The Daily Tell

The White House has announced the launch of a new program called Change the Equation, a private-public partnership designed to spur innovative thinking in science, technology, engineering and math.

The program, nicknamed CTEq, is an extension of the $250-million public-private Educate to Innovate initiative, a separate program launched earlier this year by President Barack Obama. The commitment to science, technology, engineering and math education comes after a series of studies showed that America was slipping in international rankings of progress in these key areas.

According to the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment comparison, American students came in 21st out of 30 in science literacy among students from developed countries, and 25th out of 30 in math literacy. In addition, on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress math tests, 4th graders showed no signs at all of progress and 8th graders demonstrated only modest evidence of progress.

"'I can't do math' has become an iconic excuse in our society," said Linda Rosen, CEO of CTEq. "Many Americans have expressed it, but I don't believe it's an accurate reflection of who we are or, more importantly, what we can do … If we don't encourage our children and students to get excited about math as well as science, technology, and engineering, we are denying them the chance to reach their potential and be prepared for a future filled with opportunity."

More than 100 companies and several foundations have made commitments to CTEq and have expressed their dedication to preparing U.S. students for science- and technology-related careers as an investment in business, the economy and the future of the nation. In collaboration with the Obama administration, state houses nationwide and the education and foundation communities, CTEq will aim to improve teaching methods for math and science at all grade levels, to create a larger and more racially-, ethnically- and gender-diverse pool of highly capable teachers and students, to deepen student appreciation and excitement for math-based programs and careers, especially among women and students of color, and to create a renewed and sustained commitment to science and mathematical innovation in the U.S. 

Former lawyer and lobbyist Jay Ruderman has launched a three-year public-private partnership to help people with special needs in Israel, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Ruderman Family Foundation, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Israeli government will each donate $2 million toward the formation of the Israel Unlimited partnership. The new partnership will align the three entities in creating programs that will integrate people with disabilities into Israeli society, including support and networking groups, centers for independent living, job training and placement services, as well as programs that show business owners how to make small changes to accommodate disabled employees and customers.

Ruderman himself has been living in Israel since 2005 and has personally seen how difficult it can be for the country’s disabled citizens to live independently and find work.

"I want people with disabilities to be more integrated into society and to find a level of independence that is comfortable for them," said Ruderman. "Our foundation is working to make this a more significant issue as it affects the lives of more and more people … We’re trying to lead a movement. The Jewish community is worried about Jewish continuity, but how will you have that if you leave out 20 percent of the population, who are people with disabilities?"

Before Ruderman’s contribution, the Joint Distribution Committee had already been conducting research on the nearly 700,000 people with special needs living in Israel. However, the committee lacked the funds needed to launch a formal program and secure the partnership of the Israeli government until Ruderman’s decision to get involved.

This isn’t Ruderman’s first effort to help those with special needs. After his nephew was diagnosed with autism, he launched a the Initiative for Day School Excellence – a program designed to make Boston’s Jewish day-school system more accessible to mentally and physically disabled children. The intiative has helped more than 500 special-needs children attend about a dozen of Boston’s Jewish day schools, where teachers and administrators are now trained to handle their unique abilities.

MOUNTAIN VIEW – Responding to the devastating fire that has left hundreds of San Bruno residents homeless, Silicon Valley Community Foundation has created an emergency fund to help the neighborhood recover.

The San Bruno Fire Fund will match gifts of up to $100,000 to provide assistance following the devastating Sept. 9 fire.

The community foundation’s initial $100,000 contribution to the fund and the money that is raised in the days to come will be used to help the neighborhood recover and to provide emergency assistance to those whose homes were destroyed or damaged. All contributions will be granted to nonprofit organizations and programs that serve the affected area and its residents.

“During times of tragedy like this, the true purpose of community is demonstrated as we all come together to help,” said Emmett D. Carson, CEO and president of the community foundation, which serves San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. “This happened in our community, in our backyard. When there are urgent needs like this in our region, the community foundation exists to meet those needs. We are the center that connects people who want to give and people in need.”

The community foundation has long-standing relationships with nonprofits working in the affected area and throughout San Mateo County and is therefore positioned to quickly raise money and provide grants to those organizations in the days to come.

