day-Challenge work in Cleveland was reported in a number of local media outlets, including News 5 Cleveland, Cleveland Magazine, ideastream, and Cleveland.com.   Learn more about ACS’s work with non-profits, government agencies, and foundations here.

Mayors across the country have named aging as a top priority for their cities as the number of persons aged 65 and older in the US is anticipated to double by 2050, from 46 million to 92 million, according a recent article on the Yahoo Finance website.

These statistics are from the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM)/American Association of Retired Person (AARP) Report on Aging in America, which surveyed 108 mayors – 92% of who said that aging issues are of high importance. In addition, sixty percent of mayors surveyed currently have an aging-related task force or initiative underway in their cities.

The report also details the top six priority issue areas that mayors identify as facing older Americans in cities across the country: health and wellness, housing, transportation and infrastructure, neighborhood and public safety, social activities, and workforce development.

Older Americans will have a significant impact on communities. As lifespans in the United States have gradually increased, so have the numbers of older people who wish to remain engaged in the workforce and in community. In addition, trends show that more people would like to remain in their homes as they age.

“It is critical for cities to make it easier for people to remain in their neighborhoods and communities as long as they want. As this report demonstrates, mayors and city leadership are actively and strategically developing their cities to support all of their citizens, including the nation’s rapidly growing population of older adults,” Mayor Frank Ortis, Mayor of Pembroke Pines (FL) and Chair of the USCM Taskforce on Aging, stated in the article.

How communities continue to address aging populations is of particular interest to several Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC (ACS) clients, such as the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York (HFWCNY). In 2017, ACS is helping HFWCY communicate about their “Triggers of Decline” framework for aging adults. Triggers of Decline are an event or change in the physical, cognitive, or mental health of otherwise healthy older adults living in the community that can lead to functional decline or limit their daily activities and ultimately, result in the loss of independence.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) recently launched a two-year initiative called Power to the Profession (P2P), which seeks to unify the early childhood profession and develop a consistent structure for competencies, qualifications, standards, and compensation for all those who work in the early learning field. This work intends to positively impact the quality of child care and early education settings, as well as academic and social emotional outcomes for the children they serve.

P2P is based on NAEYC’s public opinion research, which sought to understand public perceived value of the profession, identify what obstacles prevent educators from committing to the profession long term, and develop messaging to increase support for early childhood education and educators. This research, which was published in a 2015 report, Early Childhood Educators: Advancing the Profession, details opinions from educators, potential educators, and American voters.  NAEYC’s research found that voters are convinced of the value of early education and also believe that educators are underpaid for the valuable work that they do.  This research also indicated that low pay and benefits are the largest obstacles to the recruitment and retention of early educators.   The messages that resounded the most with those surveyed were around brain development, importance of educators as role models, and ensuring readiness for K-12 education.

Concern for well-compensated and highly trained workforce is further supported by a report released in June 2016 by the US Department of Health & Human Services and the US Department of Education called High-Quality Early Learning Settings Depend on a High-Quality Workforce. According to this report, low wages for child-care workers, preschool teachers and Head Start teachers is undermining interest in and efforts to improve the quality of early childhood education in every state.  In 32 States, the median annual earnings for a child care worker is below poverty for a family of three (i.e. $20,090 according to the 2015 poverty threshold). In all states, child-care workers with median annual incomes qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) benefits. Wages differ based on setting and the age of the child.

At the same time, required credentials for early childhood educators have increased. Currently preschool initiatives in 32 states require a Bachelor’s degree with a concentration in early childhood for all lead teachers, and 45% of all preschool teachers hold a Bachelor’s degree. But, as the report points out, “Without a significant increase in annual earnings for teachers working with our nation’s youngest children, there is little incentive for attaining higher credentials and seeking higher levels of education.”

The report calls for greater parity in compensation for all of those who work to shape young minds, and provides a look at some examples of state efforts to improve parity in pay as well as assist teachers in attaining Bachelor’s degrees. It also includes useful state-by-state infographics about compensation to help early childhood advocates make the case.

Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC (ACS) is proud partner of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  NAEYC is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research. The association comprises nearly 70,000 individual members of the early childhood community and more than 300 regional Affiliate chapters, all committed to delivering on the promise of high-quality early learning. ACS currently provides technical assistance for five NAEYC state affiliates across the country that were chosen by NAEYC to conduct outreach and engagement with the early childhood field and inform the P2P process. More information about NAEYC’s work to expand the early childhood profession can be found here.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to get your issue noticed by your Congressional representatives? Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC (ACS) provides advocacy planning and implementation to bring awareness to your issues at the local, state, and federal policy levels. We have several tools on our website to help you get started.

Sometimes, it’s good to get a sneak peak on the inside. Emily Ellsworth (@editoremilye) who served as district staff for two Utah Representatives, posted a series of tweets that were picked up by The New York Times, CNN, and The Huffington Post. As a district staffer, Emily worked in the state offices, not in DC, and she says that communication with the local office and staff is key to getting attention for your issue. So is using the phone.

“But, phone calls! That was a thing that shook up our office from time. One time, a radio host gave out our district office phone number on air. He was against our immigration policy and told our constituents to call. And they did. All. Day. Long. All I did all day was answer phones. It was exhausting and you can bet my bosses heard about it. We had discussions because of that call to action,” Ellsworth said in a triad of tweets.

In addition to calling, Ellsworth also encourages nonprofit or advocacy groups to invite staff on “field trips” to learn more about the work going on in constituent communities. “If you run an advocacy group, invite local staffers to show up to your events. Let them talk to people you work with and set up meetings. I loved getting out of my office and meeting with advocates in immigration, healthcare, education, science, and every type of work,” she says.

You can learn more about how ACS engages policymakers on behalf of The Ohio 8 Coalition, PRE4CLE, National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and more here.

A new study from Duke University shows that high-quality early childhood programs deliver benefits that increase or hold steady at least through fifth grade. The study followed more than one million children in North Carolina through two state-wide early childhood programs: Smart Start, which provides state dollars to support services for children ages birth to four, and NC Pre-K (formerly More at Four), which specifically funds pre-K programs for 4-year-old who are considered “high risk.” (NC Pre-K defines “high risk” as children from families that are at or below 75% of the state median income, children with low English proficiency, or children who are disabled, chronically ill, or who have developmental needs.)

Furthermore, researchers found that those lasting benefits accrued to children no matter what their race or family income level.

Having a high-quality program is key, said Kenneth Dodge, director of the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy and the lead author of the study, in a November 17 NPR interview. “The long-term impact,” he says, “depends entirely on quality and how well elementary schools build on the foundations set in pre-K.”

This study on the impact of a large-scale, statewide approach is important, because it helps to better understand earlier studies, like the one conducted in Tennessee, that found a “fade out” of the benefits of early education by the time children reached third grade. In that study, the quality component was notably absent.

Duke’s findings can also serve as further evidence of the need to create preschool programs with quality at the forefront. As more states consider creating or expanding early education initiatives, they must remember that quality is key.

Working in partnership with organizations such as PRE4CLE, First Things First Arizona, and the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC emphasizes high-quality and taking the whole child (and all their developmental needs) into consideration, when designing, improving upon, and advocating for investments in early childhood. To learn more about our work, see the ACS PRE4CLE case study here and these articles from 2016:

• How We’re Bringing Quality Preschool to Scale: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/02/24/how-we-brought-quality-preschool-to-scale.html?qs=marcia+egbert
• A bogus and harmful reform:
• http://www.toledoblade.com/Editorials/2016/08/21/A-bogus-and-harmful-reform- A-rule-change-could-save-the-state-12-million-but-imperil-the-Early-Head-Start-and-Head-Start-programs.html
• PBS NewsHour Hosts Early-Childhood Panel in Cleveland: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/early_years/2016/07/education_week_hosts_early_childhood_panel_in_ cleveland.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=earlyyears

ACS has been honored to help the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County spread the word about their participation in the 100-Day Challenge to end youth homelessness.

