Government Information Descriptions
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Bureau of the Census
-
TYPE: Gopher and WWW page
- ADDRESS: gopher gopher.census.gov
- URL:gopher://gopher.census.gov/ (for Gopher
site)
http://www.census.gov/ (for WWW site)
- CONTACT: gatekeeper@census.gov
- COMMENTS:
The Gopher site
includes numerous PostScript files on the demographics of particular
ethnic groups and text files of data from the County and City Data
Book (state and local rankings and data; includes
poverty rankings by city), among other things. Many might
find it inconvenient to have to download PostScript files
before they can be used, and this gopher is not as organized
as it could be. For this reason, we suggest these additional
sites for Census data. The Census Bureau gopher does include
links to these sites.
The
University of
Michigan Library Gopher
(US summaries from 1990 census; detailed analyses of
Michigan state, county, and township data)
The
University of Missouri Gopher
(Basic Tables from 1990 census, Basic Demographic Trends
in ASCII and Lotus format, population estimates for
counties)
The Census Bureau's WWW site
is
quite new and undergoes revision regularly, but for the most
part the data available here is the same as on its Gopher.
The "Other Excellent Sites" section links to other Census
information providers on the net.
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Bureau of Justice
Statistics
-
TYPE: Web page
- URL: http://ncjrs.aspensys.com:81/aboutbjs.html
- CONTACT: gopher@usdoj.gov
- COMMENTS:
This page, which refers to the US Department of Justice's
Bureau of Justice Statistics, provides press releases and
statistics on the perpetrators and victims of crime in the US.
Select "Criminal Justice Information" for reports and statistics.
Although it may seem as if most of the statistics are out of
date as they only cover crime activity up to 1993, most of the
statistics here were not available to be published until
recently. Topics range from figures on violence against women to
the race of prisoners to child rape victims.
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Corporation
for National and Community Service
-
TYPE: Gopher
- ADDRESS: gopher cyfer.esusda.gov
/
Americans Communicating
Electronically
/ Corporation for National and
Community Service
- URL:
gopher://cyfer.esusda.gov:70/11/ace/cncs
- CONTACT: letters@ace.esusda.gov, for
comments on Americans Communicating Electronically gopher
- COMMENTS:
This is the place for data on AmeriCorps, President Clinton's
new national service initiative. Listed are the first wave of
AmeriCorps national service programs, final regulations, service
programs, a mission statement, a resource guide, and press
releases. A final section gives the recipients of national
service grants to institutes of higher education. The
information here is organized fairly coherently, although we were
unable to tell how often it is updated. The Americans
Communicating Electronically (one gopher-level up) gopher is
also an excellent resource for government information.
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Current Social Service Legislation
- TYPE: Gopher
- ADDRESS: gopher gopher.legislate.com
/
Legislation
/ 104th Congress Legislation
/
Arranged by Category
- URL:
gopher://gopher.legislate.com:70/11/Legislation
- CONTACT: legislate@legislate.com
- COMMENTS:
The LegiSlate gopher has available information about all
bills from the 104th Congress, arranged by subject
category. (Bills are also organized alphabetically, by
sponsor, by chamber, and are searchable by keyword.)
Of special interest to public service non-profits are
"family, welfare, and human services," "health and medicine,"
and "housing and urban development." Included are the full
text of the each bill (typically the last option), a brief
description, a short legislative history, and
more. The subject categories here are fairly simple, and
searching by keyword will likely locate any relevant bill.
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Demographic
Information: The FSU Demography Gopher
- TYPE: Gopher
- ADDRESS: gopher gopher.fsu.edu
/
Information from Units
/
FSU Population Center
- URL:
gopher://gopher.fsu.edu/11/FSU/Popctr
- CONTACT: Carl Schmertmann
Center for the Study of Population
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4063 USA
Phone: (904) 644-1762
Fax: (904) 644-8818
(schmertmann@fsu.edu)
- COMMENTS:
The FSU Demography Gopher is maintained by the Center for the
Study of Population at Florida State University, with the
assistance
of FSU Academic Computing and Network Services. Included in the
gopher are working paper titles, abstracts and ordering
information
for the Florida State and other population centers. This gopher
also
contains links to various other sites which contain downloadable
population data, news bulletins or software.
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Department of Commerce
- TYPE: Gopher and WWW site
- ADDRESS: gopher sunny.stat-usa.gov
(Economic Conversion
Info Exchange)
gopher cher.eda.doc.gov (Economics and Statistics
Admin)
- URL: http://www.doc.gov/
(Entire Department)
- CONTACT: stat-usa@doc.gov
- COMMENTS:
Because the various agencies of the Department of Commerce
are located in many different places on the Internet, it's useful
to have one location (the WWW site) that ties them all together.
It links to all DOC agencies and programs with information on the
net, including the two Gophers mentioned above. Also included is
the current US Budget. However, the layout of the WWW page isn't the
easiest to follow, as it isn't clear how the various agencies
fit together.
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Department of Health and Human
Services
- TYPE: Gopher and WWW site
- ADDRESS: gopher gopher.os.dhhs.gov
- URL:
gopher://gopher.os.dhhs.gov:71/
http://www.os.dhhs.gov/
- CONTACT: tthompso@os.dhhs.gov (for WWW
site)
Bob Cooley (bcooley@os.dhhs.gov) (for Gopher site)
- COMMENTS:
The DHHS Home Page (WWW site)
links to the below sites as well
as to sites of other agencies of DHHS. Also included are its
mission statement and a staff directory, as well as abstracts of
DHHS program evaluations. It's fairly well organized, given that
this Web page is brand new and still under construction. The
Gopher site contains primarily the same information; more easily
located here is the Administration for Children and Families,
which gives specific details on its programs and grants.
