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Hope Brown can make $60 donating plasma from her blood cells twice in one week, and a little more if she sells some of her clothes at a consignment store. It’s usually just enough to cover an electric bill or a car payment. This financial juggling is now a part of her everyday life—something she never expected almost two decades ago when she earned a master’s degree in secondary education and became a high school history teacher. Brown often works from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. at her school in...

About one in 11 households receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits would lose eligibility under certain provisions of the House Farm Bill—H.R. 2, the Agriculture Improvement Act—according to a microsimulation conducted by Mathematica Policy Research. Using SNAP data from fiscal year 2015, the analysis, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found that nearly 2 million participating households would no longer be eligible. Among these households, 34% (677,000...

While the exact number is not known because many instances of exploitation go unreported, the National Human Trafficking Hotline and BeFree Textline report that roughly 25% of the calls they receive are from minors. Because there is always hope and people that are there to help you along the journey — and no one knows this better than the survivor-leaders who've gone on to help other survivors find their strength again. One such leader is Dr. Karen Countryman-Boswurm, founder and executive...

Here are two parenting tips bumper stickers that address child abuse. They are free and we will pay the shipping. Parenting tips on vehicles will be read 1000s of times by 1000s of people of all ages for years to come. There are fifty-one to choose from if these don't appeal to you. Visit advancingparenting.org. Cheers!

U.S. Senate is now debating and is expected to vote as early as this evening on the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, the culmination of a rare, multi-committee bipartisan effort. Also with bipartisan collaboration, significant provisions taken from or aligned with the goals of the Heitkamp-Durbin Trauma-Informed Care for Children and Families Act (S. 774) were incorporated into the bill, including the creation of an interagency task force to identify trauma-informed best practices and...

In the past decade, the number of children behind bars decreased so dramatically that in San Diego County – and across the state – juvenile halls and camps stand at unprecedented levels of emptiness. But the tough-on-crime politicians who built many of those prisons predicted a much different outcome. In the ‘90s, many politicians from both the left and right – former Gov. Pete Wilson was one of the most relentless ; Hillary Clinton the most notable – evoked coming waves of teenage “super...

In an age plagued with addiction, economic disparity and mental illness, where technology is advancing faster every day, professionals say aging educational systems aren’t meeting the needs of Vermont’s growing minds. “We have to re-think everything we do when it comes to educating these kids,” said Mill River Union High School Principal Todd Finn. “We have so much more flexibility with school leadership, and the world is so different for these kids.” Which is why Vermont schools are...

Plenty of exercise. Healthy food. Positive attitude. Plain old good luck. There’s lots of advice out there about how to keep body and brain in optimal shape as the years roll by. But Louis Cozolino, professor of psychology at Pepperdine University, is deeply engaged with another idea. In Timeless: Nature’s Formula for Health and Longevity , he emphasizes the positive impact of human relationships. “Of all the experiences we need to survive and thrive, it is the experience of relating to...

Tennessee First Lady Crissy Haslam this week released a report highlighting eight years of progress by the state to improve the lives of children and families. Prioritizing Tennessee’s Children: Our Promise to Future Generations reflects an early commitment by Governor Bill Haslam’s administration to make the health and success of all Tennessee children a state priority. In conjunction with Governor Haslam’s Children’s Cabinet and Deputy Governor Jim Henry, First Lady Haslam set out to...

Frustrated by the obstacles to urban cycling in North America, Melissa and Chris Bruntlett traveled with their two kids from Vancouver to the Netherlands in 2016 to take a deep five-week dive into places that do cycling better. Traversing cities in the Netherlands by bike, they found that cycling is not just a better way to get around; when done right, it leads to healthier, safer, more vibrant, more family-friendly communities. They wrote it all up in their new book, Building the Cycling...

“When a woman is emotional, she’s ‘hysterical’ and she’s penalized for it. When a man does the same, he’s ‘outspoken’ and there are no repercussions.” That was the message the tennis great Billie Jean King tweeted on Saturday, responding — as seemingly the rest of the internet has — to Serena Williams’s fraught U.S. Open loss. In case you’ve been blissfully unplugged: During the match, an umpire penalized Ms. Williams — first because he thought she was coached from the stands, then for what...

Last spring, Paul Strode gave an unusual survey to his advanced biology students at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado. The first five questions were: Define as best you can: What is a racial group? Define as best you can: What is an ethnic group? Define as best you can: What is meant by the term genetic ancestry? True or False: There is too much overlap between racial groups to use a single biological trait (like skin color) to distinguish one racial group from another. True or...