Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

Action Alliance for Children -- Email News Bulletin: June 2004

Jul 20, 2004

IN THIS ISSUE:

ADVOCACY OPPORTUNITIES AND STATE POLICY
* No Child Left Behind State Hearings
* Preschool California Advocacy Day
* No Room for Poverty Rally

UPCOMING CONFERENCES
* Announce YOUR fall conference or training!
* National Education Association Convention
* 12th Annual Intergenerational Training Institute
* Society for Nutrition Education 37th Annual Conference
* Creative Curriculum Connecting to You
* Family Child Care: The Heart of America
* With All Deliberate Speed? -- Social Justice and the Future of Public
Education
* Ready, Set, Go! Leading the Way to School Success

NEW RESOURCES
* 2003 Child Care Portfolio
* California Healthy Ties
* California Report Card 2004: Focus on Children in Immigrant Families
* Children in Foster Care Final Report
* Effects of a Comprehensive School-Based Asthma Program
* Fifty Years After Brown v. Board of Education: A Two-Tiered Education
System
* First 5 California Informal Child Caregiver Support Project
* Hidden Public Costs of Low-Wage Jobs in California
* PE Central
* Parents' Declaration of Rights
* Prekindergarten Policy Framework
* Tutors for Kids

FROM THE CHILDREN'S ADVOCATE NEWSPAPER
* Radio is good for immigrants' health -- in English and Spanish!
* Grassroots Snapshot: Statewide media actions for child care -- in
English
and Spanish!
* Unions in child care?
* SNEAK PREVIEW of the July-August Children's Advocate!

SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE

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ADVOCACY OPPORTUNITIES AND STATE POLICY

Jun 29 and Jul 21: No Child Left Behind State Hearings are an
opportunity
for parents, business and community leaders, advocates, and students to
share their views about the No Child Left Behind Act and its effects on
public school resources, curricula, and services, as well as quality
teaching and learning. Jun 29: Sacramento, Jul 21: Los Angeles.
Testimony
will be compiled into a national report. Public Education Network,
(202)
628-7460; more information online at
http://www.publiceducation.org/nclb_hearings.asp

Aug 4: Preschool California Advocacy Day is an opportunity to rally in
support of efforts to make voluntary, quality preschool available to
every
child in California. Participants will visit legislators and
participate in
a hearing. Sacramento. For more information, contact Preschool
California,
Stacy Wiesbrock, 510-271-0075 x 303; http://www.preschoolcalifornia.org

Sept 4: No Room for Poverty Rally is an opportunity to advocate for an
end
to poverty and a national focus on health care, jobs, housing, and
education. Washington, DC. Community Action Partnership, (800)
416-9157;
information and resources online at http://www.povertyrally.org


Check out listings of other advocacy opportunities at
http://www.4children.org/mcadv.htm
Launching an advocacy campaign? Tell us about it at
http://www.4children.org/mcenbfrm.htm
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UPCOMING CONFERENCES

Announce YOUR fall conference or training!
Tell us about your regional, statewide, or national conferences and
trainings at http://www.4children.org/mcenbfrm.htm and be listed in our
online Master Calendar of events. Selected conferences will also be
featured in our email news bulletin.

Jul 2-4: National Education Association Convention. Washington, DC.
National
Education Association, (202) 833-4000; http://HYPERLINK
"http://www.nea.org/"www.nea.org

Jul 14-16: 12th Annual Intergenerational Training Institute.
Pittsburgh, PA.
Generations Together, (866) 216-1223; http://www.gt.pitt.edu


Jul 17-21: Society for Nutrition Education 37th Annual Conference. Salt
Lake
City. Society for Nutrition Education, (317) 328-4627;
http://www.sne.org/conference/general.htm

Jul 20-23: Creative Curriculum Connecting to You. Las Vegas. Teaching
Strategies, (800) 637-3652; http://www.TSIconferences.com


Jul 28 -31: Family Child Care: The Heart of America. Kansas City, MO.
National Association for Family Child Care, contact Brenda Ives, (954)
587-6735; http://www.nafcc.org

Jul 29-Aug 1: With All Deliberate Speed? -- Social Justice and the
Future of
Public Education. Philadelphia. National Coalition of Education
Activists,
(215) 735-2418; http://www.edactivists.org

Aug 9-10: Ready, Set, Go! Leading the Way to School Success.
Sacramento.
Northern California Early Childhood Education Conference, (916)
263-4073


