The Time is Now.

The time is now to create equal opportunities for the healthy growth and development of all children. Please join in our House Party Weekend campaign - here - to raise awareness and funds for healthy child development and innovative prevention programming, such as that focused on home visiting and Shaken Baby Syndrome.

With only 20 days left to participate, please help us by hosting a house party - here - or coming to our online virtual party - here. Funds raised will allow prevention services to reach more communities nationwide.

Please celebrate with us - more here. Prevention is possible with effective policies, programs, and commitment to children.

Thanks to individuals like you, we are taking the steps to change the way our country supports children and families. The time is now to double our efforts to create positive change and transform communities. I hope you will join us.

Prevent Child Abuse America Announces National Partnership with MainStreetChamber™

National child abuse prevention non-profit joins with leading membership organization for small business owners to positively impact communities nationwide 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHICAGO (September 27, 2011) – Prevent Child Abuse America and MainStreetChamber™, a national membership organization for small business owners that provides networking opportunities to help advance growth and profitability, announced the formation of a new partnership today. 

Recognizing Prevent Child Abuse America’s emphasis on community development and the critical role small businesses often play in communities nationwide, this is a natural and strategic fit for both organizations to positively impact cities and towns across the country. 

“We all have a role to play when it comes to ensuring the healthy development of our nation’s children, particularly the business community as future employers of today’s youth,” said Prevent Child Abuse America President and CEO, James M. Hmurovich. “Small businesses offer a great opportunity to promote and help employees achieve healthy work-family balance. Recognizing that more than half of our nation’s employment opportunities are made possible by small businesses, our partnership with MainStreetChamber is good for the economy, good for children and ultimately good for our nation.” 

At the onset, the partnership will focus on generating awareness of and funding for Prevent Child Abuse America through MainStreetChambers’ donation of a portion of proceeds from the sale of its VIP cards to members, providing discounts to thousands of businesses nationwide, and other fundraising efforts. 

In addition, the organizations will work together to avail MainStreetChamber members of the opportunity to participate in the National Movement for America’s Children, a pledge, listening tour and crowd-sourcing initiative, launched by Prevent Child Abuse America and 13 other organizations, designed to develop a national strategy for the healthy growth and development of every child. As the partnership grows, the organizations will look to align their respective chapters to implement local-level activities as well. 

"Prevent Child Abuse America is committed to promoting legislation, policies and programs that help to prevent child abuse and neglect. We support healthy childhood development and the strengthening of families," said Mr. Larry Kozin, Founder of MainStreetChamber. “MainStreetChamber has a crusade to carry this message to our members that will help in any way they can." 

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ABOUT PREVENT CHILD ABUSE AMERICA Prevent Child Abuse America, founded in 1972, works to ensure the healthy development of children nationwide while recognizing that child development is a building block for community development and economic development. We believe that communities across the country are doing innovative things with great results to prevent abuse and neglect from ever occurring, and what we need to do as a nation is commit to bringing this kind of ingenuity to communities everywhere. Based in Chicago, Prevent Child Abuse America has chapters in 48 states and nearly 400 Healthy Families America sites in 34 states, Washington, D.C. and Canada. For more information, please visit Prevent Child Abuse America here and Healthy Families America here. 

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ABOUT MAINSTREET CHAMBER MainStreetChamber™ is a rapidly expanding, National Membership Organization dedicated to helping small business grow and become more profitable. As a preferred small business networking organization, they are focused on small business professionals, creating fresh opportunities to connect with other entrepreneurs and to make important business contacts at local, state and national levels. For more information or to join, please visit here.

You're invited!

We would like to invite you to Prevent Child Abuse America's Virtual House Party - here!

When? From now until October 16, 2011 at midnight.

Where? Online - here - it's virtual! (Yes, that means you can attend in your pj's.)

Why? To raise awareness and funds for healthy child development and innovative prevention programming.

What should you bring? Just yourself, your commitment to children, and donation at a level that is comfortable for you.  

Please help us spread the word by sending an eCard to your friends and family - here!

Thanks again for supporting Prevent Child Abuse America. I know that without supporters like you, the work we do to ensure healthy child development for all children, to prevent child abuse and neglect and to expand the availability of innovative prevention programming, would not get done. Hope to see you at the party - here.

