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Spread
the word!
Forward
to interested contacts and have them... |
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Dates
to Watch |
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Children's
Movement
Milk
Party Tour Dates
Sept. 6, 2010
Pensacola
Sept. 7, 2010
Tallahassee
Sept.
8, 2010
Gainesville
and Ocala
Sept. 13, 2010
Daytona
Beach
Sept. 14, 2010
Orlando and
Kissimmee
Sept. 15, 2010
Treasure
Coast
Sept. 16, 2010
Tampa and
Lakeland
Sept. 20, 2010
St.
Petersburg
Sept. 21, 2010
Sarasota
and Bradenton
Sept. 22,
2010
Naples and
Ft. Myers
Sept. 23, 2010
West Palm
Beach
Sept. 27, 2010
Jacksonville
Sept. 28, 2010
Ft.
Lauderdale and Broward
Sept. 29,
2010
Miami-Dade
County
Sept. 30, 2010
Key West
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Sept. 28 -
Oct. 1, 2010
Florida
After School Alliance Statewide Conference
Coronado Springs Disney Resort
Sept. 14, 2010
DCF
Economic Self-Sufficiency Program Conference
Call
Sept. 30, 2010
Children
and Youth Cabinet Meeting Boynton Beach,
FL
Sept. 16 & 17, 2010
Early
Learning Advisory Council (ELAC) Meeting
Orlando
Sept. 30 - Oct 3,
2010
FLAEYC
Annual Conference
October 4,
2010
Voter registration deadline for General
Election
October 5-6, 2010
FCSC
Board of Directors Meeting
Location
TBA
November 2, 2010
General
Election
April 3-9, 2011
Children's
Week
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CSCs strategically invest in
primary prevention and early intervention programs
and
services. | | | |
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Children's
Movement Launched;
Milk
Party Rallies Begin for Florida's Children
The
Children's Movement of Florida has officially
launched and begun its series of "Milk Party" rallies to
spread this message: Florida needs to invest more in
children. During the month of September, the Children's
Movement will host Milk Parties at 15 locations from
Pensacola to Key West. The Milk
Party tour aims to build a broad base of
support for the idea of improving children's prospects
in Florida. Milk and cookies will be served during the
one-hour rallies and those who want to see children
considered a priority in state planning and budgeting
are encouraged to participate. Read the published letter
launching the Children's Movement from David Lawrence,
Jr. here.
New
Florida Afterschool Professional Development System
The
Agency for Workforce Innovation (AWI) has designated the
Florida
Afterschool Network as the lead in creating a
professional development system for the Florida
afterschool workforce. Through a contract with AWI and
Palm Beach State College, FAN will work to develop a
plan for overall system improvements in afterschool. The
system will include implementation and training of core
competencies, the development of a statewide trainer and
training approval system, and will standardize
non-credit training to support competencies. It will
become an articulated formal pathway across various
institutions, and will pool resources from the statewide
professional development initiative for early care. Upon
completion, Florida will become the first state in the
country to have such a comprehensive system for
afterschool professional development. Special thanks go
to former Florida CSC CEO Vivian Alarcon, Children's
Forum President Phyllis Kalifeh, and FAN's professional
development consultant Judy Nee for their part in making
this collaborative effort a reality.
Election
Results Are In
Last
week's election results provided some clarity on which
candidates will be running for election this fall.
November elections will be a critical time to help shape
the future direction of Florida policy, especially as it
pertains to investments in children. If you haven't
already, find out about your state and local election
results by clicking here. |
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CSC NEWS
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Innovation
Abounds at Children's Board of Hillsborough
County
Thanks
to the 2010
Innovative Business Plan Competition hosted
by the Children's Board of Hillsborough County, five
nonprofit finalists in the Tampa area will have their
business plans judged by a professional panel including
a banker and a venture capitalist. The winner will
receive $25,000 to implement the plan and the
second-place finisher will receive $15,000. Last year's
winner was SHARE Florida Express, which makes home
deliveries of groceries.