In addition, Carson noted, the community foundation and its donors – both individuals and corporations – raised more than $700,000 for relief following the Haiti earthquake. More recently, the Kriens Family Fund, a donor advised fund at the community foundation, agreed to match contributions up to $50,000 to help rebuild Trace Elementary School in San Jose, which was damaged in a fire. That effort raised more than $140,000 to support teachers’ needs and the school itself for supplies.

Contributions to the San Bruno Fire Fund from other donors, corporations and the public at large will be matched dollar for dollar, which means that a minimum of $200,000 will be directed to help San Bruno and its residents in the days ahead.

To donate online to The San Bruno Fire Fund, go to www.siliconvalleycf.org and click on Donate Now. Checks can be mailed to Silicon Valley Community Foundation, 2440 West El Camino Real, Suite 300, Mountain View, CA, 94040, attn: San Bruno Fire Fund. Anyone see

The outreach to flood-ravaged Pakistan has included efforts from individuals and nations around the world, as well as donations numbering in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but some officials have criticized the Muslim community for not reaching out to the devastated country. As flood waters threatened the historic city of Thatta and rose in the town of Sujawal, destroying homes, hospitals and schools, Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu of the Organization of the Islamic Conference responded to the criticism.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Ihsanoglu said that the Muslim community has donated more than $1 billion to the relief effort. Pledges have been made by NGOs, Muslim states, some of the fifty-seven OIC institutions and by individuals during telethons in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Muslims "have shown that they are one of the largest contributors of assistance both in kind and cash," said Ihsanoglu.

The 250,000 residents of Sujawal and the 350,000 people who call Thatta home have mostly fled to higher ground, but the flood waters – which reach as high as 10 feet in some places – continue to destroy historic landmarks, as well as private residences and shops, mosques, clinics and other buildings. Unfortunately, just leaving the cities hasn’t been enough to save all residents.

"We don’t have water to drink, not to mention food, tents or any other facility," Mohammed Usman, a laborer who fled Sujawal several days ago, told the Associated Press. Usman needs water to help cope with a painful kidney stone.

While international support has been tremendous, not everybody is thrilled with the route that relief money is taking. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani criticized donations made to foreign NGOs rather than the Pakistani government, saying much of the money would disappear before it ever reached Pakistan.

"Eighty percent of the aid will not come to you directly," Gilani said, referring to Pakistani citizens, at a press conference in Multan. "It will come through their NGOs, and they will eat half of it."

According to the United Nations, about $228 million in emergency aid has been donated by the U.S. government and humanitarian aid organizations to the country and another $42 million has been pledged.

Following a series of devastating floods, the need for humanitarian aid in Pakistan is enormous – and finally, donors are stepping up to help.

According to the United Nations, nearly $228 million in emergency aid has been donated by governments and humanitarian aid organizations and another $42 million has been pledged. After Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry traveled to the country, the United States announced that it was increasing its emergency support to Pakistan from $75 million to $150 million. Additionally, the Asian Development Bank said it would loan Pakistan $2 billion to help the country rebuild.

Even so, the amount is only slightly more than half of what the UN originally requested in its Pakistan Initial Floods Emergency Response Plan.

"We thank donors for their generosity, and ask them to keep up this accelerated pace of donations," said John Holmes, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also encouraged people to get involved.

"I realize that many countries, including my own, are facing tough economic conditions and very tight budgets," Clinton said at the United Nations General Assembly. "And we’ve also endured an unrelenting stream of disasters this year – from the earthquake in Haiti to the wildfires in Russia. But we must answer the Pakistani request for help."

The UN estimates that the flooding has affected at least one-fifth of the country, claimed as many as 1,600 lives and left 4.6 million citizens homeless. In addition, more than 3.2 million hectares of crops in the provinces of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa and Punjab alone have been destroyed, while at least 200,000 head of livestock have been lost and many more are expected to die without veterinary support.

The number of people who need shelter, medical care and food is only expected to grow, but the UN remains hopeful that the aid will continue.