Check out listings for more conferences and trainings at
http://www.4children.org/mcconf.htm

and http://www.4children.org/mctrain.htm
Got a conference or event coming up? Tell us about it at
http://www.4children.org/mcenbfrm.htm
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NEW RESOURCES

2003 Child Care Portfolio provides information on the supply and cost
of
child care in counties around California. Finds that families continue
to
have difficulty finding affordable care, particularly for infants and
toddlers. California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, 111 New
Montgomery St, 7th Fl, San Francisco, CA 94105; (415) 882-0234; online
at
http://www.rrnetwork.org/rrnet/our_research/2003portfolio.php

California Healthy Ties: Grandparent's and Other Relative Caregiver's
Guide
to Medi-Cal and Healthy Families provides information for kinship
caregivers
about obtaining free and low-cost health coverage for the children in
their
care. Free, in English, Spanish, and Chinese. Children's Defense
Fund-California, 101 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94607; contact Julene Cirne
Lima,
(510) 663-3224; Online at
www.cdfca.org/2004/cdfca-california_healthy_ties.htm.

California Report Card 2004: Focus on Children in Immigrant Families,
from
Children Now, provides statistics on the education, health, and
economic
status of California children in immigrant families. Finds that 48% of
California children -- and three in four poor children -- have at least
one
parent who was born outside the US. Also finds that children in
immigrant
families are much less likely to have access to health care, child
care, and
food stamps than children in US-born families. Online at
http://www.childrennow.org/california/rc-2004/reportcard04.cfm

Children in Foster Care Final Report, from the Pew Commission, offers
specific policy recommendations for improving foster care, including
increases in child welfare funding and dependency court reforms.
Recommendations include continued federal assistance for adoption and
guardianship, federal funding to cover the cost of foster care
regardless of
birth family's income level, increased flexibility for use of child
welfare
funds, improved evaluation methods for child welfare agencies and
courts,
increased collaboration between courts and child welfare agencies, and
more
opportunities for parents and children to have a voice in court
proceedings.
Online at http://pewfostercare.org/

Effects of a Comprehensive School-Based Asthma Program, a study in the
May
2004 Chest Journal, finds that children in a comprehensive school-based
asthma program experienced fewer asthma attacks -- and got higher
grades in
science. Also finds that parents reported fewer asthma-related school
absences and scored higher on an asthma management index. Online at
http://www.chestjournal.org/cgi/content/abstract/125/5/1674

Fifty Years After Brown v. Board of Education: A Two-Tiered Education
System, from the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future,
is a
survey of teachers in New York, Wisconsin and California. Finds that
students attending schools in low-income neighborhoods and
neighborhoods of
color face substandard learning conditions -- unqualified teachers,
broken
bathrooms, inadequate technology, and not enough textbooks. Includes
recommendations for change. Online at
http://www.nctaf.org/article/?c=4&sc=17&ssc=0&a=244

First 5 California Informal Child Caregiver Support Project provides
information on the demographics of license-exempt providers around the
state, as well as what support, materials, information, and community
resources they need to better support the development of children in
their
care -- particularly children with special needs. ETR Associates, 4
Carbonero Way
Scotts Valley, CA 95066; contact Nicole Jayne, (831) 438-4060 x 218;
http://www.etr.org

Hidden Public Costs of Low-Wage Jobs in California finds that many
families
receive public assistance (particularly state health insurance, child
care
assistance, and earned income tax credits) because their low-wage jobs
do
not pay them enough to meet their family's basic needs. Also finds
that an
$8-an-hour minimum wage and employer health insurance for low-wage
workers
would cut the need for public assistance payments by 48%, resulting in
state
savings of $4.9B. $10. National Economic Development and Law Center,
2201
Broadway, Ste 815, Oakland, CA 94612; (510) 251-2600; online at
http://www.nedlc.org/Hidden_Public_Costs.pdf

PE Central offers physical education lesson plans for preschool and
elementary school children. Topics include fitness, cooperative
learning,
throwing and catching, dance, and jumping. Online with other resources
at
http://www.pecentral.org

Parents' Declaration of Rights, from the US Department of Education, is
an
interactive, multimedia website that offers an overview of the No Child
Left
Behind Act, the rights of parents of English-language learners under
NCLB,
and related resources. English and Spanish. Online at
http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/declarationofrights/main_content.html

