NH Children’s Trust Fund Honors Unsung Heroes: Parents
Mar 02 2010From the New Hampshire Children’s Trust Fund:
On February 17 in the Governor and Council Chambers at the NH State House, with Governor John Lynch, the New Hampshire Children’s Trust Fund/Prevent Child Abuse New Hampshire honored 28 parents, one for each day of the month. With close to 150 people in attendance, Governor Lynch issued a proclamation declaring February as Parent Recognition month, acknowledging that more parents each year are developing vital partnerships with service providers, policymakers, and key stakeholders to shape policy and serve as responsible role models for parents across the state, creating safer communities for children.
Following the ceremony a reception was held with Max, the mascot for the NH Monarchs, greeting the awardees and their families. View pictures of the winners and read about them by clicking here.
Montclair Community Pre-K Continues to Offer Exemplary Early Care and Education - VIDEOS
Feb 26 2010By guestblogger Eve Robinson, Executive Director of Montclair Community Pre-K
The Montclair Community Pre-K (MCPK) in Montclair, New Jersey, one of the 21 exemplary early childhood programs on which the Strengthening Families Initiative was based, continues to provide high quality early childhood education to children while supporting families and providing community resources. The protective factors were born from the atmosphere and services offered at all 21 centers and the MCPK exemplifies what can be accomplished when families are respected, acknowledged and celebrated.
There is a strong family presence at the MCPK; parents, grandparents, caregivers and other significant adults add a vitality and enthusiasm to the program through various family activities including a Harvest Festival, a Winter Family Dance, Garden Day, Men are Cooking, Book Fairs, bake sales and concerts. The MCPK is a place where families raising young children feel welcomed every day; where access to needed support and services are offered in a non-judgmental and professional atmosphere and where the joy of learning echoes through every hallway. The MCPK is a full inclusion program and welcomes all types of learners, including those children who may be classified with special needs
Listen to the words of the families through a parent testimonial video, or watch a video that depicts a day in the life of our school. Both of these films were created for us by parents in our program who volunteered their time to document what the MCPK has to offer.
The mission of the MCPK is to offer a high quality early childhood education program to children in Montclair regardless of the family’s ability to pay tuition. We charge families tuition based on a sliding scale and no one is turned away due to economic circumstances. We receive no state or federal funding; the local Township provides a subsidy from the Township budget and the Board of Trustees raises over $150,000 each year to help fulfill our mission; many of the donations coming from local citizens who believe strongly in the committment to access to quality education for all
The school mirrors the social, economic and racial diversity that is a hallmark of the Township of Montclair. Children attending the MCPK come from every type of background and we celebrate our diverse atmosphere and the contributions that family traditions bring to our classrooms.
For more information about the MCPK visit our website, www.montclairprek.org.
Read the profile of MCPK.
QIC-EC Releases Request for Applications for Dissertation Support
Feb 25 2010
The Quality Improvement Center on Early Childhood has released its Request for Proposals for Dissertation Support for advanced-level doctoral students conducting research on preventing the abuse and neglect of infants and young children (0-5) and promoting child and family well-being. Up to FOUR eligible students will be funded at $25,000 for each of two years. The application is available at www.qic-ec.org, and all submissions are due on June 9, 2010.
A webinar for prospective applicants will be held on March 4, 2010, from 3:00-4:30 PM ET. To register for the webinar, please CLICK HERE.
Economic Well-Being: Tools to Map the State of the Economy
Feb 24 2010Cross-posted from the Policy for Results Blog on 2/17/10.
The impact of the recession on individuals, families and communities is reflected across a broad range of economic indicators including unemployment rates, foreclosures, bankruptcy and child poverty. While the recession has affected the entire nation each community, state and local government faces unique challenges. For example, in the case of unemployment, although the national unemployment rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is 9.7%, the rate in Imperial County, CA is significantly higher (27.7%) while Cache County, UT has a much lower rate (4.4%). According to the New York Times, job-loss has affected men more than women nationwide. Also, while states have unemployment insurance funds - some states’ trust funds are depleted while other states have solvent funds. Understanding the ways that the recession is uniquely affecting state and local governments, communities and individuals can lead to more responsive policy solutions and community initiatives. There are several resources available online to map various indicators of the recession’s impact in states, counties and cities.
Create maps, graphs and ranking reports on economic well being (and a host of other issues) using the new Data Center at Kids Count.
Map unemployment, foreclosure, and bankruptcy by state and county using the Associated Press’s Economic Stress Index.
Review unemployment rates by state and county on The New York Times’ Geography of a Recession Tool.
Map delinquency rates for mortgages and loans using the Federal Reserve’s U.S. Credit Conditions Tool.
Map the impact of foreclosures in your community with the HotPads’ Forclosure Tool.
Map state unemployment insurance with ProPublica’s Unemployment Insurance Tracker.
Policies to Support Family Economic Success
Adverse Childhood Experiences Study in the Spotlight
Jan 05 2010A recent article in TIME magazine puts one of the seminal pieces of research about the long-term consequences of child maltreatment in the mainstream media spotlight. In the article, “How Childhood Trauma Can Cause Obesity”, Maia Szalavitz describes the landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences study, which continues to provide evidence of the social, emotional, physical, and mental effects of negative experiences early in life.
Dr. Vincent Felitti’s discoveries began quite by accident. As an obesity researcher at Kaiser Permanente, he wondered why so many participants in his study would lose some weight, then drop out of the study before its completion. Upon further investigation, he learned that a large proportion of them had experienced certain stressful or even traumatic experiences during childhood. As he dug through the data, he found relationships between these negative experiences and a host of ailments, including but hardly limited to adult obesity. Researchers identified nine Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, that are related to negative adult outcomes:
- Recurrent physical abuse
- Recurrent emotional abuse
- Contact sexual abuse
- An alcohol and/or drug abuser in thehousehold
- An incarcerated household member
- Someone who is chronically depressed, mentally ill, institutionalized, or suicidal
- Mother is treated violently
- One or no parents
- Emotional or physical neglect
ACEs are quite common, and many people have one or more in their history. However, when children experience multiple ACEs before the age of 19, their risk for many negative outcomes increases. This is not to say that all children with multiple ACEs will experience these outcomes, but
“The connections [are] clear: compared with a person with no adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, a person with four or more has almost double the risk of obesity. Having four or more ACEs more than doubles the risk of heart attack and stroke, and nearly quadruples the risk of emphysema. The risk for depression is more than quadrupled. Although many of these outcomes could reflect the influences of genes and other environmental influences — beyond those occurring in childhood — the tight relationship between increasing ACE numbers and increasing health risks makes the role of child trauma clear.”-TIME
The ACE study provides a compelling argument for investing in prevention of child maltreatment and other ACEs, and for building Protective Factors with families. For more information about the ACE study, check out our new research brief, part of a series of summaries of studies that are especially relevant to Strengthening Families.
