Public hearings and public preferences: the case of the White House Conference on Families

To provide input into Arizona's participation in the White House Conference on Families, the Arizona Governor's Council on Children, Youth, and Families commissioned a random statewide survey to assess the relative priority given to 41 selected family-related needs and preferences for institutional responses to those needs. A similar survey was administered to participants at each of six regional public hearings held throughout the state prior to the 1980 White House Conference on Families. A comparison of the two surveys provides an opportunity to test the representativeness of public hearings participants with respect to the population from which they were drawn. Fundamental differences in the priorities of these two samples cast considerable doubt on the assumption that public hearings are an effective means of gauging public sentiment.     

White House Conferences on Aging

The influences of the past three White House conferences on public policy in the field of aging are reviewed. The author, a former U.S. Commissioner on Aging, concludes that all three conferences have had some impact on later public policy developments, particularly the 1961 and 1971 Conferences. Despite doubts expressed by some about the need for another Conference, the author recommends that a White House Conference on Aging be held but with a greater focus than before and vigorous follow-up action on Conference recommendations by all levels of government.     

Public Hearings and Public Preferences: The Case of the White House Conference on Families

To provide input into Arizona's participation in the White HouseConference on Families, the Arizona Governor's Council on Children,Youth, and Families commissioned a random statewide survey toassess the relative priority given to 41 selected family-relatedneeds and preferences for institutional responses to those needs.A similar survey was administered to participants at each ofsix regional public hearings held throughout the state priorto the 1980 White House Conference on Families. A comparisonof the two surveys provides an opportunity to test the representativenessof public hearings participants with respect to the populationfrom which they were drawn. Fundamental differences in the prioritiesof these two samples cast considerable doubt on the assumptionthat public hearings are an effective means of gauging publicsentiment.     

Schools,Bullying, and Inequality: Intersecting Factors and Complexities with the Stratification of Youth Victimization at School

Bullying within United States (US) schools is a growing concern among parents, school officials and policymakers. In early 2011, the first‐ever White House Conference on Bullying Prevention was held in hope of addressing bullying within US schools. Although the social, political, and media attention is increasing, it is important to consider the complexities and disparities associated with school bullying. In this article, four of the wide array of influences that increase the vulnerabilities of youth to be a victim of bullying at school are reviewed: (i) race and ethnicity, (ii) being and immigrant, (iii) gender, and; (iv) sexual orientation. Understanding and acknowledging the inequalities associated with school bullying, as well as the policies implemented in response, is instrumental for the US’ efforts towards providing safe, healthy, and democratic learning environments.     

Variation in White House Polling Operations: Carter to Clinton

Using an entirely new data source, this article presents evidencethat significant variation exists in how much different presidentialadministrations use private White House polls. Federal ElectionCommission (FEC) disclosure records reveal the amount of moneythat presidents since Jimmy Carter paid (through their respectiveparty organizations) to the designated White House pollsters.These financial figures, in turn, roughly correlate with theestimated number of polls commissioned for the White House,as determined through archival research and information providedby the pollsters themselves. Two patterns emerge: some presidentspoll heavily from the start of their administrations (RonaldReagan and Bill Clinton); others poll only lightly during thefirst 3 years in office (Jimmy Carter and George Bush). Thesefindings reinforce scholarly assessments of Reagan and Clintonas pursuing a "permanent campaign" approach to leadership, whereasCarter and Bush lacked much interest in public relations techniques.Our evidence suggests a need for a refinement of the institutionalizationconcept as found in the academic literature on White House polling.We agree that all modern presidents inherit sophisticated toolsfor understanding public opinion, but we demonstrate that theydo not use these tools with equal attention or regularity. Putdifferently, a polling capability has been institutionalizedwithin the White house, but substantial variation still existsin how much a given administration uses that capability.     

The Crisis in Retiree Health Benefits

Over 7 million retirees currently are covered by employer-sponsored health benefits plans in which the employer contributes all or a portion of the premium cost. Almost one-third of these retirees are under age 65 and therefore lack Medicare coverage. The annual cost to employers for this coverage is now $9 billion and is expected to be $22 billion in 20 years. However, inflation in health care costs, recent court decisions, the aging of America, and a major proposed accounting rule change by the Financial Accounting Standards Board have combined to produce a "crisis in retiree health benefits" in the business sector. As a result, employers are rapidly redesigning retiree benefit plans to shift future health care cost increases to their retirees. Until now, the aging network has been largely oblivious to this transformation in financing. Yet, this "crisis" begs for public/private sector dialogue and partnership, and the White House Conference on Aging could be a major forum for this dialogue.     

