Check it out - National Movement Weekly Update.

Photo courtesy of Prevent Child Abuse Virginia.

Below please find this week's edition of the National Movement Weekly Update. If you haven't signed-up for the National Movement for America's Children or signed the pledge, please do so here. If you have, thank you, and please consider asking your friends, family and colleagues to do so as well. Also, please consider re-posting this post to your blogs and Facebook page and Tweeting this link on Twitter. And finally, thank you for all you do.

Welcome 

Welcome to the National Movement for America’s Children weekly update where we reflect on Movement activities, including listening tour stops and local events, media coverage, ideas for crafting the National Strategy and roles you can play in furthering this effort. 

Listening Tour Stops 

Listening Tour stops involve representatives from National Movement’s founding members and community partners meeting with local citizens, including college students, grandparents; service organizations and policymakers to discuss the development of the National Strategy. 

Listening tour events this coming week are happening across the state of New Hampshire including: (1) November 1st - Common Man Inn and Salem High School; (2) November 2nd - Exeter Town Hall and UNH MUB; and (3) November 3rd - Common Man Restaurant and Dartmouth College. 

For more information please visit the NH Children’s Trust, Inc. here.

 

Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you would like to participate in any of the upcoming tour stops or discuss how you can participate in bringing a tour stop to your state or hometown. 

Media 

The National Movement continues to receive coverage in the media including a recent story in the Daily Sun which you can find here; and representatives of the Movement will be participating in several media opportunities while in New Hampshire including a live appearance on The Exchange show on New Hampshire Public Radio next Thursday, November 3rd at 9:00am EST. 

Please keep a look out for the broadcast dates and please let us know if you have any media outlets in your community that would be interested in talking to representatives of the Movement about our work so far and where we plan to go in the future. 

Survey 

We are interested in your thoughts on the National Movement for America’s Children website and we hope you will consider taking a survey about it. A link to the survey can be found at the bottom of the home page here. 

Your Role 

What you can do? You can encourage people to sign the pledge and answer “The Big Question.” You can participate in listening tour stops in your home state or play a role in bringing a tour stop or local organizing activities to your neighborhoods. You can also be a voice in your community for the Movement and for the healthy development of all children. And, you can volunteer at a community service agency, provide pro bono professional skills to not-for-profits that serve children and families, or you can spend quality time with your child. 

Disclaimer: The content in this Update does not necessarily represent the views of all of the National Movement's founding partners.

The National Movement for America's Children is coming to New Hampshire November 1st - 3rd.

For more information please go here or call the New Hampshire Children's Trust at (603) 224-1279.

Check it out - A message to all members of National Movement for America's Children.

We wanted to let you know that the National Movement for America's Children has started sending out a weekly update on Movement activities and we wanted to share it with you. We hope you will visit the Movement website here, sign the pledge and get involved if you haven't already. We also hope you will consider re-posting this post to your blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.

Welcome

Welcome to the National Movement for America’s Children inaugural weekly update where we reflect on Movement activities, including listening tour stops and local events, media coverage, ideas for crafting the National Strategy and roles you can play in furthering this effort.

Listening Tour Stops

Listening Tour stops involve representatives from National Movement’s founding members and community partners meeting with local citizens, including college students, grandparents; service organizations and policymakers to discuss the development of the National Strategy.

Listening tour events have been held in a variety of locations during the last several weeks including Indianapolis, IN; Denver, CO; Grand Junction, CO; Lady Lake, FL; Schenectady NY; Albany, NY; Richmond, VA; Nashville, TN; Chicago, IL; and Palatine, IL. 

Upcoming stops include cities across VT and NH. 

Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you would like to participate in any of the upcoming tour stops or discuss how you can participate in bringing a tour stop to your state or hometown.

Media

The National Movement has been fortunate to receive coverage in AdAge, The Chicago Tribune and  NJToday.net among other places and representatives of the Movement will soon be appearing on Public Radio shows in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Please keep a look out for the broadcast dates and please let us know if you have any media outlets in your community that would be interested in talking to representatives of the Movement about our work so far and where we plan to go in the future.

