David Gray

In his first public event since the release of his book, Against Us: The New Face of America's Enemies in the Muslim World, ABC News' Senior Foreign Correspondent Jim Scuitto looks at how -- seven years after 9/11 -- anti-American extremism has become mainstream thinking in the Muslim world. In his book, Sciutto profiles people in eight different Muslim countries - to find that resentment extends far beyond the stereotype of wild-eyed religious fanatics, even to people… more

After peaking in 2002, child well-being in the United States has been stagnant for five years. Meanwhile, recent data from the Child Well-Being Index shows some disturbing upward trends in child obesity and youth violence, as well as a persistent academic achievement gap. To date, public policy has not sufficiently mobilized to combat these issues before they start to affect the nation’s children. The New America Foundation brought together key policy makers and experts involved in improving child well-being to… more

Faith in the Democratic Platform

It is interesting at the start of the Democratic Convention to note that the draft platform the delegates are beginning to discuss says more about what a faith initiative will not be than what it will be in an Obama administration.

I bet the GOP platform will be more positive. Not that the Democratic platform is negative. It is just less positive than one would imagine. This contrasts with Obama's rhetoric in July about his plans for a Council of Faith-Based and… more

Washington, DC--The quality of life of American children has been stalled since 2002, according to the Foundation for Child Development (FCD) 2008 Child Well-Being Index (CWI), an annual comprehensive measure of how children are faring in the United States, released today at a New America Foundation event.  The CWI calculates the overall status of American children for every year since 1975, and finds less than a three percent improvement for kids over the past generation.  Link to the full report here:  www.fcd-us.org/usr_doc/2008AnnualRelease.pdf. more

On Tuesday, July 22, 2008, the Workforce and Family Program hosted the release of the 2008 Foundation for Child Development (FCD) Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI). The event featured highlights from the 2008 CWI, including a special focus comparing the well-being of “echo boomer” teens in this decade with the well-being of their “later boomer” parents when they were teenagers. The event also featured presentations by:

Dr. Larke Huang, Senior Advisor on Children, Substance Abuse and… more

David Gray discussed the latest Child Well-Being Index report and the well being of teens, on WTOP radio with anchors Dimitri Sotis and Bob Kur. Link to Audio

...Another report by the Urban Institute and the New America Foundation discussed on Friday looked at changes in spending between 2006 and 2007, and found that while the overall children’s budget increased .7 percent, the non-child portions of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid grew 5.3 percent... During times of rapid growth in discretionary spending, such as what occurred between 2001 and 2006, one would expect an opportunity for more funding to go toward children and children’s programs, said David… more

Please join us this Friday for an important briefing about the current spending trends on children in the federal budget. At the briefing, key findings from two new reports will be discussed. Kids’ Share 2008, the second annual report published by the Urban Institute and the New America Foundation, reveals that over the past several decades, the share of federal spending on children’s programs has steadily declined. The severity of this sad trend is further illustrated in Children’s… more

Current research reveals something that our personal experiences confirm - that there is a conflict between the structure of the workplace and the needs and priorities of American families. An MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below, while video is available at right. The ability to practice one's faith often runs into the way that work is organized. The desire of religious people to volunteer, be with family, and observe holy days is driving a conversation about how… more

Washington, D.C. -- Today the New America Foundation announced the winner of its inaugural "Improving the Lives of Children" essay contest during a ceremony at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School. Banneker senior Yolanda Long, 18, received a $1,000 award for college. David Gray, director of the Workforce and Family Program at New America, and Victor Reinoso, DC's deputy mayor for education, presented the award. According to Mr. Gray, "The goal of the 'Improving the Lives of Children' essay… more