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School district boundaries define more than just the area where a certain group of children attends a given set of schools. They also determine the taxing jurisdiction that supports those schools with local property taxes. Big differences in property value can lead to large funding gaps, even between neighboring districts. These disparities in property values are the legacy of discriminatory housing policies explicitly intended to segregate neighborhoods by race and class. The school district lines drawn onto this divided landscape then replicate segregation and inequity in schools. But our current district borders need not be permanent. They can be redrawn to produce better outcomes for students and their schools. In a new research report, New America's Education Funding Equity Initiative analyzes nearly 25,000 pairs of adjacent school districts to measure how district borders create deep economic and racial divisions, producing radically different educational resources and experiences for students in different districts--even districts that are right next door to each other. It also features stories about these disparities told by local educators and families. An accompanying multimedia story shows what these divides mean for American school districts and communities, and an interactive national map and data tool allows users to explore American school districts and the borders that surround them.

Trellis' Student Financial Wellness Survey (SFWS) seeks to document the financial well-being of post-secondary students and provide institutions with a detailed profile of the financial issues their students face, some of which could potentially impact their success in college. This report details aggregated findings for the 89 colleges and universities across the country that participated in the fall 2022 implementation of the survey. [For "Student Financial Wellness Survey: Fall 2021 Semester Results. National Aggregate Report," see ED625724.]

Systems navigators help local educational agencies (LEAs) meet the needs of students experiencing homelessness and decrease barriers to their education by connecting them--and often their families--to resources and community organizations that can provide wraparound services. This National Center for Homeless Education brief: (1) provides information on what systems navigators are and the role they play in supporting children and youth experiencing homelessness; (2) explores how LEAs leverage the systems navigator role as a helpful resource for meeting the needs of children and youth experiencing homelessness; and (3) provides examples from communities and LEAs that have expanded their services and coordination by hiring systems navigators.

America is ramping up efforts to improve outcomes for students experiencing homelessness. In addition to increased awareness of the problem, groundbreaking legislation and policies at all levels, public and private support organizations, local communities, and states are undertaking a variety of efforts to boost outcomes for some of the country's most vulnerable children and youth. Examples around the country can inspire other schools, districts, communities, and states to identify, engage, and support students experiencing homelessness in America's schools. To learn more about a variety of efforts that identify and support students experiencing homelessness in schools and districts throughout the country, Civic conducted interviews with educators in Virginia, New Hampshire, Texas, Montana, and Michigan. The goal of this project is to identify strategies schools and districts are using to successfully mitigate the challenges these students face attending and succeeding in school and disseminate those best practices. This work supplements multiple efforts of Building Changes, a Washington State-based nonprofit, aimed at identifying replicable practices for schools on how best to meet the needs of their students experiencing homelessness. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis, Building Changes has developed a menu of strategies schools can utilize to support these students. Case studies further illuminate some of these practices and provide examples other schools and districts can draw upon to improve outcomes for students experiencing homelessness. [This report was produced in partnership with the Education Leads Home Campaign.]

In January 2017, Trellis launched the Financial Security Study (FSS) to shed light on a broad set of questions related to students' basic needs and academic experiences. Working with 11 institutions in Texas and Florida from late January to October of 2017, researchers interviewed 72 students every 30 days or so to discuss their recent experiences with academics, finances, work, meeting basic needs, and anything else identified as significant in their lives. This brief contains key findings and take-aways from these discussions as they relate to the intersection of students' financial stability and food security over time.