"The road ahead remains long," Holmes warned. "We should all also be ready for any increase in requirements … Watching this disaster unfold, the world increasingly understands its immense magnitude. I am glad that we now see a more positive response to the calls of the secretary-general and the humanitarian community for increased and faster funding."

A deal between the rival nations of Israel and Libya will let Libya work to rebuild more than 1,000 homes destroyed in Gaza during the recent conflict in the region.

Libya has historically been one of Israel’s most vocal critics, and the two nations are currently in a state of war. Even so, Israel has agreed to let Libya’s nonprofit Gadhafi Foundation provide $50 million toward rebuilding 1,250 Gaza Strip homes destroyed during Israel’s offensive in the region last year. The nation may even lift a ban on some dual-purpose construction materials entering the Gaza region to permit the construction project.

"If the Libyans have secured an increase in the amounts of construction materials being allowed to enter Gaza, backed up by large funds to procure those materials, then that is a significant and very welcome achievement, for which they deserve our sincere thanks," said Peter Ford of The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides aid to Palestinian refugees.

The UNRWA said the signing of the deal between the two nations was an important step forward for peace in the Middle East, though more would have be done to resolve the conflicts, starting with increased Israeli approval for UN projects in the Gaza region.

Even so, "this generous donation [from the Gadhafi Foundation] should enable UNRWA to make a real difference to the lives of hundreds of families," said Ford, who estimated that more than 12,000 families could be still be homeless in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman called the deal "very, very successful."

"We know that they are a reliable partner," Lieberman said of Libya, "and we will respect their demands regarding … some Palestinian issues."

The deal with the Gadhafi Foundation, which is run by the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, comes following the release of an Israeli photographer who had been being held in a Libyan jail, although officials deny that the two events are related.

State’s Outcomes-based Approach Employs Evidence-based Practices

New York City – A study conducted in Michigan by a national poverty research center shows the state’s approach to delivering care to children and youth in its public mental health system by focusing on outcomes is a model for health care in the United States.

“Michigan demonstrates that when we start to track outcomes we are more likely to focus on access and quality,” says Janice L. Cooper, PhD, interim director of the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP), a think tank based at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. “Knowledge about evidence-based and effective practices is high in Michigan. We think this is because they are using data on how children are doing to inform decision-making about what practices to implement and train on. A major focus of health care reform is on patient-centered outcomes research. Our study shows that Michigan was able to focus on how they can improve their system by getting information on how well children in services are doing. They instituted a quality improvement system that included many different stakeholders.”

Dr. Cooper and Patti Banghart, a research associate at NCCP, report in “Unclaimed Children Revisited: Focusing on Outcomes – A Case Study of the Michigan Level of Functioning Project” that the state’s approach to delivering care to children and youth with the highest need begins with sharing data about children and families with providers, system leaders and the children and families themselves. This accountability and monitoring mechanism is a large part of why, unlike many states, Michigan is able to report on how well the children and families they serve are doing, what types of services are working, and what trends exist for specific conditions. With this information they can better plan and address servicgaps, explains Cooper.

Cooper and Banghart examined Michigan’s Level of Functioning Project, a 14-year effort to monitor and improve outcomes for children and youth with severe emotional disturbances, through the use of the “Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale,” which they found has helped improve individual and systems-level decision-making statewide.

NCCP found that:
· Michigan is a national leader in implementing such a mechanism for state accountability in children’s mental health.
· The state’s assessment tools allow it to use interventions that work, and address factors that support or impede quality.
· Michigan’s tools can and should be used to help facilitate communication between mental health care providers and families.
· Using Michigan as an example, mental health care services providers will benefit from “buy-in” and training in such assessment systems.

“Michigan’s statewide effort to monitor child outcomes through the collection of functional assessment data, using learning opportunities to review data, get feedback and improve practice is a promising approach to how systems can enhance their accountability and quality,” says Banghart. “Clinical decision-making is made easier by focusing on how well children in services are doing. Tracking the data also helps to identify populations of children in need, and in turn can help to introduce evidence-based practices to serve children better.”