Ideas

Ideas to potentially be included in crafting the National Strategy have come via listening tour stops and the Movement Pledge site and they include among others:

(1)  “Ensure community partners work together."

(2)  "More community crisis nurseries.”

(3)  “Equal access to education.”

(4)  "Affordable, quality and accessible healthcare."

(5)  "Improve aid for childcare."

(6)  “Healthier food options in schools.”

(7)  "Adequate food, clothing and shelter for all families."

(8)  "More deliberate planning for neighborhoods, including neighborhood, (not just community) parks, and sidewalks for children safety."

(9)   "Support for more adults to mentor children."

(10)  "Adults reading to children every day."

Your Role

What you can do? You can encourage people to sign the pledge and answer “The Big Question.” You can participate in listening tour stops in your home state or play a role in bringing a tour stop or local organizing activities to your neighborhoods. You can also be a voice in your community for the Movement and for the healthy development of all children. And, you can volunteer at a community service agency, provide pro bono professional skills to not-for-profits that serve children and families, or you can spend quality time with your child.

Prevent Child Abuse America adds five new national board members

Seeks to expand its impact on the lives of all children and the future of the country

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chicago, IL, (October 20, 2011) — Prevent Child Abuse America is pleased to announce that it has added five new members to its national board, expanding the knowledge, experience and reach of the organization in its efforts to impact the lives of all children. 

 
“We are really excited about these new additions to the board,” said Dr. Christopher Greeley, Board Chair, Prevent Child Abuse America. “While, we are doing great things as a board and as an organization, we can always do more and be smarter about what we do. Our focus is to continue to think 5, 10, and 20 years ahead. To accomplish our goals, we need to continue to bring big thinkers into the fold. We need people who understand that a healthy family remains the focus of a healthy child, and that we all play a role in the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Our new board members will come not only with great ideas, but an ability to translate these ideas into action.”

The five new board members, who represent a dynamic array of background and experiences, are:

Reverend Darrell L. Armstrong, Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton, NJ. He is the former Director of the Division of Prevention & Community Partnerships for the State of New Jersey.

Thomas A. Curatolo, Treasurer at Hometown America Holdings. He is a member of Financial Executives International, Finance Leadership Exchange and AICPA.

Yolanda Harris, President and Founder of the Keynote Group. She is a board member for the Young Entrepreneurs Council at the Wayne Huizenga School of Business, Nova Southeastern University.       

Andrea Robertson, former Group Executive, Corporate Treasurer at MasterCard Worldwide. She is a current board member for Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Inc.

David Rudd, Vice President at The Axis Agency/Weber Shandwick. He is a former Press Secretary for the Illinois Senate Democratic Caucus and Education Writer for the Chicago Tribune.

“These new board members bring a wealth of experience to the organization,” added James M. Hmurovich, President & CEO, Prevent Child Abuse America. “As we continue to play a role in implementing the National Movement for America’s Children, they also bring a significant corporate presence. These new members will allow Prevent Child Abuse America  to further engage the business community in the healthy growth and development of all children.”  

###

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 47 states and 387 HealthyFamilies America sites in 36 states.

A Focus on Innovative Programs that Intervene Early on in Children’s Lives Must Continue

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHICAGO, IL., October 19, 2011- In response to a report this week by BBC World News America titled America’s “Child Death Shame”and comparisons between child abuse and neglect and American soldiers lost in Iraq, Jim Hmurovich, President and CEO, of Prevent Child Abuse America, released the following statement:

"This report calls attention to the consequences of our failure to ensure that all children have an equal opportunity for healthy growth and development. Fortunately, we know how to do better. Because a third of children reported as abused or neglected are children under four years of age, we are focusing on innovative programs that intervene early on. It may be accurate as the BBC reports that ‘More kids killed in their own homes in the US than soldiers in Iraq,’ but using this approach to prevention, we are confident we can reduce that number significantly.

“The challenge of investing in innovative programming focused on services such as home visiting and Shaken Baby Syndrome prevention is even more apparent and necessary in these difficult economic times. It's easy during tough times to minimize the importance of such services – however its times like these that it’s more important than ever with the additional stress on parents, teachers and other members of the community who play a role in child development.

