This report sets out to describe the present landscape of laws in the United States aimed at restoring rights and opportunities after an arrest or conviction. This is an update and refresh of a previous national survey, Forgiving and Forgetting in American Justice: A 50-State Guide to Expungement and Restoration of Rights, last revised in 2018. This report makes clear that substantial progress that has been made in the past several years toward devising and implementing an effective and functional system for restoring rights and status after arrest or conviction. The greatest headway has been made in restoring rights of citizenship and broadening workplace opportunities controlled by the state. The area where there is least consensus, and that remains most challenging to reformers, is managing dissemination of criminal record information. Rights by states reviewed in this report include voting rights, firearms rights, criminal records relief, fair employment, and occupational licensing.

Although the number of youth in out-of-home placements has dropped dramatically over the past decade, racial and ethnic disparities in youth incarceration have increased. As a result, the lasting consequences of juvenile justice system involvement disproportionately affect youth of color. Some reform efforts, therefore, emphasize racial and ethnic equity and inclusion in addition to reducing general justice system involvement. In this brief, the authors describe findings from a developmental evaluation of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s expansion of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative to the deep end of the juvenile justice system. The findings build on those presented in Keeping Youth Out of the Deep End of the Justice System: A Developmental Evaluation Overview of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Deep-End Reform, which provides an overview of the evaluation. In this brief, the authors discuss why racial and ethnic equity and inclusion is a central component of deep-end reform, present an overview of the types of racial and ethnic equity and inclusion activities sites have pursued, and reflect on how sites’ racial and ethnic equity and inclusion work might inform similar efforts in other jurisdictions. Findings include that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to racial and ethnic equity and inclusion; stakeholders must apply strategies relevant for their context, and take the unique challenges and opportunities in each jurisdiction into account. In addition, the authors find that staffing strategies can affect the success of racial and ethnic equity and inclusion initiatives; strong leadership and staff buy-in are both key to advancing racial and ethnic equity and inclusion goals.

This product contains data from a Fast Response Survey System survey titled "2018-19 Teachers' Use of Technology for School and Homework Assignments." This survey provides nationally representative data on public school teachers about their understanding of the types of devices and technologies that students use for educational purposes, the impact that student access to technology outside of school has on homework assignments, and ways that schools and teachers address challenges that students with limited access to technology face in completing homework assignments. Data were collected in the 2018-19 school year, the year before the coronavirus pandemic outbreak in 2020. It focuses on information that can best be provided by teachers from their perspective and direct interaction with students. The survey provides nationally representative data of public school teachers who taught at least one regularly scheduled class in grades 3–12 and taught either self-contained classes or departmentalized classes in one or more of the core subjects of English/language arts, social studies/social science, math, or science. Data were provided by approximately 2,900 teachers from sampled from 1,600 schools. Computers were defined to include desktop and laptop computers, as well as tablets with a virtual or physical keyboard. Smartphones were not included in the definition of computers, but separate information was collected for smartphones. The results show 28% of teachers reported allowing students to take home a computer provided by the district or school. Only 8% of teachers stated that their school provided mobile hotspots for students to take home. Almost 23% of teachers reported being “very knowledgeable” about their students’ home access to the internet.

With the new school year now starting, questions of how to reopen safely are paramount. The nationwide spike in COVID-19 cases over the summer has forced many school districts to reverse their opening plans, either by delaying the start of the academic year or by switching to remote-only instruction for the initial part of the school year. Given the struggles to keep students engaged with learning when schools shut down in the spring, eventually opening for live instruction is seen as a necessary step to prevent further learning losses. The most vulnerable students—those in poverty or from communities of color—were the hardest to reach during shutdowns and will be further set back if they cannot safely access their classrooms in the new school year. To lower the risk of subsequent outbreaks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends schools implement several practices, from requiring educators to wear masks to ensuring social distancing, and frequently sanitizing bathrooms and high-touch surfaces in the classroom. Schools also need to assess the safety of their school facilities, including ventilation systems to ensure clean air in classrooms, though these considerations have received less attention in ongoing conversations about reopening schools. This report describes how the safety and adequacy of learning spaces are another aspect of school inequalities, which can have implications for students’ access to live instruction during the pandemic. The report offers three recommendations for policymakers and school leaders : 1) Use federal aid to maintain and upgrade school facilities; 2) Invest in green schools, that is schools built to reduce environmental impact and costs, improve health and wellness of occupants, and provide environmental and sustainability education; and 3) Adopt practices to make indoor air safer in schools.