Prekindergarten Policy Framework, from the National Prekindergarten
Center,
provides information on the elements of prekindergarten programs in
states
around the US, including finance, governance, children served, program
standards, and infrastructure. Also includes research and resources.
Online at http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~npc/framework/framework.cfm

Tutors for Kids, from the American Institutes of Research, provides
information on free tutoring services for low-income children at
schools "in
need of improvement" available through the No Child Left Behind Act.
Also
links to the list of approved tutoring providers in California and
offers
resources. Online at http://www.tutorsforkids.org/default.asp


Check out listings for more print, web, and video resources at
http://www.4children.org/mastcal2.htm
Putting out a new report or resource? Tell us about it at
http://www.4children.org/mcenbfrm.htm
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FROM THE CHILDREN'S ADVOCATE

Radio is good for immigrants' health
Native language radio stations take the lead in promoting the health of
immigrant children

Maria, a Mexican woman currently living in Washington state, is worried
that
her three children might have gotten tuberculosis from a friend who
tested
positive for latent tuberculosis. A regular listener of Radio
Bilingue's
Linea Abierta (Open Line), she calls in to ask the advice of guest Jose
Luis
Burgos from CURE TB. Burgos explains that only people with the active
virus
are contagious-so her children couldn't have contracted the virus from
this
friend-but he goes on to recommend tuberculosis testing for all
listeners.
In the course of a few minutes, her fears are resolved and thousands of
listeners receive vital health information.

Radio Bilingue recently received an award from the National Partnership
for
Immunization for getting a record number of children vaccinated. In the
Bay
Area, Northeast Medical Services credits their success in enrolling a
record
number of children in Healthy Families (a state-funded, low-cost health
insurance program) to local Chinese radio stations, Sing Tao 96.1 and
KEST
1450 AM. In Orange County, Tu Nha Den Truong (From Home to School), a
weekly
Vietnamese radio show on parenting and child development is one of the
most-listened to programs on VNCR 106.3 FM radio station.

What makes native language radio programs effective in educating
immigrant
communities about health where mainstream media may fail?

[Read the full article at http://www.4children.org/news/504rade.htm,
In Spanish at http://www.4children.org/news/504rads.htm]


Grassroots Snapshot: Statewide media actions for child care

With all the cuts in the proposed 2004 California state budget, the
plan to
cut subsidized child care for low-income families just wasn't getting
headlines.

But then on April 13, on the eve of an important hearing in Sacramento,
a
coalition of parent, child care provider, and advocacy groups staged a
coordinated statewide media event from Eureka to San Diego.

The next day the Eureka Times-Standard ran a front-page story about the
need
for subsidized child care, the San Jose Mercury News ran a child care
feature, and parents and providers were on TV in Santa Rosa and
Sacramento,
explaining how cuts in child care would hurt their families.

[Read the full article at http://www.4children.org/news/504gse.htm,
In Spanish at http://www.4children.org/news/504gss.htm]


Unions in child care?
A growing number of child care staff and family child care providers
are
joining unions to push for better pay and working conditions

Former child care center director Denise Dowell now has a different
job:
union organizer. In the mid-nineties she was part of a movement to
unionize
child care workers in Philadelphia, because "everybody was looking for
a way
to fix the staffing crisis," she says. "Something needed to be done
about
wages and benefits."

Some child development programs have had unions for years, mainly those
run
by school districts with teachers' union contracts. But in the last
several
years, Dowell's union, the American Federation of State, County, and
Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Service Employees International
Union
(SEIU) have both stepped up efforts to organize child care workers and
family child care providers. The California Federation of Teachers
(CFT) is
also developing a child care organizing campaign.

[Read the full article at http://www.4children.org/news/504union.htm]


SNEAK PREVIEW OF THE JULY-AUGUST CHILDREN'S ADVOCATE!

* Early care and education: child care professionals weigh in on
whether
preschools should focus on pre-academics.

* Family support: our Family Support Works! series looks at how family
resource centers connect families with health care (in English and
Spanish)
and how FRCs can evaluate their work (in English).

* Family economics: our new, bilingual Family Economic Success series
looks
at how individual development accounts help low-income parents continue
their education.

* Health: we cover car seat safety, organizations working to prevent
lead
poisoning, and grassroots action for better school nutrition.

* Bookbasket: we review kids' books about summer fun.


Tell us what YOU think about the Children's Advocate articles at
http://www.4children.org/cainput.htm -- in Spanish at
http://www.4children.org/cainputs.htm
Read more articles from the Children's Advocate at
http://www.4children.org/current.htm
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