JohnS

About John Sciamanna

John Sciamanna is CWLA's Vice President of Public Policy.

Senate Committee Acts on Labor-HHS Bill

On Tuesday June 7 and Thursday June 9, the Senate Appropriations moved a Labor-HHS-Education bill through Subcommittee and full Committee respectively.  Leadership from both sides proclaimed a bipartisan victory of what was passed with little controversy. The big winner, if there can be in tight budgets, is the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which received

Appropriations Will Be Front And Center, But CR More Likely

With Congress returning and approximately 27 to 24 potential days in session for the House and Senate before their summer break, appropriations bills are likely to be the prime focus. That leaves little space for addressing the Families first draft legislation unless there is some strong consensus between the two houses.  There are also some

TANF: Research, Poverty, Ways and Means On Poverty

Last week hundreds of researchers gathered in Washington for what is now a biennial event to discuss issues related to the TANF block grant.  The event, Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) provided two and a half days of discussion around assistance to TANF families, education and training, youth development, immigrant families and child

Murray Weighs-In On GAO, Calls on Ed to Respond

After the GAO report was released Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the ranking member on HELP Committee, sent a letter urging the Department of Education to address obstacles unaccompanied homeless students face in applying for and receiving financial aid. The Senator asked the Department to exclude burdensome parental information requirements and to clarify the definition of

GAO Report Highlights Ed Problems For Foster Homeless Youth

The resource kit released by the Education Department follows a report by the GAO earlier this month, Actions Needed to Improve Access to Federal Financial Assistance for Homeless and Foster Youth (GAO-16-343: May 19, 2016) that program rules can make it more difficult for unaccompanied homeless youth (those not in the physical custody of a

White House Hosts Hackathon

On Thursday, May 26, the White House capped off May as National Foster Care Month with a two-day “White House and Foster Care and Technology Hackathon.” The event sought to bring together child welfare leaders, organizations, families and foster alumni into a meeting with engineers and leaders from the technology sector. As part of the

GAO Report Highlights Ed Problems For Foster Homeless Youth

The resource kit released by the Education Department follows a report by the GAO earlier this month, Actions Needed to Improve Access to Federal Financial Assistance for Homeless and Foster Youth (GAO-16-343: May 19, 2016) that program rules can make it more difficult for unaccompanied homeless youth (those not in the physical custody of a

Foster Youth Go To Congress

From May 22 through May 27 more than 100 young people participated in “Shadow Day,” an event that matches youth in foster care with a member of the House of Representatives.  Young people in foster care participate in a number of events, forums and training.  The events this year included a viewing and discussion of

Successful Youth Transition Focus of Briefing

On Monday, May 23 as part of the ongoing efforts to talk about foster care for Foster Care Month, Youth Villages and the American Youth Policy Forum sponsored a briefing, Scaling Up active practices for youth transitioning out of foster care". UVLifeSet is a program started originally 1999 by Youth Villages. The goal of the

Panels Discuss Predictive Analytics In Child Protection and Child Welfare

On Thursday, May 17 the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) focused on, Preventing Harm to Children through Predictive Analytics.  A somewhat formal definition of predictive analytics would define it as a practice of taking data and the information gathered from that data to determine patterns and predict outcomes and trends.  It predicts or forecasts what might

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