In spring 2020, teachers across the country suddenly faced the need to conduct remote instruction due to the COVID-19 crisis. They quickly adopted new technology and new routines to teach content they’d previously only delivered face-to-face in their classrooms. Now, as educators prepare for the possibility of remote learning extending into the fall and beyond, schools and districts are working to support them from afar. Drive to Write is an intervention in which expert coaches help teachers use Google Suite tools to manage classroom assignments, provide actionable feedback to students, and use data to assess a student’s progress in order to differentiate or customize instruction. The program was designed by New Visions for Public Schools, a nonprofit school improvement organization that works with more than 750 public schools in New York City and offers support such as professional development and data infrastructure. The intervention targets ninth-grade Global History teachers who are not trained writing instructors. Some of the key lessons from this program implementation include: 1) Integrate a one-on-one support structure coupled with an intentional, specific technology goal; 2) Use the summer to provide common, explicit training to support consistent capacity in the fundamentals of technology and build upon the confidence during the next school year; 3) Build on teachers’ capacity during the year — creating opportunities for peer-to-peer coaching to teach concrete ways of integrating technology into teacher routines; and 4) Coach teachers in a way that is both nimble and faithful to core technology practices, to better accommodate teachers’ adaptations of online tools.

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 requires Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which issue mortgage-backed securities, to ensure diversity in their workforce and include diverse businesses in their business activities. In 2019, the number of women on the boards of directors at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—two government-sponsored enterprises (enterprises)—were five and three, respectively, slightly higher than in 2011. Female directors held leadership positions on the enterprises' boards for the first time in 2019, serving as vice chair at Fannie Mae and chair at Freddie Mac. The percentage of women in senior management positions remained relatively consistent for 2011 and 2018, while minority representation was higher in 2018 than in 2011. The enterprises have implemented leading practices to support workforce diversity, such as career and networking events to recruit diverse populations and employee mentorship programs.

Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, children typically spent only about 20% of their waking hours in the classroom. Even so, policymakers and educational leaders have invested most of their time and resources on top-down reforms to improve access to and quality of formal learning spaces (e.g., classroom instruction). If such efforts—though vital—were too narrow previously, COVID-19 makes it even more apparent that children need a wider range of enriching learning opportunities, including in the places they go every day. This is particularly true for children in under-resourced communities, who may have limited access to music lessons, summer camps, children’s museums, and other educational activities and environments outside of school. This paper is intended to help better explain the process of designing, implementing, and maintaining playful learning programs and installations that encourage the development of critical skills and child-caregiver connections for all children, but especially those living in underserved neighborhoods. It begins by describing Playful Learning Landscapes—an initiative that uniquely marries the science of learning with urban design and place-making to support adult-child interaction and neighborhood engagement in places where children and families regularly spend time. The paper then summarizes key takeaways from 14 interviews with national nonprofit organizations and city and community leaders who champion playful approaches to building more child-friendly cities. It also outlines steps cities can take to adopt and scale playful learning in their communities.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is on the verge of revising the qualified mortgage rule by proposing to move away from a debt-to-income-centric rule to one based on pricing. This change will meaningfully expand access to credit for first-time homebuyers and minorities, while keeping defaults low. At the same time, the proposed price caps for safe harbor and qualified mortgages will prove inadequate given the strong likelihood of price increases under the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s proposed government-sponsored enterprise capital rule. In light of this, and the low incremental default risk, this report urges the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to increase the safe harbor cap to 200 basis points and the Qualified Mortgage cap to 250 basis points. Doing so would substantially improve access to credit relative to the proposed caps. It would also align conventional and Federal Housing Administration safe harbor caps and leave the Qualified Mortgage rule with a buffer to absorb the impact of future price increases. At a minimum, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should pave the way for an automatic annual re-evaluation of rate spreads and adjust the caps to keep the market functioning smoothly at all times.

The Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) process for identifying on-campus suicides does not include a step for ensuring the accuracy of the number of suicides identified. As a result, its numbers are inaccurate. The VA's Veterans Health Administration (VHA) first started tracking on-campus veteran suicides in October 2017, and uses the results to inform VA leadership and Congress. The authors reviewed the data and found errors in the 55 on-campus veteran suicides VHA identified for Fiscal Years 2018 and 2019, including 10 over-counts (deaths that should not have been reported but were) and four undercounts (deaths that should have been reported but were not). The VA has taken some steps to address on-campus veteran suicides, such as issuing guidance and staff training. However, the authors found that the analyses informing these efforts are limited. Specifically, the VHA requires root cause analyses—processes to determine what can be done to prevent recurrences of incidents—for some but not all on-campus veteran suicides. According to VHA officials, only 25% of on-campus suicides from October 2017 to April 2019 met the criteria for a root cause analysis. In addition, the VHA does not make use of all relevant information the VA collects about these deaths, such as clinical and demographic data collected through other VA suicide prevention efforts. Officials with the VHA said they could not link the different sources of information, but the authors found that selected medical facilities could do so.

The COVID-19 crisis has led to spiking unemployment rates with disproportionate impacts on low-income families. School and child-care center closures have also meant lost free- and reduced-price school meals. Food prices have increased sharply leading to reduced purchasing power for families’ limited income. The Families First Coronavirus Act and the CARES Act included robust responses including expansions to unemployment insurance (expansions in eligibility and $600 per week supplement), a one-time payment of $1,200 per adult and $500 per dependent, an increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments, and the launch of the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) program to replace lost school meals. Despite these efforts, real time data show significant distress – notably food insecurity rates have increased almost three times over the pre-COVID rates and food pantry use has also spiked. In this paper, the authors explore why there is so much unmet need despite a robust policy response. This report provides evidence for three explanations: (1) timing - relief came with a substantial delay (due to overwhelmed unemployment insurance systems/need to implement new programs); (2) magnitude – payments outside unemployment insurance are modest; and (3) coverage gaps – access is lower for some groups and other groups are statutorily excluded.

Record levels of job loss, economic instability, and family isolation during the pandemic have raised the child support policy stakes for fathers, families, and communities. Through careful and rigorous research, the authors show that there is a better way to approach child support policy to build strong families and communities. Recommended innovations include (1) Ensuring Families Receive All Child Support Payments: Putting child support dollars in families’ hands results in more income for families and helps them cover essentials like children’s food, clothes, and school supplies. States can direct that money to families at home, rather than to the federal government. Family pass-through and distribution policies incentivize non-custodial fathers to pay through the formal child support program and can increase federal incentive payments by improving child support program performance. (2) Implementing Sensible Debt Reduction Strategies: Reducing state-owed debt can increase employment and child support payments, reduce time spent on futile collection efforts, and increase federal performance incentive payments. Almost all states have policies that allow non-custodial fathers to seek a reduction of state-owed debt, either on a case-by-case basis or as part of a debt reduction program. Debt reduction programs work hand-in-hand with prevention and early intervention strategies, including setting realistic support orders, intervening early in cases where fathers are falling behind on payments, and providing needed services through community partnerships. (3) Setting Realistic and Accurate Child Support Orders; (4) Providing Employment and Income Supports When Noncustodial Parents Have Barriers to Payment; (5) Providing Family Stabilization Services; and (6) Improving Equal Access to Justice for All Parents.