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Federal
Poverty Guidelines
- TYPE: Single document
- URL:
http://www.os.dhhs.gov/poverty/aspe/poverty/poverty.html
- CONTACT: US Department of Health and Human
Services
- COMMENTS:
This document lists the guidelines for what is defined as
"living in poverty" for the fifty states and Washington, DC,
in 1995. It was previously published in a previous edition of the
Federal Register, but having it available on the World
Wide Web is handy for quick reference. These guidelines were
developed by the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Health Care
Finance Administration (Medicare and Medicaid)
- TYPE: World Wide Web page
- URL:
http://www.ssa.gov/hcfa/hcfahp2.html
- CONTACT: tanzalon@gate.hcfa.gov
- COMMENTS:
Here, the Health Care Finance Administration posts press
releases, research initiatives, and general information
about the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Information here
is updated fairly frequently. Of special note is the Medicare
1994 Handbook. Unfortunately, a file supposedly containing 85
commonly asked questions about the HCFA is currently blank,
but this will likely change in the near future.
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Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
- TYPE: Weekly report
- URL:
http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/mmwr.html
- CONTACT: mmwr-questions@list.cdc.gov
- COMMENTS:
Current and back issues of the MMWR from 1993 on (which provides public health data
from around the world) are searchable here. In addition, this site provides links to public
health bulletins from elsewhere. (1/96)
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Social Security Administration
- TYPE: Web page
- URL: http://www.ssa.gov/
- CONTACT: webmaster@ssa.gov OR 1-800-772-1213
- COMMENTS:
Highlights of the SSA's Web page include over 600 documents (full text) on their
programs and policies, a Frequently Asked Questions list, a quick reference guide
for employers, research and statistical data, and a hypertext version of their
Handbook. Information is also available in Spanish. (1/96)
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Department of Housing and
Urban Development
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Descriptions
Enterprise
Communities and Empowerment Zones
- TYPE: Web page
- URL:
http://www.ezec.gov
- CONTACT: ezec@rurdev.usda.gov
- COMMENTS:
Includes press releases, a fact sheet, policy statements, speeches, and general
information on the EC/EZ programs, including descriptions of available
resources, a FAQ ("Frequently Asked Questions") list about rural
and urban EC/EZs, contact names by state, and an application guide. Information in
Spanish is available, as are links to home pages of some of the designated
Enterprise Communities. The EZ/EC Presidential initiative is designed to afford
communities the opportunity for growth and revitalization. (1/96)
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Federal Register
(full text)
- TYPE: Telnet sites
- ADDRESS: Telnet to 128.206.1.3 (via Columbia
Online Information Network) OR
Telnet to 198.137.188.2 (via Seattle Public Library)
- URL: telnet://128.206.1.3 OR
telnet://198.137.188.2
- CONTACT: Not provided
- COMMENTS:
At least, the full text of the Federal Register is available free of
charge on the Internet, via two community-based systems: Columbia Online
Information Network (COIN) in Columbia, MO, and the Seattle (WA) Public
Library. Both sites contain the same information on the FR, so use
whichever has the least traffic. At both locations, information from the
FR is searchable by keyword. There is a maximum number of logins each
system can handle at once (usually 5) so searching during off hours would
be a good idea.
Instructions for accessing it from COIN: telnet to 128.206.1.3, login as
"guest," and select the following from the menus:
\ Government Center
\ Access the Government Center
\ United States of America
\ GPO Access
Here, enter your terminal type (usually vt100). Use the arrow keys to
select a database, and mark your choice with the spacebar. At this
point, enter the keywords you want to search on.
Instructions for accessing FR via Seattle: telnet to 198.137.188.2, log
in as "library," set your terminal correctly, and select the following
menu choices:
\ Internet and Seattle Community Net
\ Internet and Seattle Community
Network
\ Government Printing Office Online Access
Press 'c' to
connect. You may be asked to reenter your terminal type. Follow the
directions above for selecting a database and searching by keyword.
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Internal
Revenue Service
- TYPE: World Wide Web page
- URL:
http://www.ustreas.gov/treasury/bureaus/irs/irs.html
- CONTACT: Not provided
- COMMENTS:
Tax forms, directions for filing, and a list of answers to frequently
asked questions are available here. In order to view the forms, you will
need the Adobe Acrobat reader, a piece of software available for download
here.
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State Government Information on the Internet
- TYPE: Gopher
- ADDRESS: gopher cwis.usc.edu
/ Other
Government and
Information Resources
/ Gophers by Subject
/
Gopher Jewels
/ Government
/ State Government
- URL:
gopher://cwis.usc.edu/11/Other_Gophers_
and_Information_Resources/Gophers_by_Subject/
Gopher_Jewels/government/states
- CONTACT: Not provided
- COMMENTS:
Gopher Jewels (a system of organizing Gopher resources by
subject) includes a list of state government gophers, listed
by state. Because each Gopher here is organized by a different
group of people from almost every state, no generalizations can
be made about their contents. In any case, the address is
provided here for non-profits interested in learning more about state
government information sources.
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U.S. Tax Code
Section 501 (tax-exempt organizations)
- TYPE: Web page
- URL: http://www.fourmilab.ch/ustax/www/t26-A-1-F-I-501.html
- CONTACT: Not provided
- COMMENTS:
From Switzerland comes the full text of the U.S. Tax Code - here is the section
covering nonprofit organizations, complete with cross-referenced links to other
sections. (1/96)
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