SAMHSA refers to streamlining in proposed budget cuts

Last week, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released its Congressional Justification (CJ), issued by agencies in conjunction with the White House budget request for the next fiscal year. For FY 2020, the White House budget did not request additional money for SAMHSA's Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) block grant, and included cuts to substance abuse prevention (see ADAW, March 18).     

Following the "Mail Hawks": Alternative Measures of Public Opinion on Vietnam in the Johnson White House

Scholars argue that public opinion grew in importance duringthe Vietnam conflict, yet most find President Johnson was notresponsive to public opinion during the War. We amplify thesetheories by demonstrating the practical value of public opinionmail sent to the White House on Vietnam, reshaping theoriesabout the constraining role of public opinion in foreign policy.We find that the White House mail, but not opinion polling,favoring escalation of the War had a significant and positiveimpact on President Johnson's policy rhetoric. From these andsimilar findings, we conclude that the Johnson Administrationfollowed core "hawkish" political allies (those individualsdesiring a rapid escalation and quick end to the war) ratherthan those approving of a withdrawal, suggesting mail-gaugedopinion from electoral partners (and core political allies morebroadly) has value in foreign policy making.     

The President's listening post: Nixon's failed experiment in government public relations

At the beginning of his first term, President Nixon engaged in an experiment to institutionalize and regularize a new channel for citizens to convey their views and ideas to the White House. He called it a President's Listening Post. The first one opened in Philadelphia to much hoopla and hopes in October 1969. Quickly, however, it became clear that the mechanism was not working as hoped. Trying to avoid political embarrassment, it was quietly shut down in early 1971. This article recounts the largely unknown experiment by the Nixon White House in presidential public relations.     

Marriage,Work, and Racial Inequalities in Poverty: Evidence From the United States

This article explores recent racial and ethnic inequalities in poverty, estimating the share of racial poverty differentials that can be explained by variation in family structure and workforce participation. The authors use logistic regression to estimate the association between poverty and race, family structure, and workforce participation. They then decompose between‐race differences in poverty risk to quantify how racial disparities in marriage and work explain observed inequalities in the log odds of poverty. They estimate that 47.7% to 48.9% of Black–White differences in poverty risk can be explained by between‐group variance in these two factors, while only 4.3% to 4.5% of the Hispanic–White differential in poverty risk can be explained by these variables. The findings underscore the continued but varied association between racial disparities in poverty and labor and marriage markets. Clear racial differences in the origin of poverty suggest that policy interventions will not have uniformly effective impacts on poverty reduction.     

White House budget request decimates substance use prevention

The White House budget request for fiscal year 2021 for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) proposes to zero out a major prevention program — the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant — Partnerships for Success program. This is a cut of $109 million. It recommends using the prevention set‐aside (20%) from the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) block grant instead. But it doesn't give any more money to the block grant.     

Visually Assessing the First Lady in a Digital Age: A Study of Michelle Obama as Portrayed by Journalists and the White House

In a digital age in which the First Lady’s image is captured and disseminated by many different outlets, this article proposes the development of a coding instrument using Goffman’s (1979) gender displays as a new method for exploring the visual frames of the First Lady. Given the manner in which photographs are disseminated via the Internet by both official and journalistic sources, this new coding instrument takes into consideration the different vantage points that these image capturers have. Until recently, visual gender display frames of the First Lady from differing outlets have not been easily studied separately, given the fact that images disseminated by the White House had to go through the journalistic gate prior to dispersion. Ultimately, the study of photos of the First Lady as she appears in the “media” was mixed and confounded journalistic and official framing. The Internet has changed all of this and opens opportunities to study these framing sources separately. As a test of a new coding instrument to study these different framing sources, this article assesses Michelle Obama in her gender portrayal from two different framing sources: journalists and the White House. This visual content analysis demonstrates and supports the use of a new context-independent coding instrument, borrowing from Goffman’s gender displays as a method for visually studying the First Lady.     

Veteran Status,Race‐Ethnicity,and Marriage Among Fragile Families

We used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,679 ) to examine the impact of men's past military service on the likelihood that a couple will marry within 5 years of a nonmarital birth. Logistic regression analyses showed that men's past military service increased marriage odds by 54% for couples with Black fathers even after controlling for potential mediators. But veteran status had no effect on couples with White or Hispanic fathers. As a result, the large Black‐White gap in postbirth marriage evident among couples with civilian fathers did not exist among couples with veteran fathers. Our findings bolster other evidence that military service exerts lasting and unique pro‐marriage effects on Blacks.     

