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March 29, 2011
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In this Week's Issue of the Capitol Child Advocate:
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MISSOURI
- CHILD ADVOCACY DAY!
- The Week in Jefferson City
KANSAS
- Kansas Update
RESOURCES
- Digital Citizen ID Cards for Youth
- Child Trends Research
- Engaging Youth in Local Government
- Parent Engagement Toolkit
- Child Abuse Prevention Toolkit
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EVENTS
- Child Abuse Prevention Conference
- Wear Blue Day
- Social Media & Cyber Crime: Issues Impacting Education
- Effectively & Efficiently Investing in Our Youth: the Community School Strategy
- Ensuring School Readiness through Successful Transitions
- Trends & Implications of the 2009 Child Maltreatment Data
- Healthy Motherhood: A Community Approach to Babies
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Child Advocacy Day
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Don’t forget that the 29th Annual Child Advocacy Day is this Thursday March 31st! Please join us in Jefferson City to bring the voice of Missouri’s kids to the state capitol. This worthwhile event is an excellent opportunity for both seasoned and novice child advocates to capture the attention of Missouri legislators. The day’s events include workshops on current legislative and budget issues affecting children and families, meetings with legislators, a march to the capitol and a rally, exhibits showcasing services for children and families and recognition of this year’s Child Advocate Award winner(s). Click HERE to see the complete agenda for this event. To register, click HERE.
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| The Week in Jefferson City: A Bird's Eye View from the Capitol |
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After a week of rest and respite, the Missouri General Assembly is back. Because nothing moved last week, there isn’t much to report. However, there is one piece of legislation that we are very concerned about. HB 690 sponsored by Rep. Bahr would, in effect, make immunizing children before entering kindergarten voluntary. It allows parents to present evidence of “acquired” immunity in lieu of actual immunizations. In order to acquire immunity to things like the whooping cough, children need to be exposed to the whooping cough. This puts them, their classmates and other children in extreme danger. The public health risk for this policy is extensive.
This bill will come before the House Committee on Health Care Policy on Wednesday at noon in Hearing Room 6. If you would like to present written or personal testimony, please contact Jeremy LaFaver (lafaver@pfc.org).
Partnership for Children will be back next week with a more extensive update. Until then, thanks for helping make children the #1 priority for Missouri Lawmakers.
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Kansas Update
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Thanks to our partners at Kansas Action for Children for their update from Topeka on policies affecting Kansas kids. Click HERE to see their most recent e-newsletter.
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| Resources |
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 Digital Citizen ID Cards for Youth
The Digital Citizen Identification Card empowers youth to help keep themselves and others safer while using technology. This card does not use the word DON'T, rather it affirms what youth CAN DO to be safer online. Youth sign their Digital Citizen ID card which creates a feeling of ownership over their online behavior. Please contact Missouri KidsFirst at 573-632-4600 to inquire about receiving Digital Citizen ID cards for the youth in your community.
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What Works for Children - Child Trends Research
Child Trends has recently produced three research briefs on evidence based practice to improve outcomes for children. What Works for African American Children and Adolescents and What Works Latino/Hispanic Children and Adolescents synthesize findings from evaluations of social interventions specifically targeted at African American and Latino children and adolescents or intervention programs in which African American and Latino children where substantially involved as participants. Click HERE for more.
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Engaging Youth in Local Government
The National League of Cities' Authentic Youth Civic Engagement: A Guide for Municipal Leaders offers some important principles for community leaders looking to authentically involve youth in local community change efforts. To read more, click HERE.
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Growing and Sustaining Parent Engagement: A Toolkit for Parents and Community Partners
The Center for the Study of Social Policy has released a toolkit featuring parent engagement approaches and strategies. Click HERE to learn more and to access the toolkit.
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Child Abuse Prevention Toolkit
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and Missouri KidsFirst has announced the availability of their 2011 Missouri Child Abuse Prevention Month Community Resource Toolkit.
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Upcoming Events
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Small Wins = Big Victories, Child Abuse & Neglect Prevention Conference
The Children's Trust Fund is hosting its statewide child abuse and neglect prevention conference April 13-15 in Jefferson City. Click HERE to view the agenda and a conference registration form. The Pinwheels for Prevention rally will kick off the conference on the Capitol south lawn.
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Wear Blue Day
Join child advocates nationwide and "Wear Blue" on Friday, April 15, 2011 to help prevent child abuse. The goal is to register 20,000 participants throughout the United States. Click HERE to register your organization in the Kansas City metro area. For the flyer from the Kansas City Child Abuse Roundtable Coalition, click HERE.
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Social Media & Cyber Crime: A Briefing on Emerging Issues Impacting Education
The Missouri Center for Education Safety will hold a briefing on the impact of social media and cyber crime on education on April 5th from 9am - 3pm at the InterContinental Hotel at the Plaza, 401 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, Missouri. Click HERE to register.
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Effectively and Efficiently Investing in Our Youth: the Community School Strategy
In a time of scarce resources, it is important to understand how leaders around the country, in statehouses and city agencies, school districts and communities, are maximizing their resources. A recent report by the Coalition for Community Schools, Financing Community Schools: Leveraging Resources to Support Student Success, highlights several communities that have figured out how to do more with less. The Coalition for Community Schools presents a webinar on Effectively and Efficiently Investing In Our Youth on March 31st at 3pm ET. Click HERE for more information and to register.
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Ensuring School Readiness through Successful Transitions
Ensuring School Readiness will explore how and why smooth transitions among early learning environments are critical for school readiness and are the first step toward preparing students for success in college and career. A webinar on this topic is being hosted by the U.S. Department of Education and its partners on April 14 from 2 - 3:30pm (EDT). To register click HERE.
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Trends and Implications of the 2009 Child Maltreatment Data
Please join the Quality Improvement Center on Early Childhood for an interactive webinar discussion on the current trends and implications of the 2009 child maltreatment data with an emphasis on child abuse and neglect on April 14 from 3:30 - 5pm EST. Click HERE to register.
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Healthy Motherhood: A Community Approach to Healthy Babies
The Mother & Child Health Coalition (MCHC) will host its annual meeting with the theme "Healthy Motherhood: A Community Approach to Healthy Babies", on April 22nd in Kansas City, KS. The keynote speaker will be Tonya Lewis Lee, author, activist, TV producer and wife of filmmaker Spike Lee. Click HERE for an event flyer.
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Tell Your Friends!
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Forward PFC’s newsletter to your friends!
Please forward our newsletter to your friends and colleagues. As more people are informed, we will have more voices speaking up on behalf of children. Thanks!
Sincerely,
The Partnership for Children Team
For questions about our legislative activities in Jefferson City, please contact our Director of Public Policy, Jeremy LaFaver, at lafaver@pfc.org or 816-531-9200, x 225.
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