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Dates
to Watch
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Webinar: The Heckman
Equation
Oct. 6-7, 2009
FCSC Board of Directors Meeting
CSC of Palm Beach
Oct. 12-14, 2009
Florida Coalition for Children Annual Conference
Orlando
Children's Week
Tallahassee
April 30, 2010
Regular
Legislative Session Ends
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Send Me More
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CSCs
strategically invest in primary prevention and early intervention
programs and services.
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Legislator Establishes Florida's
First-Ever Early Childhood Caucus
 Over the past few months, Rep. Ari Porth (D-Broward) has
been working to establish Florida's first-ever Early Childhood Caucus -
a bipartisan group focused on ensuring Florida's children are healthy
and prepared to succeed. The caucus will be organized in time for the
2010 Legislative Session. In August, Rep. Porth sent an email to all
legislators inviting them to join the caucus and has had an excellent
response. Republicans and
Democrats have joined, and more are likely to sign on. Special thanks
go to Evan Goldman with the CSC of Broward County for working with Rep.
Porth to make the Early Childhood Caucus a reality. The children's
services councils look forward to working with Rep. Porth and other
members to advance an effective early childhood agenda.
Florida KidCare Asks
Students to "Act-Out for Health"
Florida KidCare is holding
its third annual Act-Out for Health contest to spread the word about
the state's affordable health insurance for children. This year,
KidCare wants middle and high school students to get involved by using
their creative talents and ideas to create a television PSA or
billboard. Contestants will write, direct and produce 30-second
advertisements about Florida KidCare: why it's important, how much it
costs and what it means for families. This year, graphic design and
technology students can also participate in the billboard design
competition. Entries are due by Dec. 2. Find out more at www.actout4health.org.
Kudos
to the Florida Afterschool Network Board and Partners
Florida's Afterschool
Network, with its talented partners, recently was recognized for a
promotional video released earlier this year. The Association of Cable
Communicators recently selected the national Afterschool Alliance (AA)
to receive its prestigious 2009 Association of Cable Communicators'
Community Bridges Award. The award recognizes the cable television
special, "After the School Bell
Rings," produced through the collaborative efforts of the AA,
Bright House Networks, the Florida Cable Association, Sunsports/Fox
Sports Florida and the Florida Afterschool Network. Each year, the
Community Bridges Award recognizes outstanding, non-cable partner
organizations that increase recognition of highly worthy community
service. Past winners of this national award include Habitat for
Humanity, the PTA, the Partnership for a Drug Free America and Big
Brothers and Big sisters of America. The Association of Cable Communicators
will present the Community Bridges award at a gala ceremony in Denver
on Oct. 26. A special thank you
goes to FAN Board Member Steve Wilkerson and Janice Caluda, both of the
Florida Cable Association, Reinaldo Llano with Bright House Networks,
and one of the "stars," Bobbi Davis of the Children's Board
of Hillsborough County.
More on Afterschool
In other afterschool news,
Florida leads all other states except California in the number of
Lights on Afterschool events planned for Oct. 22. That day marks the
Afterschool Alliance's 10th Annual Lights on Afterschool
Day. Every year, communities in states across the nation hold events to
emphasize the importance of afterschool programs. The number of events
planned nationwide this year totals 4,538 - 500 ahead of last year.
Florida has 508 events. California has 563. The next closest state is
New York with 282 events. See coverage on the national event in the Washington
Business Journal.
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FEDERAL WATCH
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Initiative Focuses on Early
Learning Programs
A Sept. 22 article
published in the New York Times
sheds light on the Early Learning Challenge Fund provision that is part
of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act passed by the House on
Sept. 17. According to the article, "The Senate is expected to
pass similar legislation this fall, giving President Obama, who
proposed the Challenge Fund during the presidential campaign, a bill to
sign in December." Read the article.
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CSC NEWS
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Palm
Beach CSC Receives Top Honors for Video Created In-House
The CSC of Palm Beach County won a first place Savvy Award
for an animation created by its Public Information Department called "Sentinel Outcomes
Simplified." The CSC also claimed a third place award
for its branding campaign at the national 3CMA conference in
Scottsdale, AZ last week. 3CMA (City County Communications and
Marketing Association) is a membership organization of the public
information and marketing staffs of municipal and county governments
throughout the United States. There were more than 2,000 entries in
some 50 categories. This was the first year CSC of Palm Beach County
submitted entries. Florida CSC congratulates the CSC of Palm Beach on
their awards.
Children's
Trust to Examine State of Juvenile Justice in Miami-Dade
In collaboration with the
Circuit 11 Juvenile Justice Board, The Children's Trust is sponsoring a
community forum to examine the current state of juvenile justice in
Miami-Dade County. The Children's Trust is inviting all stakeholders to
participate in helping to develop a juvenile justice strategic plan and
legislative agenda for dismantling the "cradle to prison"
pipeline in the community. The event will take place Friday, Oct. 2,
from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. at the University of Miami Medical Campus,
Clinical Research Building. Visit thechildrenstrust.org for details or to register. The forum
is free. Lunch, refreshments, and parking will be provided.