In September 2016, A Place 4 Me launched a 100-Day Challenge to end youth homelessness and set an ambitious goal: to house 100 homeless youth (aged 18-25) in 100 days and strengthen systems to prevent homelessness for youth aging out of the foster care system. ACS is helping A Place 4 Me initiative plan and implement communication for the 100-Day Challenge, including developing materials, coordinating media outreach, and planning a symposium in early 2017.

Cleveland was one of only three cities selected by A Way Home America, and rose to the top in a competitive process because of the work already accomplished through A Place 4 Me, a collaborative initiative of more than 30 partners to prevent and end homelessness among young adults ages 15-24. A Place 4 Me’s 100-Day Challenge addresses the unique needs of youth who experienced foster care

With the help of ACS, the Cleveland/Cuyahoga 100-Day Challenge have received news coverage, including stories in IdeasStream and FreshWater Cleveland. Check out the press release here: http://socfcleveland.org/Story/clevelandcuyahoga-co-to-house-100-homeless-youth-in-100-days/

What does it take to prepare special-needs students to find success in the workforce? According to Erik Carter, special-education professor and researcher at Vanderbilt University, it’s early employment opportunities, involved families and supportive community employers.

“I’m most excited about programs that provide real-life, hands-on work experiences for students at some point throughout their high school that’s not simulated, that’s not ‘pre-vocational,’ that’s not [simply] preparatory but that puts them in a real place where they’re doing real work that matches their interests,” Carter said recently in The Atlantic Monthly article, “Escaping the Disability Trap.”

The article explores the pros and cons of workforce academies, such as the new River Terrace Special Education Center in Washington, DC. The challenge, the article points out, is that many academic and job training programs for people with disabilities tend to keep students separated, and often destined for jobs that are primarily held by people with disabilities. Instead, says Carter, whether through inclusion in mainstream programs or through sparate systems, students with disabilities should be prepared for jobs in more inclusive settings.

“If we can show that whatever experiences we’re doing actually lead students to attain the kinds of jobs they want and not the kind of jobs we think they ought to fit into then I get much less worried about what the path was,” Carter added. “The problem is that most of the things we do under the auspices of being vocational training [don’t] actually lead to integrated community jobs.”

There’s also the prospect of college, that is often overlooked for many special-needs students who could actually thrive there with the right supports.

Although researchers have shown that special-needs children in workforce prep programs tend to finish high school sooner than those who are not, the jury is still out on how those program impact longer-term economic outcomes.

Advocacy and Communication Solutions, LLC (ACS) is proud to partner with Towards Employment, which has helped more than 122,000 people prepare for a job, get a job, keep a job, and move up the career ladder through job readiness training, placement, retention and supportive services provided in a comprehensive and responsive manner. Learn more about ACS workforce clients here.

A recent story on NPR’s All Things Considered caught our attention for two reasons. First, it opened with a report from a coffee bar in Willamette High School in Eugene, Oregon.  (Seriously, a coffee bar inside a high school? How cool is that?) Second – and much more importantly – it made the point that whether college is in the cards for students or not, schools can and should do a better job at preparing high school graduates for the world of work.

At the Willamette coffee bar, students learn how to work a cash register, handle money, juggle multiple orders, adhere to food safety and quality standards, and provide quality customer service. These are all the “soft skills” that more and more employers expect, according to the report.

“Roughly seven out of 10 high school grads are headed to college every year — but that leaves hundreds of thousands who aren’t. And survey after survey shows that employers are demanding — even of college-bound students — some level of job skills and professionalism: punctuality, customer service, managing people and teamwork,” says reporter Claudio Sanchez.

The story highlights the school alliance with DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) a program that has exposed high schoolers to real-world work skills since the 1940s. It covers multiple industries, from manufacturing to etail sales to entrepreneurship to graphic design – all of which supply skills students can eventually apply to careers, whether they attend college or not.

Given the rising cost of higher education and the blossoming number of careers that rely on more technical skills, wouldn’t it make sense to prepare students for college and career instead of one of the other?

Advocacy and Communication Solutions, LLC (ACS) is proud to partner with Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW), which catalyzes nationwide transformative change in education, economic, and workforce development through research and action. Learn more about ACS workforce clients here.