The full report can be found online at: www.nccp.org/publications/pub_940.html

The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) is the nation’s leading public policy center dedicated to promoting the economic security, health and well-being of America’s low-income families and children. Part of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, NCCP uses research to inform policy and practice with the goal of ensuring positive outcomes for the next generation.

This year, the national economy will face enormous challenges. Even as the economy is reportedly on the rise, America has a growing federal debt that economists suggest could reach 95 percent of the country’s GDP by 2020, reports the MacArthur Foundation.

Earlier this week, national leaders met in D.C. to discuss the country’s current fiscal situation. Now, foundations are working with the nonprofit AmericaSpeaks to ensure the public has a voice in policy debates.

AmericaSpeaks is an organization committed to engaging citizens in governance. Through partnerships with the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the charity will host a national town meeting – Our Budget, Our Economy.

Thousands of citizens across the country will have the chance to participate in this discussion. Leaders in 20 U.S. cities will be equipped with video, webcast and interactive technologies to connect attendees around the nation. Thousands more will have the chance to watch live coverage from their homes and participate in the discussion via online forums.

The three sponsoring foundations are contributing $4.2 million to this national conversation aimed at informing the public about the country’s fiscal realities. The foundation leaders agree that it is Americans’ collective responsibility to find compromises to ensure families in need get resources now and opportunities for future national success are created.

"Bringing together thousands of diverse Americans from across the country simultaneously to discuss the nation’s fiscal challenges holds the promise of spurring an even broader national dialogue to help build the urgency and political will necessary to tackle our deficit and debt," MacArthur President Robert Gallucci said.

The National Town Meeting will take place on June 26.

This year, the national economy will face enormous challenges. Even as the economy is reportedly on the rise, America has a growing federal debt that economists suggest could reach 95 percent of the country’s GDP by 2020, reports the MacArthur Foundation.

Earlier this week, national leaders met in D.C. to discuss the country’s current fiscal situation. Now, foundations are working with the nonprofit AmericaSpeaks to ensure the public has a voice in policy debates.

AmericaSpeaks is an organization committed to engaging citizens in governance. Through partnerships with the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the charity will host a national town meeting – Our Budget, Our Economy.

Thousands of citizens across the country will have the chance to participate in this discussion. Leaders in 20 U.S. cities will be equipped with video, webcast and interactive technologies to connect attendees around the nation. Thousands more will have the chance to watch live coverage from their homes and participate in the discussion via online forums.

The three sponsoring foundations are contributing $4.2 million to this national conversation aimed at informing the public about the country’s fiscal realities. The foundation leaders agree that it is Americans’ collective responsibility to find compromises to ensure families in need get resources now and opportunities for future national success are created.

"Bringing together thousands of diverse Americans from across the country simultaneously to discuss the nation’s fiscal challenges holds the promise of spurring an even broader national dialogue to help build the urgency and political will necessary to tackle our deficit and debt," MacArthur President Robert Gallucci said.

The National Town Meeting will take place on June 26.

At the height of economic recession, a sudden increase in food prices drove nearly 100 million people into poverty and raised the number of chronically hungry people in the world to nearly 1 billion, reports the Wall Street Journal. Thankfully, help is on the way for the food insecure of the world.

The U.S. Treasury recently committed $475 million to a Global Agriculture and Food Security Program. The program will be launched by the U.S. Treasury in partnership with global governments and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Canada has pledged $230 million, Spain will contribute $95 million, South Korea will give $50 million and the Gates Foundation will award $30 million to the cause.

These funds will be used to provide financing to impoverished countries with high levels of food insecurity. Further partnerships will be formed with countries that have sound agricultural plans and that use their own resources to effectively invest in crop production, reports the Wall Street Journal. These food secure countries will serve as models to develop low-income nations’ agricultural plans.

Opportunity International and the MasterCard Foundation will work with the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program to develop comprehensive, financial services to more than 90,000 smallholder farmers living in poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Opportunity International will also provide training and market linkages to these farmers so they can boost their overall income.

In a joint statement published in the Wall Street Journal, U.S. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner and Bill Gates said, "as we work to build a stronger, more stable and balanced global economy, we must renew our commitment to tackle global hunger and poverty. Because a world where more than one billion people suffer from hunger is not a strong or stable world."