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IN OTHER NEWS
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3rd
Annual Telluride Summit Concludes
The Partnership for
America's Economic Success (PAES) recently concluded its Third Annual
Telluride Economic Summit on Early Childhood Investment held in
Telluride, CO. The event hosted business, economic, finance,
philanthropy and policy leaders, and was co-hosted by the Telluride
Foundation. The Telluride Summit focused on strategies for building a
quality workforce and for spending state and federal budget resources
wisely. During the three-day summit participants also focused on
building an effective national business leader coalition to make early
childhood investment an integral part of rebuilding the economy to
achieve workforce competitiveness and fiscal sustainability. PAES has
created a summit web page that will be updated gradually with materials
presented during the event. Go to Telluride
Summit web page.
Florida Senate
Committee Reviews VPK Public Records Exemption
Under legislative
mandate, the Senate Committee on Education Pre-K - 12 recently reviewed
a public records exemption that exists for participants in the
Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program (Section 1002.72, F.S.).
Under the Open Government Sunset Review Act, the exemption would be
repealed on Oct. 2, 2010, unless reenacted by the Legislature. The
public records exemption was originally enacted by the 2005 Legislature
(Ch. 2005-88, L.O.F.) to protect the individual records of a child
enrolled in the VPK program with respect to records held by an early
learning coalition, the Agency for Workforce Innovation, or a VPK
program provider. The statute also provides that such records include
assessment data, health data, records of teacher observations, and
personal identifying information of the enrolled child and his or her
parent.
In its review,
Senate staff found that the exemption meets the requirements for
reenactment. Staff recommended that the public records exemption in s.
1002.72, F.S., be reenacted with a modification to specifically
authorize early learning coalitions to share confidential and exempt
records of children enrolled in the VPK education program with contract
service providers. View the full report
(2010-213).
Worst
to First Listening Tour Completes First Leg of Million-Steps Journey
Lawton
"Bud" Chiles completed the first part of his walk across
Florida in Pensacola last week. While there, he and son Geoff Chiles
met with Student Government Association leaders at Pensacola Junior
College to talk about issues in education. Called the One Million Steps
Listening Tour, Chiles' march across the state is part of a larger
statewide awareness campaign launched by Worst to First
to focus attention on the need to improve Florida's investments in
children's health, education and welfare. Along the way, Chiles and
other Worst to First supporters will meet with students to hear their
stories, and encourage them to be part of the solution for Florida's
education challenges. The Million Steps Listening Tour is scheduled to
end in Miami in March. Media response has been positive. See the
article in the Pensacola News
Journal. Also see television news
coverage on WEAR-TV. Follow the Million Steps tour with Google maps and
photos online. To learn more about Worst to First, go to www.worsttofirst.org.
Sun
Sentinel
Investigation: Trust Betrayed
A six-month Sun Sentinel investigation into
Florida's background screening system found disturbing flaws that allow
people with records for crimes including child abuse, assault and
murder to work in day care centers, assisted living facilities and
homes for the elderly and disabled. Employees are routinely hired
before background checks are made. Even when criminal offenses are discovered,
caregivers can still work with little more than a promise not to break
the law again. The result: Children and defenseless adults have been
harmed and exploited by people with criminal pasts, their trust
betrayed by a system that fails to protect them. See the investigative
series online.
DJJ
"Restraint-Free" Approach Gets Thumbs Up from Tallahassee
Newspaper
Mike McCaffrey,
Director of Staff Development and Training with the Department of
Juvenile Justice, recently wrote a whitepaper to promote the agency's
hard work on the "restraint-free" approaches employed
successfully across the agency's programs. Last week, the Tallahassee Democrat published
an editorial about the effort and its successes. View the DJJ whitepaper. See the Sept. 22
editorial in the Tallahassee
Democrat, "Our Opinion: It's all good."
Ounce
of Prevention Promotes Infant Safe Sleeping Awareness Campaign
 Sleep
Right, Sleep Tight is a public awareness campaign developed by Prevent
Child Abuse Florida in partnership with the Florida Department of
Children and Families and community stakeholders. The campaign provides
information about how to keep babies in a safe sleeping environment.
Campaign brochures and tip sheets may be downloaded and reproduced free
of charge from the Ounce of Prevention web
site. To obtain higher resolution files for professional
printing, contact Lonnie Parizek at lparizek@ounce.org. A Sleep Right, Sleep
Tight campaign video about safe infant sleep is also available online.
DVD copies of the video can be requested by emailing lparizek@ounce.org.