 Additionally,
the Children's Board has launched a new, free
iPhone/iPod Touch app: Family Guide to Services in
Hillsborough County. The free app is available in the
App Store and has information on the Children's Board,
Board Member bios and pictures, a CEO Message, funded
program information including names, phone numbers,
faxes, emails, websites, map location, and driving
directions. For full app details click here.
Look Before
You Lock
In
Palm Beach County, fire-rescue officials have received
249 calls to-date regarding children left in vehicles.
This year alone, 24 children across the state have died
of heat stroke after being left in vehicles. To help
counter these troubling numbers, the Children's Services
Council of Palm Beach County is teaming up with other
child safety advocates - Safe Kids Palm Beach County,
the Children's Hospital of Palms West and Safe Kids
Coalition - to raise awareness of the dangers of leaving
children unattended in a car. Together, they launched
the "Look Before You Lock" campaign designed to make
people aware that it only takes a few minutes before a
child left in a hot car suffers serious, permanent
injury or death. Read
more.
Happy
20th Anniversary CSC of St.
Lucie
 On
Oct. 1, the Children's Services Council of St. Lucie
County will celebrate 20 years of serving St. Lucie's
children and families. The CSC of St. Lucie County
currently invests more than $8 million in funds to local
programs that reach 20,000 children and their
parents/guardians annually, and provides for nearly 300
jobs in the county. Congratulations to the CSC of St.
Lucie County!
CSC
of Broward County Supports Low-Cost Tutoring For
Kids
After-School
@ Your Library is a partnership between the Broward
County Commission Libraries Division and the Children's
Services Council of Broward County. For seven years, the
program has helped students with tutoring solutions.
Free tutoring, homework help, literacy skills and
reading practice are available Monday through Thursday
at 11 library locations in South Florida. Read
more.
The
Children's Trust of Miami-Dade Helps Keep Nurses in
Schools
Leaner
state and local budgets have led to a decrease in school
nurses. According to a National Association of
School Nurses study, there is one nurse for every 2,518
students. For the past few years, The Children's
Trust of Miami-Dade County has worked to fund a program
called HealthConnect in Our Schools to ensure the county
has health suites staffed by teams of nurses or nurse
practitioners, social workers and health aides. To offer
this program, the school district has partnered with the
Trust and Miami-Dade County Health Department, and has
budgeted nearly $14 million for the program in the
2010-2011 school year. Read
more. |
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IN
OTHER NEWS |
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Advocates
Urge Congress to Fund Child Care
Early
learning advocates across the state have submitted
letters to the editor to their local newspapers
expressing their support of Congressional approval for a
funding increase to the Child Care and Development Block
Grants (CCDBG). Here are two of those
letters:
- Letter
in the Miami
Herald
by Octavio Verdeja Jr. of the Early Learning Coalition
of Miami-Dade/Monroe and Maria Alonso, Chair of The
Children's Trust.
- Letter
in the Florida
Times-Union by Toni Crawford of the
Early Learning Coalition of Duval, Nancy R. Pearson of
the Early Learning Coalition of St. Johns/Putnam
counties, and Jack Baker, Jr. of the Early Learning
Coalition of Clay/Nassau/Baker/Bradford Counties.
Polk
County ELC Awarded Nearly $500,000
Helios
Education Foundation awarded the Polk County Early
Learning Coalition nearly $500,000 for early childhood
education initiatives. The project will offer
professional development to the family child care home
community and provide onsite coaching. The Polk
organization responded to a Helios RFP and will work in
partnership with the ELC in Manatee and Sarasota
counties. Helios is based in Phoenix with an office in
Tampa and strives to create opportunities for success in
education in Florida and Arizona. |
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FEDERAL
WATCH |
Update
on Increases to CCDBG and Head
Start
On
July 30, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved
the Labor, HHS, and Education FY2011 funding bill. The
bill includes a $1 billion increase for Child Care and
Development Block Grant and a $990.3 million increase
for Head Start. In addition, the Appropriations bill
added $300 million for the Early Learning Challenge
Fund, signaling a greater recognition in Congress on the
need to raise the quality of early learning programs.
