ListenMarch 2010
A Haiti Fit for Children: SOS Children's Villages calls for international support to put children first
On March 30 at UNICEF in New York, a coalition of child-focused organizations including SOS Children's Villages, a global organization that provides family-based care for children without parental care and social services for families at risk, will hold "A Haiti Fit for Children" – a first-time event intended to draw the world's attention to the long-term needs of children and families in Haiti. The meeting is a precursor to the International Donor's Conference "Towards a New Future for Haiti" which will take place on Wednesday at the United Nations in New York.
"A Haiti Fit for Children" has been organized by a group of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working towards a bright future for the children and families of Haiti. Coalition members include SOS Children's Villages, Save the Children, World Vision, Oxfam International, Plan and UNICEF.
"The success of rebuilding Haiti after the January earthquake will be measured by its most vulnerable children and their families," says Celigny Darius, National Director of SOS Children's Villages Haiti, who will be speaking at the event. "Haitians, civil society and the international community need to come together to protect children and families made vulnerable by the earthquake. No group can do it alone."
Child protection has long been a concern in Haiti, and in the wake of the earthquake, children who have been separated from or have lost their families have become more vulnerable. As world leaders come together to support the rebuilding of Haiti, the international community stands ready to mobilize resources and partner on strategies to strengthen child-protection systems. This objective is one of the key priorities presented by the Global Movement for Children Latin America in their statement A Haiti Fit for Children and Youth.
"The earthquake of Haiti has brought to America's attention the importance of protecting children when a disaster has torn them away from their loved ones," said Dr. Heather Paul, CEO, SOS Children's Villages – USA. "Finding families and new hope is what SOS does before, during and after any disaster."
SOS Children's Villages International calls for the application of the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children as standards to ensure that all vulnerable children and their families receive top priority in planning for the rebuilding of Haiti:
Ensure all efforts are made to register separated and unaccompanied children and reunite them with their families.
Provide safe, quality interim care during tracing and reunification efforts which may, in some cases, require months or even years. Residential care facilities should only be a temporary measure until family-based care can be developed.
Develop a comprehensive child protection system to ensure programs, policies, and procedures are in place to protect all children living in vulnerable circumstances, in particular children living without the care and protection of their families.
Direct urgent attention and resources to protect children from being trafficked.
Establish social work and child care systems that aim to support and strengthen families in caring for their children, but that also provide a range of quality alternative care options for children who cannot live with or who have lost their families.
"Poverty is a persistent issue in Haiti and we have to do our utmost to ensure that any action is in the best interests of children. That should be at the core of it all," says Patricia Vargas, Regional Director of SOS Children's Villages in Central America and the Caribbean. Ms. Vargas led the initial response of SOS Children's Villages in Haiti and has been actively working with other NGOs, UNICEF and the Haitian government to strengthen family re-unification processes in Haiti.
Celigny Darius concludes: "Reconstructing our country will take years. We, the social workers, office staff and board members of SOS Children's Villages Haiti are Haitians. This is our home and our future, too. We have been active as a local NGO for over 30 years and will continue to support children and families in the long term. That is why I call on everyone to give the strongest possible support for the rebuilding of Haiti – not only now but also during the weeks, months and years to come. Let us work together to rebuild our Haiti for the children."
Press release PR Newswire
29 March 2010
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AUSTRALIA
Queensland Youth Justice Laws overhauled
Community Services Minister Karen Struthers has reminded Queenslanders that sweeping reforms to address youth crime come in to effect on Monday, March 29. Ms Struthers said the new laws balanced the need for jail time for serious offenders with the need for programs to help young offenders break the cycle of crime.
"We have some the toughest youth justice laws Queenslanders have ever seen," Ms Struthers said. "The Bligh Government is tough on youth crime and tough on its causes. The changes we have made are based on evidence and community feedback.
"Amendments support victims of crime as well as meet community expectations that offenders will be held responsible for their actions as well as being given a chance to rehabilitate where appropriate."
Changes to be introduced as part of the Youth Justice Act 1992 include:
giving courts the powers to impose curfews on young offenders to ensure they are properly supervised and are not given opportunities to reoffend;
widening court powers to name dangerous young offenders convicted of serious offences;
giving police stronger powers to arrest young offenders who do not comply with conferencing requirements.
"Young people convicted of multiple murders will now be detained for a minimum of 20 years, up from 15 years," Ms Struthers said.
Ms Struthers said the vast majority of young people did the right thing and abided by the law and community expectations. "Only about 7% of young people have contact with the youth justice system in Queensland," Ms Struthers said. "According to police data, the number of police contacts with young people dropped by more than 10% between the 2006-2007 and 2008-2009 financial years."