Investment in child-focused services must continue.

 

For immediate release    

CHICAGO, Ill., September 21, 2011- In response to a study published in Pediatrics Monday, which revealed an increase in child abuse since the start of the economic recession in the U.S. in 2007, Jim Hmurovich, President of Prevent Child Abuse America, released the following statement:

"During these continuing difficult economic times, it would be easy to forget that investments in innovative programming focused on services such as home visiting and Shaken Baby Syndrome prevention must continue, despite financial constraints. It's also easy during tough times to minimize the importance of such services, which places additional stress on parents, teachers and other members of the community who play a role in child development.

"However, this study demonstrates that continued investment in prevention services is absolutely necessary. Parents, teachers and community members depend on the support of these services and that's why Prevent Child Abuse America helped found the National Movement for America's Children. We're working to create a National Strategy for America's Children, to ensure that policies and programs are put in place and maintained to provide every child in America with an equal opportunity for a healthy childhood and development.

"Spending vs. cutting is a debate we've held in our country many times. Yet, absent from the discussion is the question of how we, as a nation and a society, ensure our economic stability, while also recognizing the critical economic importance of healthy child development."

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ABOUT PREVENT CHILD ABUSE AMERICA

Prevent Child AbuseAmerica, founded in 1972, works to ensure the healthy development of children nationwide while recognizing that child development is a building block for community development and economic development. We believe that communities across the country are doing innovative things with great results to prevent abuse and neglect from ever occurring, and what we need to do as a nation is commit to bringing this kind of ingenuity to communities everywhere. Based in Chicago, Prevent Child Abuse America has chapters in 47 states and 387 HealthyFamilies America sites in 36 states.

Building the Brain's "Air Traffic Control" System.

We wanted to draw your attention to a new working paper from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University titled Building the Brain's "Air Traffic Control" System: How Early Experiences Shape the Development of Executive Function. You can find it here and we hope you find it interesting.

The countdown begins!

It's exactly one month until House Party Weekend, October 14-16, learn more here, where supporters across the nation will hold parties to raise awareness and funds for healthy child development. What does this mean? It means you have one month to organize your party, here, finalize your guest list, and send out the invitations. You have one month to decide to join this unique celebration.

The same goes for us, here at Prevent Child Abuse America. And we're getting the party started a little early. As a national organization with supporters across the country, we're holding a virtual house party, learn more here, that anyone can attend. If you aren't throwing your own party, stop by ours. Please bring your friends, family and neighbors as well! Come one, come all.

We're sending out official invites next week. But for now, this is just a quick reminder. Remember, every child deserves equal opportunities for healthy growth and development. Prevent Child Abuse America works to promote a healthy future for all children every single day. We'd like to celebrate the fact that prevention is possible and that innovative prevention programming like home visiting is happening in communities everywhere. Help us celebrate by hosting a party, or joining ours, here.  

Thank you for supporting the work we do. Thank you for helping to make children a national priority.

Work, community, happiness, Brains on Fire and movements.

We were quite take with a blog post we read today from Brains on Fire a leading marketing and communications shop out of South Carolina. They were discussing a new report by Jane McGonigal on the Engaged Economy and though they were talking more about customers than advocates we were struck by how much of what they said could be applied to our work generally and building a movement more specifically. 

We hope you will take a look at the post and for some flavor of what they were writing about  we have pasted an excerpt below.

We all want to believe that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves.

We want to create meaningful, positive change in world. We want to collaborate. It makes us happier. It triggers positive emotions. It’s in our DNA.

Finding the shared passion, the cause, the calling that stirs your employees and your advocates can change lives. And create sustainable communities that can ignite movements.

Do you have an idea for how to shape the National Strategy for America's Children?

If so, please share it here.

Have you signed the pledge?

The National Movement for America's Children has collected more than 2400 signatures so far. If you haven't signed it yet, please do so here. And please help us help the movement reach 3000 signatures by Friday by re-posting this message and forwarding it to your friends, neighbors, family and co-workers. Thanks in advance for your help and all you do to support equal opportunities for the healthy growth and development of all children.