On Monday, September 13th, the Healthy Families and Communities Subcommittee, chaired by U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), held a field hearing in Long Island, New York to explore how schools and communities can help raise awareness of the risks of concussions and improve concussion management for students.

In May, the committee held a hearing that looked at the effect of concussions on student achievement. Witnesses testified that student athletes’ academic performance in school suffers when concussions are not properly managed. Each year, about 140,000 high school athletes suffer concussions.

On Thursday, July 1, 2010, the House Education and Labor Committee will examine the “Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act,” bipartisan legislation to improve the nutritional quality of meals in schools and child care settings introduced earlier this month. The bill would dramatically expand access for millions of children to healthy meals year-round in schools, child care, and community based settings and for the first time, establish nutrition standards for foods sold outside of the cafeteria.

Currently, over 32 million children rely on the federal child nutrition programs.

On Thursday, June 24, 2010, the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities, chaired by U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), held a hearing to examine rising safety concerns about students using the Internet, social networking and other technology, especially the increased occurrence of cyber bullying. The hearing will also explore the role schools, students, parents and communities can play to keep students safe.

A recent Pew survey shows in 2009, 73 percent of American teens with access to the Internet use social networking websites, up from 65 percent in 2008. The survey also shows that American teens and young adults say the Internet is a central and indispensable element in their lives.

On Wednesday, April 21st, the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing to explore how reforming the juvenile justice system can help increase public safety and protect children’s well-being.  This is the first full committee hearing of the 111th Congress looking at the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA).

Please note the time for this hearing has changed to 10:30 a.m.

In light of the rising number of girls in the nation’s juvenile justice system, on Thursday, March 11th the House Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities held a hearing to examine the unique challenges girls face in today’s juvenile justice system as the committee works toward reauthorizing the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act. Among other things, the subcommittee will examine confinement conditions, mental health, victimization, and public safety.

On Tuesday, March 2, the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on strengthening the federal nutrition and school meal programs through the upcoming the child nutrition reauthorization.  Improving federal child nutrition programs is one of the four pillars of First Lady Michelle Obama’s recently announced “Let’s Move” campaign to combat childhood obesity.

On Thursday, November 5,  U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), chairwoman of the House Subcommittees on Healthy Families and Communities, held a hearing to examine best practices to prevent child abuse and neglect, as well as how to strengthen and improve services for families in crisis.

On Thursday, October 8, the House Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities held a hearing to examine innovative strategies to ensure children have access to healthy, nutritious and safe school meals.

On Thursday, October 1, the House Education and Labor held a hearing to examine the impact on declining rate of youth employment and strategies to ensure that there are economic opportunities available for young Americans.

While the recession has disproportionately impacted young adults, the employment rate among 16 to 24 year-olds has steadily declined by nearly 20 percent over the past decade to its lowest level since World War II. The consequences of reduced work opportunities among young Americans results in fewer long-term employment prospects, less earnings and a decrease in productivity.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, July 8, the House Subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education and Healthy Families and Communities will hold a joint hearing to examine strategies for improving school safety, including ways to prevent violence, bullying and harassment. Recent studies show students are more likely to succeed academically and graduate when learning environments are free from harassment and violence.

On Thursday, May 14, the Healthy Families and Communities Subcommittee, chaired by U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), held a hearing to examine how improvements to child nutrition programs can help fight the nation’s childhood obesity crisis.

Child nutrition experts across the board agree that childhood obesity poses the greatest threats to the nation’s physical and financial health. Today, one-third of U.S. children and adolescents, about 25 million, are obese or overweight. Child nutrition programs provide children with access to low-cost, nutritious food to support healthy growth and development.

The House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing to examine how the economy is affecting jobs in the arts and music industries, and the role these industries play in communities across the country. This is the first in a series of hearings the Committee will hold this Spring.

Recent news reports have highlighted the tough economic realities arts and music organizations are facing – many are cutting budgets and programs that are the engine of the local economy and provide meaningful employment opportunities for workers. According to research conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts, unemployment in the arts rose at a higher rate than the overall workforce in 2008.

The House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities Subcommittee will hold a joint hearing with the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security to examine if at-risk youth are missing out on educational opportunities while in foster care, juvenile justice facilities, alternative education settings and other environments.

To build on the important conversations happening across the country on national service and volunteerism, the House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday, February 25, to examine the importance of national and community service in meeting critical economic needs across the country. This will be the first full committee education hearing held in the 111th Congress.

Boosting community service is a key priority for President Obama, whose official Inauguration activities included a “National Day of Service” where hundreds of thousands of Americans volunteered in their communities. Among other things, the hearing will focus on reinvigorating civic engagement across all levels of society, expanding opportunities for young people to participate in service, and how national and community service can help “green” America.

This hearing examined whether the Department of Labor is doing enough to enforce U.S. child labor laws and will explore the impact of child labor on families.

The Committee held a hearing to examine allegations of child abuse and deceptive marketing at residential programs for teens, including boot camps, wilderness camps, therapeutic boarding schools, and behavior modification facilities. The hearing also examined legislation to prevent child abuse in these programs by establishing standards for the programs.

The committee heard about the results of undercover work from the Government Accountability Office and from individuals who attended residential programs when they were teenagers.

The Committee held a hearing to examine how to improve nutrition and food safety in the nation’s schools. Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered the largest recall of meat in the nation’s history after investigations revealed that meat from non-ambulatory (or "downer") cows at a California slaughterhouse had been allowed to enter the food supply. More than a third of the tainted meat had gone to federal nutrition programs, including to schools.