Trump,proto-presidency,and the rise of sane supremacy

This articles opines that America’s far-Left is sowing the seeds of ‘sane supremacy’: first, by unapologetically tarring President Trump as ‘insane’ for political purposes; and, second, legislating for psychiatry to colonize the White House so as to remove Trump on account of his suspected ‘insanity’. This article deploys an anti-sanist lens and uses the notion of ‘prototypicality’ to show how the regressive far-Left portrays Trump as not meeting the ‘normative’, ‘proto-presidential’ standard. Instead of depicting Trump as mentally unfit, we need to focus on his politics and their effects.     

Marriage,Marital History,and Black – White Wealth Differentials Among Older Women

This study investigated the impact of union history and marital transitions on wealth inequality between older Black and White women (N = 7,026). Cohort data from the Health and Retirement Study show large and increasing Black – White differences in wealth. Marital and relationship histories are associated with the wealth accumulation process among older women. Women who married and stay married accumulated levels of wealth that exceeded those of other women with disrupted family lives. The marriage – wealth nexus is sensitive to a woman's position in the wealth distribution. Quantile regression results revealed that racial differences in total wealth holdings between Black and White women exist throughout the wealth distribution, whereas the relationship between current union history and wealth differentials is significant at the lower tail and middle of the distribution. Decomposition analyses highlighted the nontrivial role of racial disparities in marital histories in accounting for the racial wealth gap. As members of the baby boom generation enter their retirement years, it will be more important than ever to monitor the wealth accumulation process among older single and racial/ethnic minority women.     

PROBLEMS OF THE POST-WAR PUBLIC: SOLDIERS AND CITIZENS

THE recent British White Paper on post-war education in Englandleaves little doubt that Britain looks to a new era of education.The work has already begun. The British soldier of today willbe the key citizen of tomorrow. Cognizant of this fact, theBritish War Office has established a far-reaching program ofeducation for citizenship among England's troops. It is being carried out by the Army Educational Corps. Thisarticle is the story of their work. Mr. Bickersteth, educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and theUniversity of Paris, is Director of Army Education in the BritishWar Office. He is on leave as Warden of Hart House, Universityof Toronto.     

Social Work,Marriage, and Ethnicity: Policy and Practice

This article provides a discussion about marriage with regard to social work policy and practice with cultural groups that experience life differently from predominantly White America. Marriage is influenced by culture, tradition, and economic reality supporting or hindering the success of marriages. Often, parenting is influenced by marriage, as roles are shared and meted through the resources provided by marriage. As an introduction, this article explains the unique contribution of each article in the special issue, showing the need for social work to respond more critically, urgently, and in threefold systemic fashion to create change in the lives of historically vulnerable populations in U.S. society.     

Table of Contents

Local Communities Bristle Over High Concentrations of Centers Block Grant up for $35 Million Increase, Depending on Senate and White House Schools Need Help with Prevention Education, Says Report Recommendations by Join Together Researchers Federal Auditors to Scrutinize ATR in 2008 Briefly Noted Names in the News Coming up     

HEALS Act gives SAPT block grant another $1.5 billion

The next COVID‐19 stimulus package has been partially released by the Senate, led by Republicans and prepared in conjunction with the White House. Called the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection, and Schools (HEALS) Act, it specifically targets health care, jobs and supports for children.     

"I,Black woman,resist]" Katrina Payne talks to Alzira Rufino. Interview

In this interview, Alzira Rufino describes her involvement in the feminist movement and what caused her to found the Black Women's House of Culture in Brazil in 1990. Rufino located the center in Santos because it is a port city which sees a great deal of violence and is very sexist and racist. The center, which exists to assist all women, grew out of a Rufino's realization that Black women needed a group to support their rights. The name for the center came from the fact that women have been the keepers of African culture in Brazil. In Brazil, White men dominate the culture, even the cultural expressions produced by Black people such as the Carnival. The center has had to overcome the criticism directed at it because it was created for women and for Black women in particular, and Black feminists are beginning to understand that Black women make up 25% of the population of Brazil and must celebrate their heritage. Increasing the self-esteem of Black women can be instrumental in helping women undergo training for better jobs and to take the initiative to become entrepreneurs. Black women in Brazil are beginning to occupy positions formerly denied them and to denounce the racism and sexism directed toward them.