This is a huge victory given the tough budget climate in
Washington, D.C. Now, the House Appropriations Committee
must meet and pass the bill agreed to by the
Subcommittee. Click here to follow for
updates.
Making
Child Care for Working Families a
Priority
The
Children First Act of 2010 was introduced by Sens. John
Kerry (D-MA) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) in the Senate
and Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) in the House. The
Children First Act would increase mandatory child care
funding by $800 million in FY 2011, with provisions for
inflation adjustments beginning in FY 2012 through FY
2015. Additionally, the Act ensures that providers
receiving funding through the Temporary Assistance to
Needy Families (TANF) program meet the same minimum
standards for CCDBG-funded providers. If enacted, this
would provide an even greater expansion of sorely needed
child care funds and improvements in quality. See what
actions the National
Women's Law Center is taking to help this
bill gain momentum. |
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NET
DATA |
New
2010 KIDS COUNT Data Book
Released
 The
Annie E. Casey Foundation's 2010 KIDS COUNT Data Book
and Data Center provides national and state-by-state
data and statistical trends on the condition of
America's children and families. The 2010 KIDS
COUNT Data Book is now available. Download
the book, national and state profiles, and state
rankings on 10 indicators of child well-being. Customize
your own maps, graphs, and charts and share them or add
them to your blog or website. Visit Florida
Kids Count for additional
information.
Reports:
Achieving State Policy Goals with Federal
Resources
Two
recently released reports analyze how the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) provide
states with a variety of tools and resources to
implement reform. The reports were funded through the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State Coverage
Initiatives national program. Click on the report titles
to read more.
New
National Standards Preventing Childhood
Obesity
Preventing
Childhood Obesity in Early Care and Education Programs,
the new set of
national standards describing evidence-based
and expert consensus on best practices in nutrition,
physical activity, and screen time for early care and
education programs are now available. These updated
standards will be a part of the comprehensive Caring for
Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance
Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education
Programs, Third Edition (CFOC, 3rd Ed.) to be released
in 2011.
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EVENTS
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23rd
Annual National Independent Living
Conference
Scheduled
for Sept. 7-10 in National Harbor, MD, "Growing Pains
2010" is a must-attend event for youth service
professionals, independent living professionals and
youth ages 15+. Presenters include top leaders and
experts in the field of independent living. The national
youth conference consists of special sessions dedicated
to the needs of youth who are currently in care. These
include training sessions, workshops, panel discussions
and leadership/team building activities. Click
here for more
information.
11th
International Conference on Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive
Head Trauma
The
11th
International Conference on Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive
Head Trauma has been set for Sept. 12-14 in
Atlanta, GA. The highly successful conferences held
every other year focus on four areas of expertise; legal
challenges in SBS cases, evidenced and creative
prevention programs and initiatives, the latest medical
information and research, and support and rehabilitation
for families and victims of shaken baby syndrome
including rehabilitation and continuum of care issues.
For questions regarding the conference, please contact
Danielle Vazquez, Conference Coordinator, at (801)
627-3399 or email her at dvazquez@dontshake.org.
4th
Annual Kinship Care Conference
Conference
dates are set for Sept. 17-18 in Ocala. The conference
will focus on raising awareness of the complex issues
faced by relative caregivers including discipline,
substance abuse, grief and loss, legal issues, mental
health, and domestic violence. Registration and
information is available on the website.
Chamber
Hosts Future of Florida Forum
The
Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Chamber
Foundation will host the 2010 Future of Florida Forum
October 11-13 at Walt Disney World's Yacht & Beach
Club in Orlando. The forum provides a tremendous
opportunity for child advocates to collaborate with
Florida's business leaders on making strategic
investments in children - Florida's future workforce.
Sessions will be led by members of the newly formed
caucuses focusing on the Six Pillars of Florida's Future
Economy - Talent Supply & Education, Innovation
& Economic Development, Infrastructure & Growth
Leadership, Business Climate & Competitiveness,
Civic & Governance Systems, and Quality of Life
& Quality Places. Learn
more.
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