I just visited my "brother" in Ft Leanord Wood Missouri. He is a recent NCO. I ETS'd (end of term of service for non-veterans or civilians) in 1989 and I can't believe the difference in the amount and the ease of the information and resources aviable to him and other military men and their families. Good review.

1 URL :http://www.urban.org/center/ibp/index.cfm
2. Website overview: The Website for the Urban institute is very organized and has links to pages on its website in its heading titled Current Projects, Publications, Pressroom, Events, resources and About Us. When the cursor is placed over one of the above headings it highlights, and a list of sub headings appears. Under About Us, the sub headings that appear are, annual report, history and mission, officers and trustees, careers, policy centers, support UI , and contact us. The other four headings have a similar number of subheadings as About Us did. Clicking on the About Us sub heading pulled up a web page with highlighted sub categories What We do, Our History and Our Commitments.
On the left border of the web page there is a banner running the length of the page. There are three tabs listed vertically one can choose from Latest Research , Browse by Author and Browse by Topic. Browse by Topic is highlighted already on the home page. Browse by topic has many subtopics listed; Children and Youth, cities and Neighborhoods, Crime and Justice, Economy and taxes, Education, employment, Families and Parenting. Governing, Health an healthcare, Housing, Immigrants, Infrastructure, International Development, Nonprofits, Performance Measurement/Mgmt, Poverty and Safety net, Race,-Ethnicity -Gender, Retirement and Older Americans, and Washington DC. The other two tabs Latest Research and Browse by Author each have at least as many subtopic listings as Browse by Topic.
3. The audience is all Americans. Under About Us under the heading What We Do UI declares "Our Mission: the Urban Institute gathers data, conducts research, evaluates programs, offers technical assistance overseas, and educates Americans on social ad economic issues- to foster sound public policy and effective government." The mission declares it "educates Americans" but its mission was perhaps a little narrower in scope when founded. "President Lyndon Johnson saw the need for independent non partisan analysis of the problems facing America's cities and their residents. The president created a blue-ribbon commission of civic leaders who recommend chartering a center to do that work. In 1968 the Urban Institute became that center." The biggest clue that defines the original intended audience is the quote by president Johnson who said on April 26,1968 "The Urban Institute was founded to… bridge the gulf between the lonely scholar in search of truth and the decision maker in search of progress." So according to the President of the United states and the commissioner of the Institute, initially the target audience was the "scholar" and the "decision-maker in search of progress". Thankfully the internet and freedom of information act have made this information so accessible that Urban Institute E-mail Newsletters are available via the media of choice including RSS, Twitter, and Facebook.
4. I think the credibility of the site excellent, and the information provided to be above reproach. UI is over 40 years old, conceived six months before I was in 1968 by the President of the United States. There is a link to the top 42 accomplishments from 1968 to 2010. There is a link under What We Do to their Year in Review 2011 which includes Financial statement highlights and annual information newly updated for 2011. Under the Pressroom heading there is a phone number "to contact an expert for media interviews, call (202) 261-5709 or e-mail public affairs@urban.org". There is a UI office of Public Affairs with the address and phone number of the office as well as all the staff members phone numbers listed. Under the Testimony tab there is a list of 214 Testimonies given with the picture of the individual who was giving the testimony and the time/date. The most Recent three are from 2012. All of the most recent ten testimonies are dated later than June 2011. I will list just the most recent three as they are very representative. "1.Wayne Vroman. Unemployment Insurance Performance and Trust Fund Restoration (Testimony) State-financed unemployment insurance (UI) programs owe the U.S. Treasury and the private securities market more than $46 billion. In testimony before a U.S. House Ways and Means subcommittee, Wayne Vroman discusses the causes of this debt, UI benefit payments since the onset of the Great Recession, and how a financing crisis can be avoided in the next recession. 2. Kim Rueben What Federal Tax Reform Means for State and Local Tax and Fiscal Policies (Testimony) Kim Rueben's testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on federal tax reform and what it means for the tax and fiscal policies of states. 3. Choice Neighborhoods Initiative: Testimony by Susan Popkin (Testimony) Public housing expert Sue Popkin testifies before the U.S. Senate the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative." Plenty of text from hundreds of experts listed is available. The sponsoring organization is not involved in all the research. I would say the site doesn't have any bias or political agenda except informing and improving the lives or Americans.
5. What I have learned about Work, Family, and community by exploring the site is that there is more information available on more topics and sub topics than I would have ever imagined. I learned that many people are testifying to agencies about issues that affect every American. Finally I learned that while it seems on TV that congress is always absent and can't agree when they bother to show up, the truth is that these committees have an incredible amount of information to interoperate and use to make decisions with that affect the lives of real people. I also learned of the huge list of Non-Profits hat the UI center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy has helped during its 15 year existence. The site is enormous and It is positive just to see the scope of the site and of the organization itself educating and making a difference in people's lives.