Ms Struthers supported jail time when it was appropriate but said alternatives also needed to be offered. "Youth Justice Conferences have been particularly successful," she said. "Around 98% of victims are satisfied justice is being served and police tell me young people are shaking in their boots as they look their victims in the eye and face the consequences of their actions."
Ms Struthers acknowledged Doug Nothdurft and Margaret Wilson and Ross and Margaret Thompson for their contributions in shaping the new legislation.
"The Bligh Government is determined to tackle problems with youth crime head-on and these new laws do just that," she said.
Queensland Government, Community Services
28 March 2010
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Children worldwide need care, hope
As the world's poverty grows starker, the next generation endures most of the loss.
Dr. Max Lange with Childcare Worldwide says that everything they do comes back to answering this question: "What is the most vulnerable segment of society when there is catastrophe?"
It's the children.
Why are children the key to a future? Dr. Max says it's because they are reachable. His own story proves that. Max was born and raised in Germany. At the height of Hitler's rise to power, he was a leader in Hitler Youth. His experiences during the Nazi days and subsequent conversion to Christianity in Liberia, West Africa, are proof of what God can change through a young person.
Childcare Worldwide is all about building a future for and through kids. Dr. Max says, "You can help children – giving them food, helping them survive, but then what? They eventually need more. They need more tools to make something out of their lives." Dr. Max says they looked at what they could do beyond life support. "We started with child sponsorship. We are focusing on helping children get an education which will make them employable."
Job training is an essential part of this. Childcare Worldwide's program offers education all the way through trade school. Sponsored children in the program receive school fees and supplies, such as uniforms and books. Children living in the homes receive full care in addition to these educational expenses.
Childcare Worldwide works in Kenya, Uganda, India and Haiti. They also partner with charities in Peru, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Liberia, China and The Philippines . Founded in 1981, Childcare Worldwide began operating out of the Lange's bedroom in their Glendale, California home. Subsequent doors opened through disasters, famines and other needs. Childcare Worldwide began responding and putting national teams in place.
Press release: Mission Network News
28 Mrch 2010
http://www.mnnonline.org/article/14030
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SCOTLAND
Conference to focus on how children and young people are affected by trauma
Camphill School Aberdeen http://www.camphillschool.org.uk is to host a conference on April 13 that will focus on how children and young people are affected by trauma.
The conference, which is supported by Aberlour Child Care Trust, Barnardo’s Scotland, Children First and VSA, is aimed at people who work with children and young people, including parents, foster carers, educationalists, social workers and health workers.
The main speaker is Dr Bruce D Perry, Senior Fellow at the Child Trauma Academy in Houston, Texas. His experiences as a clinician and a researcher with traumatised children have led many community and governmental agencies to seek his guidance following high-profile incidents. These include the Branch Davidian siege, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine school shootings, the September 11th terrorist attacks and the Katrina and Rita hurricanes.
Dr Perry is also author of the book The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, which presents accounts of his experiences working with emotionally stunted and traumatised children.
Commenting on the conference, Laurence Alfred, co-ordinator at Camphill School Aberdeen, said: “It is 70 years since Camphill was founded here in Aberdeen, dedicated to helping children with special needs. It is therefore most appropriate that we should host this special event as Camphill reaches such an important milestone. Our hope is that this conference will help Camphill, the supporting organisations and the delegates to develop a better understanding of the needs of children and young people who have suffered some sort of trauma in their lives.”
Camphill School Aberdeen is one of seven Camphill Aberdeen City and Shire http://www.camphillaberdeen.org.uk charities in the Aberdeen area with more than 700 people. From the first centre which opened at Camphill House, Milltimber, Aberdeen, Camphill now has 100 centres, with 10,000 people in 23 countries.
The full-day conference ‘Living and Working with Children and Young People Who Have Suffered Trauma’ will take place in Camphill Hall on the Murtle Campus of Camphill School Aberdeen on Tuesday, April 13. Places at the conference cost £95 and can be booked through Fiona Stuart, Camphill House, Camphill Estate AB13 0AP Tel 01224 739703 f.stuart@crss.org.uk
Press release: PRLog
22 March 2010
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NORTH CAROLINA
New youth behavioral counseling program
TR Consulting, a North Carolina-based behavioral healthcare agency serving the Triangle and Sandhills regions, has added a new intervention-based youth counseling program to help preserve the dignity and worth of those in need.
Intensive In-Home Services is an innovative intensive family preservation program for youths through the age of 20 intended to stabilize the living arrangement and promote reunification without the utilization of out-of-home therapeutic resources such as psychiatric hospitals, therapeutic foster care or residential treatment facility. Designed to address the needs of children and adolescents facing transition out of home placements or in need of intensive counseling to remain stable in the community, the program utilizes a team approach in full partnership with each family to minimize intrusion and maximize independence.
