Action Connection

Welcome to the first Children’s Campaign Action Connection. This is the first of several changes you will notice in our on-line publications.  It is our goal to provide the most up-to-date information while taking into account the busy schedules of our readers.   We hope that you will enjoy these updates, and stay tuned to your email account to see what we have in store for you next!

Commencing on July 1, 2007, Children’s Campaign, Inc. will expand its efforts in federal and state policy on SCHIP reauthorization and Children’s Health Coverage thanks to a $50,000 grant from Voices for America’s Children.  Awarded in national competition, this grant recognizes the work of the Children’s Campaign during the previous year to inform Florida’s federal delegation about the benefits and unmet needs of the federal children’s health insurance program while also bringing to the state’s attention the plight of its KidCare program and its many implementation problems and administrative barriers.  Recently, supporters of Children’s Campaign, Inc. wrote hundreds of letters to state leaders calling for the Florida Legislature to meet in special session and fix KidCare.  A consensus platform for the remedies needed most has been under development engaging a range of children’s and health organizations. 

PreK Now, a national advocacy group, with support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, is holding a Networking Meeting in Washington D.C, July 17th through July 19th , focused on political, media, messaging, and inclusive strategies for support of high quality pre-k.

Children’s Campaign Executive Director Linda Alexionok extended an invitation to Ms. Monesia Brown, Director of the Agency for Workforce Innovation, charged with administering Florida’s still fledgling pre-k program.  Brown and Alexionok will interact and network with many leaders from other states with notable high-quality programs.  This meeting promises to produce tactics to ramp up the development of the high quality pre-k program Florida voters envisioned when passing the state’s constitutional amendment.  To read more about Pre-K Now and their mission to support high quality pre-k throughout the country click here.

The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice has announced that Mr. Frank Brogan, President of Florida Atlantic University and former Lt. Governor of Florida, will chair the soon-to-be-convened Juvenile Justice Blueprint Commission.  The Commission was called for by Children’s Campaign, Inc. in its 2007 policy platform and is considered a vital and necessary step in implementing an improved juvenile justice system with a new mission and vision.  Joining Brogan in directing the Commission will be Dr. Lawanda Ravoira, a national leader in gender- specific services, child advocate, former board member of the Children’s Campaign, and former president & CEO of PACE Center for Girls.   

The Juvenile Justice Blueprint Commission will be a time-limited group of 25 public and private stakeholders and citizen advocates.  Appointed by DJJ Secretary Walter McNeil, the Blueprint Commission will assist the Department in building consensus and offering recommendations for a comprehensive strategy to intervene appropriately with at-risk youth while ensuring public safety. Children’s Campaign President Roy Miller is serving as a strategic advisor for the Commission and is assisting DJJ in raising funds from the philanthropic community to support its work.

To read more about Frank Brogan’s appointment click here.
To read about Lawanda Ravoira’s appointment click here.

As a result of a special appropriation from the Florida Legislature, a university and two or more Healthy State Coalitions will share a grant to research the racial disparities in infant mortality. Although the bill does not include recurring dollars, the grant will begin the research to find the root causes of infant death in minorities. To read Tallahassee Democrat article, click here.

A new program in Orange County is pairing girls in the juvenile justice system with probation officers educated specifically in gender directed services.  The girls have access to counselors and speakers in a setting designed to meet their unique emotional and social needs.  This program protocol is a departure from the normal routine of assigning girls to probation counselors at random, the manner in which boys in the system are treated. To read the full Orlando Sentinel article click here. To read the accompanying editorial click here.

Changes such as the new program, the expansion of the Girls Advisory Council, and inclusion of girls issues in the new Guiding Principles of the Department of Juvenile Justice mark a new direction for improving services to girls, providing advocates with hope that true systematic reform is on the way.

Developments in a nearby Southern state are not as bright.  The Mississippi Youth Justice Project, a branch of the Southern Poverty Law Center, has filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court alleging that teenage girls at the Columbia School, a state-run institution, were shackled for up to 12 hours per day, including time while eating and using the bathroom.  Most girls at the school are sent there for non-violent offenses and mental health disorders.  The girls were bound for several days because another girl in the facility told staff that an escape plot was underway.  That girl later recanted her story.  Alleged “widespread abuses” at the facility are not new.  Click here for the full media story.

The Foundation for Child Development released a study entitled Classroom Quality and Time Allocation in Tulsa's Early Childhood Programs. The study compares and contrasts characteristics of Tulsa pre-k classrooms to a sample of state-funded pre-k classrooms in seven states.  The study finds, across the board, that Tulsa programs for four-year-olds are of higher quality.

The better outcomes in Tulsa’s programs were attributed to three components:  Governance, Small Class Sizes, and Strict Standards for Teacher Qualifications (every lead teacher in a state-funded pre-K classroom must have a bachelor’s degree with a teaching certificate in early childhood education.). To read the full study or to view the PowerPoint, click here.