Webcast: Budgeting the Next Generation

Thursday’s Child launches its 2010 year with a webcast on public investments in children and families:

New research by Urban Institute and Brookings Institution analysts reveals how children — collectively and at different ages — fare in the federal budget and how federal and state spending mesh. Drawing on these forthcoming reports, a panel of distinguished experts will begin a vital and timely exchange on how the nation can, amid severe fiscal and budgetary challenges, make the wisest public investments in its children.

The webcast is January 14 at 8:00am Central. Register here.

On an only mildly related note, did you know that “Thursday’s Child” is also the name of a David Bowie song. A lyric sampling:

Throw me tomorrow
Now that I’ve really got a chance
Throw me tomorrow
Everything’s falling into place
Throw me tomorrow
Seeing my past to let it go
Throw me tomorrow
Only for you I don’t regret
That I was Thursday’s child

Really not sure how that inspired the Urban Institute series. (Or was it the other way around?)

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Webinar: Children and the Foreclosure Crisis

Chapin Hall and the Urban Institute’s next edition of “Thursday’s Child” will cover the impact of the foreclosure crisis on children and families. Register here.

Children, Families, and Foreclosures: The Economic Crisis Hits Home

March 12, 2009
Listen to a live audio webcast
9 am ET / 8 am CT / 7 am MT / 6 am PT
Program length: 1.5 hours

The national housing crisis is exploding, with 2.2 million foreclosure actions started last year alone. Renters and homeowners have been forced to move, and the trauma is rippling across neighborhoods and anchor institutions of every size and description.

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Urban Institute Event on Assets for Economic Security

A NEW SAFETY NET FOR WORKING FAMILIES:

ASSETS FOR ECONOMIC SECURITY

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

9:00–10:30 a.m. ET / 8:00-9:30 a.m. CT

To sign up for the audio webcast visit http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=54377.

Panelists:

• Greg Acs, principal research associate, Income and Benefits Policy Center, Urban Institute
• Leonard Burman, senior fellow, Urban Institute, and director, Tax Policy Center (moderator)
• Caroline Ratcliffe, senior research associate, Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population, Urban Institute
• John Weicher, director, Center for Housing and Financial Markets, Hudson Institute, and former assistant secretary, federal housing commissioner, and chief economist, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Andrew Yarrow, vice president and Washington director, Public Agenda, and author, Forgive Us Our Debts: The Intergenerational Dangers of Fiscal Irresponsibility.

Asset building and saving are essential components of a strategy for promoting economic advancement and security. While public policy has focused on increasing income for low-income working families, far less has been done to encourage them to save. For example, just 3 percent of the more than $400 billion in annual federal tax breaks subsidizing assets (such as the mortgage interest deduction) benefit the lowest-income 60 percent of households. In today’s uncertain economy, putting something aside for the future is more important than ever.

Be part of the conversation as experts discuss and debate proposals aimed at improving low-income families’ opportunities to save and invest. These include tax subsidies that increase disposable income for working families and policies directly aimed at helping families reduce debt and increase savings.

To further new thinking on protecting vulnerable households and helping them thrive, the Urban Institute published “A New Safety Net for Low-Income Families” (available at http://www.urban.org/projects/newsafetynet). Two of its papers — “Making Work Pay Enough: A Decent Standard of Living for Working Families” and “Enabling Families to Weather Emergencies and Develop: The Role of Assets­” — will be the focus of this forum.

Note: Speaker bios and resource materials will be posted at http://www.urban.org/events/other/SafetyNet-Assets.cfm by January 12. Audio files of the event will be posted on the same page soon after January 13.

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Building Our Capacity

I’m listening to an Annie E. Casey webinar about “Resident Engagement in Neighborhood Transformation,” a part of the foundation’s Making Connections initiative.

One point I just heard is that organizations that seek to affect positive community change often see “capacity building” as something they need to help others do (in this case, residents). But in any project that wants to truly engage other partners, whether residents or agencies or what have you, the convening group must build their own capacities as well: a willingness to really listen to others, learn lessons from partners, admit own failures and build on others’ successes (and admit when you’re wrong and they’re right).

Writing that out makes it sound a little obvious, but I think it’s something too easily forgotten in our own work.

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Webinar: Working Women and Social Security

The National Women’s Law Center is hosting a webinar on September 10, noon Central time, called “Planning for the Future: What Working Women Need to Know about Social Security and Retirement Savings.” The webinar is aimed at service providers, advocates, and individuals. Registration is free – Register here.

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Webinar on Job Advancement for Low-Income Workers

The Urban Institute is running a series of papers and seminars called “A New Safety Net for Working Families.” They’ll be hosting an event on September 9 from 8-9:30am (central) that’s about connecting low-income workers with appropriate skills training for “today’s job market.” Sounds right up our alley as far as TI/Harvard’s objectives in a jobs program. Not sure if I’ll get a chance to listen, as we have another Harvard visitation that day, but if you get the chance click here to register and feel free to comment below to let me know what I missed!

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