"Successful mental health counseling is an intimate process with deep repercussions to all those involved," Cynthia Reives, president of TR Consulting, said. "No one person can transition an individual with disabilities back into society; it takes a team of highly trained professionals and engaged families," she added.
The Intensive In-Home Services program is delivered face-to-face to provide support and guidance in all areas of functional domains such as adaptive, communication, psychosocial, problem solving and behavior management. Team services are not delivered in a group setting; team members are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to maintain contact and intervene as one organizational unit.
The new program is one of several available from TR Consulting, which also offers training programs for mental health providers to assist in setting-up necessary programs to ensure that their staff is properly trained to comply with stringent Federal and State regulations.
Carolina Newswire
18 March 2010
http://carolinanewswire.com/news/News.cgi?database=000001news.db&command=viewone&id=1899&op=t
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US
Collection agency takes pledge to end the “R-word”
American Profit Recovery, a nationwide collection agency took on a different kind of pledge recently as all 60-plus employees took the pledge to end the derogatory use of the “R-word” or more commonly, the word “retard” from everyday language.
High school and middle school students around the county held rallies and other assemblies in their schools on March 3 to pledge their support of the initiative spearheaded by organizations Special Olympics and Best Buddies. Many of the team members after seeing news coverage of the rallies decided to have American Profit Recovery embrace the initiative as well.
Recent public debate has only grown since a handful of public and very prominent individuals have used the term in public conversation, sparking intense discussion on the issue. Youth leaders this year are encouraging people to rally and pledge their support at www.r-word.org with the goal of reaching 100,000 pledges.
The collection agency is also challenging others in the corporate world and in their industry to take on the initiative as well. A video of their efforts can be seen here; http://www.collectionagencyblog.com/?p=390
“We have supported many causes over the past several years with volunteers and financial support,” states Jeff DiMatteo, a partner at American Profit Recovery http://www.americanprofit.net/. “When we heard about this initiative, we jumped on board immediately. While we typically hear this type of language in school-aged children, most of us still hear it coming from adults so we were more than happy to try and create some awareness about this. And as a collection agency, we try to treat everyone with respect so this fit right in to our mission.”
Press release: PRLog
16 March 2010
http://www.prlog.org/10578033-collection-agency-takes-pledge-to-end-the-word.html
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UNICEF: Helping Ukraine’s most-at-risk young people
Oksana is a teenage mother with a very young baby. She is also living on the streets of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. Having lost touch with her mother, who was sent to prison, she ran away from home to escape her abusive stepfather. She spends most of her day at the central railway station or the underground tunnels nearby but dreams of one day having a settled home for her son. These dreams are unlikely to be realised any time soon.
She is one of the many young people eking out a living on Ukraine’s streets who get no care and support. An unsafe social environment and high risk behaviour such as sex work and injecting drugs make young people living in the streets of Ukraine vulnerable to HIV. They are at the heart of an epidemic in the country worst affected by HIV in Europe and yet rarely have access to HIV prevention and treatment services.
One of the central aims of UNICEF in Ukraine is to try to help these most-at-risk young people, especially those who are homeless, to better protect themselves against HIV. Key activities include supporting outreach teams working with street children and adolescents, training social and health care workers and providing access to basic health services, education, training and housing.
According to the latest statistics, in 2006 more than 60% of injection drug users in Kyiv were living with HIV. In 2009, UNICEF conducted a study among street-based adolescents in several regions of Ukraine, which found high rates of drug use by injection, with two thirds of those having reported sharing needles. The study also revealed that one in ten male street adolescents had had sex with another male, often in exchange for money, clothes, or drugs.
Olena Sakovych is a UNICEF youth and adolescent development officer, who works closely with street children, as well as other most-at-risk adolescents. She is fully aware of the extent of the problem, with some young people initiating drug use by injection as early as age 13, and both boys and girls living on the streets often engaging in sex work at a similar age.
“These young people are the missing face of the HIV epidemic in Ukraine,” says Olena. “They need better care and more services. The situation here is critical. One of our main objectives at UNICEF is to make them visible to Ukraine’s political agenda and its AIDS response.”
The findings of the research informed the development of interventions and provision of health and social services to better address the needs of and help adolescents injecting drugs and engaging in sex work. In the city of Mykolyav, for example, outreach workers now recruit young female sex workers to a drop-in centre that offers a safe space, HIV counseling, and referrals to governmental health and social services centres, and non-governmental organizations that provide HIV prevention services, care and support.