"Further, this report demonstrates that continued investment in prevention services is absolutely necessary. These programs help lay strong foundations for children’s later growth and development, which will reduce the possibility of more serious, and expensive, problems from developing later, resulting in lifelong effects on physical and mental health.

“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.

"The BBC report raises many important points, yet, absent from the discussion is the question of how we, as a nation and a society, prioritize the critical economic importance of healthy child development for all children."

###

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 everoccurring, 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 Healthy FamiliesAmerica sites in 36 states.

A terrific and very public plug for Healthy Families America on CBS News.

In reporting on a story that only further challenges our need to expand innovative prevention programming and highlights the consequences when we fail as a society to focus on enhancing the healthy growth and development of all children, the Healthy Families America home visiting program received a terrific plug at the 5:12 mark of the embedded CBS News spot above. 

National Movement for America's Children listening tour stop in Albany, NY.

The National Movement for America's Children, Prevent Child Abuse New York, State University of New York School of Social Welfare, Prevent Child Abuse America and a number of local partners held a Movement Listening Tour stop in Albany, NY this week to discuss the Movement's efforts to develop a national strategy that ensures the healthy growth and development for all children and we wanted to share the local media coverage with you, which you can find here. For more information on the Movement please go here.

Dance to make a statement against bullying! PACER's Unity Dance Day. October 26th.

Prevent Child Abuse America Legislative Alert!

Please Sign Letters in Support of the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program
Deadline: Wednesday, October 19

Please consider adding your organization to letters (here and here) urging the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction and the Members of the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committees to maintain funding for the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHVP) at the current authorized levels. 

We are seeking sign-ons from national, state, and local organizations to demonstrate that there is broad support for MIECHVP throughout the country.

TAKE ACTION

To sign onto the letters, please email the name of your organization as it should be listed on the letter and your contact information to bgavaghan@preventchildabuse.org.

The deadline for signatures is Wednesday, October 19th.

Letter to the Joint Selection Committee on Deficit Reduction
 
Letter to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees

Background

The MIECHVP is making a difference in the lives of at-risk children and families by helping to reduce prematurity and low birthweight; child abuse, neglect and injuries, language delays and cognitive disabilities, and dependence on public assistance. It enjoys broad support nationally, with 49 States, 6 Territories, and numerous Tribes and Tribal organizations participating in this program.  In addition, states have invested significant resources in developing and expanding evidence-based home visiting and in meeting the requirements of the MIECHVP, which has strong accountability measures requiring States and Territories to make real progress in improving the health and well-being of children.

Any questions about this Legislative Update can be directed to Bridget Gavaghan at 312-663-3520, ext. 819 or at bgavaghan@preventchildabuse.org.

Join us for House Party Weekend 2011!

We believe that everyone has a role to play in creating a healthy future for all children.

And one role you can play is joining us for House Party Weekend 2011!

Remember, we're partying until October 16, 2011 at midnight. While supporters across the nation are holding live parties, Prevent Child Abuse America is holding an online party here so anyone can attend, no matter where you live.

Please donate here to our party, invite your friends, and check back for updates on the work we're doing. You can even create your own virtual house party here to raise funds for Prevent Child Abuse America.

Feel like this is too virtual and you'd like to be more involved? Please go here to get all the tools you need to host a live house party.

Please help us achieve our fundraising goal by the end of the weekend here! We hope to raise funds, but more importantly, we hope to increase awareness throughout the nation that everyone has a role to play in the healthy development of all children.

Prevent Child Abuse America receives its 2010 Suncoast Emmy Award.

Prevent Child Abuse America is honored to have received its 2010 Emmy Award in the category of Community/Public Service from the Suncoast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for its work on three 30-second ads created in collaboration with The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida and Ron Sachs Communications. For more information about the award and the development of the ads, as well as, the opportunity to view the ads themselves, please visit The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida's website here. 
 

How would you answer "The Big Question?"

People are starting to answer the National Movement for America's Children's "The Big Question." "The Big Question" is "How can we ensure that every child has an equal opportunity for healthy growth and development?" Rhian from Kansas said, "Ensure community partners work together." How would you answer that? And why don't you come tell us here?