This report is an in-depth case study of the No Excuses Poverty Initiative at Amarillo College (AC), a midsize community college in the Texas Panhandle. Nearly a decade ago, AC's leadership initiated a reflective and intentional series of steps to help alleviate the conditions of poverty affecting their students and promote the chances those students complete their degrees. The college has received widespread press and recognition for its work. This case study is the first intensive, evidence-based examination of that initiative, its key components, and its impact on student success. Students at Amarillo College are predominately Latinx and come from low-income homes. More than 70% are the first in their family to attend college. As part of both a community initiative aimed at economic growth and a campus initiative designed to boost retention and completion rates, college leadership engaged in intentional reflection, professional development, and data collection as it developed a focus on poverty alleviation. This work occurred against the backdrop of community revitalization efforts emphasizing education as a key component of future economic growth. In an effort to promote college attainment on the road to financial success, the No Excuses Poverty Initiative pinpoints poverty as the most dangerous threat to degree completion and focuses on mitigating its effects. The initiative began by educating college staff, from administrators on down, about poverty's myriad dimensions and how they can impact and disrupt students' lives. Drawing on those lessons, leaders at all levels took action, creating an oncampus social services office called the Advocacy and Resource Center (ARC), instituting an emergency fund to cover student economic crises, and establishing a network of organizations, businesses, and individuals committed to supporting students. Critically, the efforts of Amarillo College go well beyond the increasingly commonplace steps taken at community colleges around the country, such as the creation of a food pantry or stand-alone emergency grant, by supplementing those actions with case management, academic support, curriculum development, and college-wide hiring and evaluation practices. In other words, the No Excuses Poverty Initiative represents a comprehensive "culture of caring" that is woven into the fabric of the entire campus. While quantitative analyses have yet to turn up empirical evidence of resultant changes in student outcomes, this case study reveals several implementation lessons useful for other institutions. In particular, Amarillo College stands out for undertaking an intentional cultural shift to focus on students' basic needs, committing to ongoing staff education on the challenges facing impoverished students, and striving to fully incorporate lessons learned into institutional programs and policies.

This study assesses the human capital development and wage performance of low-income students from geographically isolated and substandard housing settlements known as colonias. The research follows Texas high school students from the classroom to employment over a span of two decades and, specifically, tracks the three border regions where most colonia communities are located. In addition, education and wage regressions are modeled to quantify the adverse effects of residential segregation. Findings indicate that colonia students are more likely to enroll in high school Tech Prep, count on community college credentials, and earn lower wages; the latter largely driven by work experience, educational attainment, type of employment, and gender. Recommended policy prescriptions include improving the high school-to-college-to-work pipeline for students with technical education, especially for women, as well as increasing their college transitions to 4-year programs. Poor infrastructure, unregulated code compliance and incremental self-building over many years has consequently led to some of the worst quality housing and hazardous health conditions. Little systematic scholarship has investigated the intersection between housing informality, residential segregation and human capital, a void this research fills by addressing two central questions: (1) What are the school-to-work and wage outcomes for high school students from colonias?; and (2) Does residential segregation adversely affect the education and work outcomes of colonia students?

Although the United States is touted as a country where anyone could be successful regardless of social class or national background, upward social mobility is hard to attain. Less than one in 10 children born into poverty will reach the top of the income distribution. For many individuals, postsecondary education has historically been a way out of poverty. To increase the number of college degree holders, officials at all levels of government and philanthropic foundations have created initiatives targeted to postsecondary institutions. Given that community colleges provide open access to college at an affordable cost, these institutions have received significant attention in promoting the completion agenda. Latinos, in particular, are a population that can contribute significantly to increasing attainment rates. By 2065, it is projected that nearly one in four U.S. residents will be Latino, up from nearly one in five in 2015. However, only 23 percent of Latinos over the age of 25 have earned an associate's degree or higher -- the lowest rate among any racial and ethnic group currently reported. As the second largest population group in the United States, increasing Latino student college completion is essential to increasing our attainment rates. Institutions looking to create or enhance initiatives that increase access and success should identify programs that work well in one community and adapt the model to account for their specific communities. To provide readers with successful models and strategies, the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) interviewed five initiatives at community colleges that have seen positive outcomes. These nationally recognized initiatives were chosen because of their demonstrated commitment to serve students and the community at large. Many of these institutions also serve a substantial number of Latino students, targeting a population that can substantially contribute to the national completion agenda. It is hoped their collective experiences can provide key strategies for success.