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Behind
the Numbers: What Census Bureau Estimates of Uninsured Mean
A new estimate of the
number of uninsured Americans at county, state, and national levels was
issued recently as part of the U.S. Census Bureau's first-ever release
of data collected through the American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS
is conducted by the Census Bureau to provide communities with
up-to-date information on key demographics and policy-relevant data. By
polling about 30 times more Americans than the Census Bureau's Current
Population Survey (CPS), the ACS is able to estimate the number of
uninsured Americans at the county level-data that will be useful for
state and federal health policymakers alike. A new issue brief prepared
by experts at the State Health Access Data Assistance Center explores
how the use of these new data could complement existing data sets, in
particular the CPS. Both surveys will produce state-level insurance
coverage estimates in the fall of each year, reflecting the prior
year's coverage rates. Read the policy
brief
CLASP
Launches DataFinder
To complement its
research, analyses and advocacy, CLASP has launched DataFinder, an easy-to-use tool that
allows policymakers, advocates and others to download and synthesize
information about various programs and trends that affect low-income
people and families. The DataFinder currently includes state and
national data on: child care assistance spending and participation;
Head Start and Early Start participation; Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) expenditures; young child demographics; and
poverty. The tool also provides community-level statistics on
education, demographics and youth violence. CLASP will add more data to
this evolving tool over time. Go to www.clasp.org/data
to create custom tables and explore this new tool.
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EVENTS
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Webinar Focuses on "The
Heckman Equation" and Investing in Kids
On Monday, Oct. 5, from
3:00 - 4:30 p.m. (EDT), the Partnership for America's Economic Success
will present a webinar with speakers Suzanne Muchin (ROI Ventures) and
Rich Neimand (Neimand Collaborative). They will present new, persuasive
messages and communication tools to spur investment in early childhood
development. Through extensive research among policymakers,
influentials and the public, Muchin and Neimand have found the best
ways to leverage Professor James Heckman's groundbreaking work on the
economic return of early childhood programs. Their session will focus
on their research, findings and strategies for using The Heckman
Equation to advance advocacy. Webinar participants will also gain
access to videos, and printed and interactive tools to enhance
communications. Register online at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/880985474.
Children's
Forum Offers Free Webinar on Professional Development Registry Tool
As part of a
contract with The Children's Trust of Miami-Dade County, the Children's
Forum created a Professional Development Registry. Recently, the
Forum decided that it will provide licenses, at no charge, to
early learning coalitions who wish to use the registry (with current
features as is). Pricing for additional features beyond the
database architecture is also available. To better acquaint coalitions
with the features and capabilities of the Registry, the Children's
Forum is hosting a webinar. The Forum has arranged two times from
which individuals may choose to attend.
- October 12, 2009 at 3:00 PM
- October 13, 2009 at 9:00 AM
Anyone interested in
attending a webinar, or finding out more information, should contact
Saralyn Grass at 850-487-6351 or sgrass@thechildrensforum.com.
Florida Coalition for Children to Hold Annual Conference
in October
The Florida
Coalition for Children is holding its 2009 conference with a focus on
"Protecting & Preserving Florida's Most Valuable Resource -
Our Children and Families." The event will take place October
12-14, 2009, in Orlando at Rosen Shingle Creek. Register by Sept. 15
and save. For more information, visit the Florida Coalition for Children web site.
Conference Focuses on "Meeting the Needs of Young
Children and Families"
The Early
Childhood Council (ECC) and the Florida Association for Infant Mental
Health (FAIMH) will be co-hosting a conference, "Meeting the Needs
of Young Children and Families," November 18-20, 2009, at the
Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. Early registration is $125 for ECC or FAIMH
members (deadline is September 15), which includes the pre-conference
event on Nov. 18 and the full conference program Nov. 19-20 with a
reception Thursday night. For more information, call (813)
837-7753 or visit www.ecctampabay.org.
NAEYC to Hold Annual Conference
& Expo in Washington
The National Association for the Education of Young
Children will hold its annual conference Nov. 18-21, 2009, in
Washington, DC. This year's conference features more than 900 sessions
on diverse topics and themes reflecting both traditional strategies and
cutting-edge practice. Look for presentations on topics ranging from
how to plan an effective elected official's visit to your center, to
the role of quality rating systems in professional development, as well
as what's on the early childhood federal horizon. Housing and
registration are now open.
National Afterschool Association Convention Set for
April 2010, Seeking Workshop RFPs
Join thousands of afterschool professionals for
outstanding learning and networking experiences at the National
Afterschool Association Convention in Washington, DC, April 19-21,
2010. The event will feature hundreds of workshops from across the
afterschool field. Early registration is available through Aug. 31,
2009. For details, or to submit your workshop proposals through an
online RFP process, visit www.naaconvention.org/workshop.html.
Proposals will be accepted until Sept. 25, 2009.
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