Website Name: Safe Families for Children

URL: http://www.safe-families.org/
Website Overview: A website devoted to providing a "Safety Net" for families who are in crisis. Safe Families for Children has three core objectives. They are: 1. Child welfare Deflection, 2. Child Abuse Prevention, and 3, Family Support and Stabilization. SFFC uses a network of Safe Families and Safe Family churches to provide short term relief to families to provide a safe alternative to child-welfare custody. SFFC professes to have six "Hallmarks of a Safe Family Model":
*Biological parents maintain full custody
*Volunteer families are extensively screened and supported
*Six-week average length of stay (ranging from two days to a year)
*Average age of child in SFFC care is 4.5
*Close working relationships between Safe Families, the local church, and the referring organization
*Commitment to reunite the family as soon as possible
The major categories covered are Host families, Agencies, Join SFFC, Safe Church, Request a Family, Family Friends, Request a Family, SFFC Student Edition, Refer a Family, and SFFC Network.



4. I feel this site is very credible. It was well designed, well organized. All links were up to date and well maintained. The organization was selected as the Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation winner in 2010 which included a $100.000 first place prize (made possible in part by Coca-Cola) Many links were to third party objective newspapers like The Minneapolis Star Tribune and The Orange County Register. All articles linked were recent. I believe the information provided is accurate. One reason I believe it is because in order to sign in an individual must have an invitation. Another reason I believe it is credible and the information is accurate is the affiliation with social service providers. A map of the Unites States is provided and click on the any State links to a list of agencies SFFC is affiliated with. SFFC Began in Chicago in 2002 but is "rapidly becoming a national model." I checked out many of the agencies affiliated with SFFC in Illinois. They are all well known/ established and affiliated with organizations like the united way. Also I found it comforting that the organizations and the homes affiliated with the group were a mix of Catholic social services and Protestant or Baptist Social Services. The first agency listed and typical of the list is Baptist Children's Home and Family Services founded in 1918. and The fact that SFFC and its affiliated church organizations can put aside the centuries old Catholic/Protestant conflict and work together for the benefit of children speaks well of their organization and their cause. I did note however that no official state organizations were listed as agencies. I guess that is to be expected if the goal of SFFC is to intervene and offer shelter in the "four million of five million calls each year of suspected child abuse or neglect. Also the agencies involved do have are affiliated with Churches and therefore I must concede that beyond helping the children the organization advances Christian agenda. No child is forced to pray or denied because of their faith but if you were a child and you felt the church rescued your family how would you feel towards the church? Not that that is a bad thing. I personally am a Christian myself, yet for this review I will attempt to be impartial. The website purports to help families with many issues including "drug addiction, domestic abuse, incarceration, illness….financial crisis, unemployment, and homelessness. The short term assistance provides support for parents to get working and arrange childcare.
What I learned about Work, Family, and Community by exploring this site is that there are many more organizations that exist and are making a difference in lives every day than I ever imagined. I had no idea of the thousands of families who are opening up their homes to children to make a difference in their lives if only on a short term basis. I am surprised at the organization, security and networking involved. In Feel SFFC is a honorable and benificial organization that exemplify the best practices of networking within a community we have learned in this course.