Every baby deserves a healthy start (Tallahassee Democrat) Babies that are born too early or at low birth weights are much more likely to die before their first birthdays. In Leon County, both the percent of babies born at low birth weights and the infant mortality rate are higher than in Florida as a whole.

Child advocates launch Hillsborough campaign to save lives (Tampabay.com) "I got sick of hearing about kids dying from being wedged in a couch cushion or drowning in 6 inches of bath water. They had loving parents that didn't know any better. Their deaths were completely preventable,"

High-quality care boosts low-income kids' academic success, negates poverty impact (Los Angeles Times) Researchers from Boston College, the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Samford University studied 1,300 middle school students, and found that the children who spent more time in high-quality child care in the first five years of their lives had better reading and math scores in middle school.

Initiative Focuses on Early Learning Programs (New York Times) The initiative, the Early Learning Challenge Fund, would channel $8 billion over eight years to states with plans to improve standards, training and oversight of programs serving infants, toddlers and preschoolers.

Afterschool Advocacy Needed as Students Return to School (Afterschool Alliance ) With children returning to classrooms across the nation, afterschool programs are gearing up as well. But recession-driven funding cutbacks have forced many programs to reduce services, shorten hours, lay off staff and, in some cases, close sites altogether.

Boys Village in Pasco could be closed (Tampa Tribune) During hard economic times, he said, it is simply less expensive to not renew the contract. The three-year contract was just more than$2.95 million.

Fla. Board of Education Strengthens Standards (Lakeland Ledger) Florida's Board of Education has approved more rigorous measures for evaluating high schools beyond mere test scores, adding such factors as graduation rates and participation in accelerated coursework.

Court Opinion in EMILY's List Case May Raise Political Clout of Nonprofit Organizations (Alliance for Justice) The court’s opinion could pave the way for more nonprofit involvement in partisan voter registration and partisan get out the vote activities, issue advertisements that refer to any federal candidates or political parties, and independent expenditures that support or oppose candidates for federal office.

Community conversations: Public, leaders urged to step up on child welfare (Southwest Florida's News-Press) This was the kickoff of the yearlong "The Campaign to Protect Children," affiliated with the Children's Campaign Inc., a statewide advocacy and watchdog group.

Child welfare tax talk revivied (Southwest Florida's News-Press) Roy Miller, president of the Children's Campaign, said local leaders would have to shepherd any children's tax campaigns."Our interest, quite frankly, is helping the region come together to reach consensus on how to be more influential in the children's policy arena."