This Research-to-Impact brief is the sixth in a series by Chapin Hall's Voices of Youth Count on understanding and addressing youth homelessness. This brief draws exclusively on the in-depth interview (IDI) component from Voices of Youth Count. The 215 young people that were interviewed across five diverse U.S. counties shared stories of instability--their pathways through homelessness--that highlighted missed opportunities for prevention and intervention. Insights point to critical areas for improvement: (1) the need for multilevel supports for individuals and families; (2) the importance of peers for building connections to trustworthy spaces and resources; and (3) the identification of specific changes that need to be made to service systems. This brief centers upon the insights and perspectives of young people whose contributions to society are profoundly inhibited. Their lives are needlessly constrained by the many opportunities we miss for protecting and fostering their healthy development and well-being. Findings support the unquestionable urgency of meeting the needs of young people for permanent housing and safety. These findings also emphasize that this period of time is developmentally significant and, therefore, developmental awareness must directly inform any strategy for addressing homelessness. These youths' stories highlight the consequences of chronic interpersonal trauma and loss, and the critical importance of safe emergency shelters and transitional housing. Their stories also show the urgent need to help youth and their families heal the adversity and trauma that preceded and persisted throughout their unaccompanied homelessness. The brief elevates the voices of youth as a call to adults to rethink and redouble their efforts in ending youth homelessness. Several key findings include: (1) Young people link the beginning of their homelessness to earlier disruptions of family and home, including family homelessness and entrance into foster care; (2) Young people name multilevel factors--critical conditions--that shaped how pathways through homelessness unfolded; and (3) Youth pathways through homelessness are also characterized by significant personal losses; 35% of youth experienced the death of at least one parent or primary caregiver. In addition to outlining the findings, this brief then connects those findings to recommended revisions to the federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, which authorizes community-based temporary shelter and care, and specifically targets services for minors. Revising the Act is likely to offer the most direct means to impact the programs and services that are intended to support young people like those who were interviewed. Beyond the recommendations, additional opportunities for change will likely expand outward to include other statutes and multiple federal agencies and program areas.

Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on first 10, then seven sites. It invested in the initiative for more than 10 years and spent more than $500 million. This effort led to a range of innovations in the field and both started and strengthened many local initiatives. Making Connections' positive outcomes are still influencing Casey and the broader field. In many notable cases, the programs and partnerships created during the initiative continue to thrive. Assessments of Making Connections have already produced a variety of lessons on program development, implementation, evaluation and other topics, with valuable implications for practitioners, public policymakers, funders and others involved in community development. This report takes a step back and outlines key findings from the initiative that can provide guidance to those involved with community-change efforts in the future. These principles can serve as guideposts at an exciting time in the community-change field. Many smart and promising initiatives are underway, fueled by foundations, nonprofits and others in the private sector. The federal government is also making important investments at the neighborhood and community levels. And learning communities of local leaders and state and local officials are actively sharing information and hard-won insights. The principles and strategies in this report can help inform and sustain these efforts and those to come in a field with so much to contribute to the strengthening and success of families living in disinvested communities.

While educators have long argued that when local schools are successful, local communities benefit; there's now clear evidence that is the case. A new report, "The Economic Benefits from Halving the Dropout Rate: A Boom to Businesses in the Nation's Largest Metropolitan Areas," released in January by the Alliance for Excellent Education demonstrates growth in many economic areas from a lower dropout rate. "The report underscores the notion that the best economic stimulus package is a high school diploma," said Bob Wise, Alliance president and former West Virginia governor. The Alliance analyzed the local economies of the 50 largest cities and their surrounding areas using a model developed by Economic Modeling Specialists, an Idaho-based firm working in socioeconomics. Economic projections for each metropolitan area were made in such key areas as individual earnings, home and auto sales, job and economic growth, spending and investment, and tax revenue. The information in this study can produce greater community support for high schools if community leaders become aware of its findings, but it's up to high school principals and school system communicators to make sure there is widespread knowledge of the report in their community.

Public education is the foundation of our democracy and the engine of our economy. Texans have a collective responsibility to ensure that public education is adequately supported. This responsibility needs to be fairly distributed among Texas families in a way that supports economic growth. Recently, some have proposed that Texas replace local school property taxes by increasing the rate of the state sales tax or expanding the sales tax to more goods and services. Such a tax swap would be a bad deal for businesses, families, and public education. Reasons include: 1) The swap would make Texas businesses less competitive because the higher sales tax would raise the cost of Texas goods and services; 2) Taxes on most Texas families--including middle-class families--would actually go up. Only the wealthiest families would see a tax reduction; and 3) At the same time, public education would be hurt. Schools would have one source of revenue, sales, which is less stable than property. With the state paying all the bills, more decisions would be made in Austin, and the link between local taxpayers and public schools would be broken. In addition, local communities could no longer supplement the basic education provided by the state. Texans need to ask what problem we are trying to fix? Are property taxes too high? Even if Texas eliminated school property taxes, Texas would still have to raise the same amount of tax dollars. Are we worried that some residents aren't paying their fair share? In fact, everybody pays the property tax either as owners or as renters (with the tax reflected in the rent). Are we worried that property taxes discourage homeownership? Texas already has laws on the books to ensure that property taxes do not undermine homeownership. Are we worried that property taxes don't correspond to our ability to pay? Generally this is not true, but for those families for which it is true, most states address the problem through a tailored tax break called a circuitbreaker. Texas could provide a circuitbreaker too. As discussed in this paper, trading property taxes for sales taxes does not solve any real problems, but it does create some. (Contains 8 endnotes.)

This report assesses hardship among children of immigrants nationwide and in states with large immigrant populations (California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Washington). Data from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families show that hardship is greater for children of immigrants than for the children of U.S. natives. In 1998, nearly one-quarter of all children of immigrants lived in poverty compared with 16 percent of children of natives. Nationwide, 37 percent of all children of immigrants lived in families dealing with difficulties affording food, compared with 27 percent of children of natives. Texas, Florida, and Colorado had the most immigrants with food concerns, and all three provided relatively limited assistance for immigrants ineligible for food stamps. Children of immigrants were more than twice as likely as children of natives to live in families paying over 50 percent of their income for housing, and they were more than four times as likely to live in crowded housing. Texas and Florida had the highest uninsured rates for children of immigrants and the least generous health insurance program for immigrants. Nationally, 22 percent of children of immigrants were uninsured, more than twice the rate for children of natives. Children of immigrants were also more than three times as likely to lack a usual source of health care and more than twice as likely to be in fair or poor health. (Contains 14 references.) (SM)

This paper uses a regression discontinuity design to examine the effects of geographically targeted business incentives on local labor markets. Unlike elsewhere in the United States, enterprise zone (EZ) designations in Texas are determined in part by a cutoff rule based on census block group poverty rates. Exploiting this discontinuity as a source of quasi-experimental variation in investment and hiring incentives across areas, I find that EZ designation has a positive effect on resident employment, increasing opportunities mainly in lower-paying industries. While business sitings spurred by the program are more geographically diffuse, EZ designation is associated with increases in home values. (Contains 8 tables, 37 footnotes, and 6 figures.)

The nation's recuperation from the Great Recession remains sluggish, with high unemployment and a weak housing market continuing to squelch hopes that a full economic recovery will soon be at hand. The intensity and nature of the recession's lingering effects vary considerably across the country, however. Some metro areas, like Austin and Washington, D.C., have fared relatively well during the downturn, buoyed by strong health and education sectors, and an outsized share of jobs in government. Metros like Tampa and Phoenix are hurting, but these pains are related largely to job losses from the housing and real estate bust. Countless innovations aimed at re-tooling Great Lakes' older industrial metros are already underway, aided by growing alliances among private, nonprofit, government, and philanthropic leaders. But they aren't enough. These communities, battered by years of economic decline, need a new set of strategies to help them surmount their problems, leverage their strengths, and take innovative ideas, policies, and programs to scale. This recommendations put forth in this report are rooted in this reality, and the economic context in which Great Lakes metros are uniquely embedded. First, this report discusses the trends and forces that built and shaped older industrial metro areas in the region, and provides a candid assessment of the strengths and weaknesses such forces have wrought. It then describes what the shift to the next economy will mean for the nation, and the tremendous opportunities that it will present for the region to regain and reassert its economic leadership. Finally, it provides a roadmap to guide public and private sectors leaders through a successful the transition to the next economy, one framed around three primary goals: (1) Investing in the assets that matter: innovation, human capital, and infrastructure; (2) Devising new public-private institutions that are market-oriented and performance-driven; and (3) Reimaging metros' form and governance structures to set the right conditions for economic growth. (Contains 3 tables and 90 endnotes.)

Organized under a 1943 Federal grant and later funded by legislative appropriations, the Good Neighbor Commission of Texas coordinates the work of Federal, State, and local government units endeavoring to improve the travel, living, and working conditions of Texas migrant farmworkers and their families. The 1974 annual report chronicles the facts, conditions, and circumstances which focus on the socioeconomic plight of migrant families. An overview of the Texas migrant laborer briefly describes the migrant, his characteristics and background, and the circumstances under which he works and lives. The report also discusses Texas agriculture and migrant labor, alien labor and immigration, and various selected agencies and programs. Current developments in education, housing, health, and employment are also presented. The present status of previous recommendations is given along with new recommendations for consideration by State or Federal authorities, some of which will require legislative action, while others will require administrative directives, and in some cases redirection of agency programs. (NQ)

The Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas consists of three counties: Cameron, Hidalgo, and Willacy. Poverty pervades in the Valley, especially in the colonias ("a poor, rural unincorporated community with 20 or more dwelling units, where home ownership is the rule"). Colonia residents are almost exclusively Mexican Americans. Contributing to the problems of colonia residents is the physical and legal isolation of the colonias. The colonias are physically isolated from urban areas where the residents might obtain health care, education, low-cost food, and other necessities. Since the colonias are not part of towns and cities, they cannot benefit from those governmental units' taxes, nor from the Federal and state programs administered by towns and cities. Colonias are also faced with water-related problems, i.e., access to clean drinking water and sanitary sewage disposal. A 1975-76 Policy Research Project examined the water-related problems of the colonias. This report gives a brief overview of the demographic and economic characteristics of the Valley, presents an overview of the Valley's water resources, examines the current water supply and sewage disposal systems of the colonias, considers the cost estimates for provision of water and sewage systems of the colonias, explores the institutional alternatives for water and sewage treatment, and examines the current situation of land-use management in Texas and in the Valley. Appended is a discussion of the colonias as rural housing. (NQ)

The first thing migrant farmworkers require when they arrive at a new place is shelter. Traditionally, on-the-job housing has been provided by the grower or by a growers association or by a company which owns the crops; and traditionally the quality of such housing has varied greatly. Although Texas is the biggest exporter and user state of migrant labor in the country, Texas had done absolutely nothing to ensure that the housing provided these workers was minimally decent, until 6 years ago. This paper presents a history of the efforts which have been made to improve the quality of migrant farm labor housing within the State of Texas. This history necessarily includes developments on the national level. Topics discussed are: (1) the nature of migrant housing; (2) the Federal response during the Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower administrations (1932-1960), the Kennedy and Johnson administrations (1961-1968), the first Nixon administration (1969-1972), and the second Nixon administration and the Ford administration (1973-1976); (3) the State of Texas response; and (4) legislation and programs affecting migrant labor housing in Texas today--the Department of Labor's Interstate Recruiting Service Code, the Occupational Safety and Health Act Code, the Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act, the FmHA Farm Labor Housing Program, the Texas Migrant Labor Camp Law, the Rural Housing Alliance, the Housing Assistance Council, and the Texas Housing Development Corporation. (NQ)

A 1983 survey of Texas homebuyers reveals a high degree of mismatch between the preferred and actual residence of homebuyers. Such mismatch is examined using social/psychological, life-cycle, racial, socioeconomic, and occupational factors as possible explanations. Questionnaires mailed to a stratified random sample of 960 homebuyers across 12 geographical areas of the state yielded 432 usable responses. Their analysis indicates that the logic of fulfilling residential preference is largely determined by the types of areas in which one prefers to live, neighborhood satisfaction, and the age of homebuyers. Preferred and actual residence mismatch is most common among homebuyers who prefer a suburban location, less so for people who prefer nonmetropolitan residences, and is lowest among people who prefer to live in central cities. The psychological argument that people tend to modify their preference in congruence with their neighborhood living experience is also supported; the proportion of fulfilled persons is highest among those who are highly satisfied with their current neighborhood. Finally, younger persons suffer a higher degree of residence mismatch than older persons. Such findings corroborate theoretical arguments advanced by students of population mobility. Some possible reasons are suggested to explain the failure to find evidence to support racial and socioeconomic arguments. (Author/NEC)

The Good Neighbor Commission of Texas, organized under a 1943 Federal grant and later constituted as a State agency, coordinates the work of the Federal, State, and local governments in improving travel and working conditions of migrant farm workers. The basic responsibilities presented in its 1973 annual report are: (1) surveying conditions and determining problem areas for migrants and (2) developing, in coordination with State agencies, specific programs to meet the needs of agricultural workers and their families. An overview of Texas migrant labor describes the emergence and final domination of the seasonal agricultural labor force by Spanish speaking people (primarily Mexican American). The report also discusses Texas agriculture and migrant labor, alien labor and immigration, and vocational programs for migrants. Current developments in education, housing, health, jobs, and economics are also presented. Brief recommendations which would result in direct and immediate benefit to migrants and their families are given, some of which will require legislative action, while others will require administrative directives to bring about refinement, and in some cases redirection, of agency programs. (NQ)