Social workers accompany the women to those services, when necessary, which include gynaecological and infectious disease specialists, HIV treatment centres, and legal aid. Demand has far exceeded expectations. It was hoped that 50 under-aged sex workers would be recruited in the first six months. To date, well over a hundred adolescent girls have received services. A client satisfaction survey showed an increase in knowledge about HIV, as well as in motivation to seek help.
"UNICEF will continue to advocate for, and to support, country efforts to increase understanding of the epidemic and HIV prevention, protection, care and support services for most-at-risk adolescents,” says Susan Kasedde, UNICEF Senior Specialist on HIV Prevention among Adolescents. “In countries like Ukraine, until such services are made available, national epidemics cannot be stopped."
To this end, UNICEF promotes mobilization of governmental leadership; national and local political and community support; legislative and policy changes to enable wider access to HIV prevention and care services for most-at-risk adolescents, and strong partnership between the United Nations, government, civil society, young people themselves and people living with HIV.
“Ensuring that those most vulnerable to HIV infection like, young people on the streets, injecting drug users, those engaging in sex work, and men who have sex with men, have access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services is both a human right and a way to finally reverse the spread of the HIV epidemic,” says UNAIDS Country Coordinator Ani Shakarishvili. “Ukraine is continuing to make progress towards universal access but far more needs to be done. Strong political leadership and commitment will guarantee success. “
UNAIDS
12 March 2010
For link please click HERE
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SOS Children's Villages
Chile update
With Concepción still dealing with aftershocks, damaged infrastructure
intermittent breakdown of communication networks and a dearth of
adequate relief supplies, SOS Children’s Villages is providing
invaluable support to the people still coming to terms with the effects
of the earthquake.
The supply situation is critical in Concepción. Despite governmental
help arriving, so far it has been in an insufficient scope and only
reached the most affected victims. A supply bridge between SOS
Children’s Village Chaimávida and SOS Children’s Village Concepción has
been settled, which has begun providing food, water, flour, hygienic
articles and others, in collaboration with the other nearest SOS
Children’s Villages. The huge damages to the infrastructure in the
region of Concepción hamper the mobility a lot, many bridges have
collapsed and a curfew is still imposed.
The first Family Strengthening Programme teams have arrived in
Concepción with the aim to establish the programmes for crisis
intervention and to develop a daily care programme for the children from
the community.
Direct help for the neighbouring communities has started. According to
the assessment of the emergency team, some 600 children will be
supported in Concepción. SOS Children’s Villages has activated its
network with community leaders, institutions of the church and others
with the purpose of identifying the most vulnerable families.
Due to the breakdown of much infrastructure it has taken some time for
all SOS Children’s Villages workers to be contacted.
The houses of some suffered structural damages while some of them had
some personal injuries, but nothing serious. There were reports of some
attempted looting and disorder in other areas of the country, such as
Curicó, a city which was also affected seriously by the earthquake.
Now that the communications have gradually improved in the areas of
disaster, it has been possible to get into contact with the biological
families of several children of the different SOS Children’s Villages.
However, as yet it hasn’t been possible to contact some biological
families whose children are in the process of family reintegration
ordered by the National Service of the Youth Welfare, because those
children were not in their villages at the day of the disaster. A
vehicle has been organised that is dedicated exclusively to the search
of these families.
While the various more practical relief efforts are being mobilised, SOS
Children’s Villages is simultaneously setting up measures to deal with
the more personal fallout of the quake. In order to ease the
post-traumatic symptoms of children and staff, SOS Children’s Villages
Chile has asked the University of Concepción for psychological
assistance.
With the arrival of more SOS staff in the affected region, the support
for the programmes and the emergency team has been reinforced; SOS
mothers and family assistants are receiving special support in their
care for the traumatised children.
Francis
11 March 2010
http://www.goallover.org/?p=5886
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The ARISE program reaches historic milestone in Florida’s juvenile justice system where delinquent youth are held in custody statewide.
The strength-based ARISE group sessions last approximately one hour and focus on what the youth are doing right, not on anti-social activities or infractions. The ARISE model is based on discovering, highlighting and rewarding individual strengths. Juvenile offenders are guided by ARISE Group Facilitators through easily understood, interactive, real-world life lessons created specifically for those working with aggressive, academically, motivationally and emotionally challenged youth.
Since 1996 the innovative ARISE Intervention/Reentry Program has trained and certified over 5000 Florida Department of Juvenile Justice officers and staff in both residential and detention facilities. This small army of dedicated professionals has gone on to teach over 4,000,000 documented hours of social and life skills to detained youth with the goal of reducing negative behavior and recidivism.
This record-breaking month of 26,955 hours of group instruction comes as ever increasing numbers of juvenile justice officers complete the formal 14-hour ARISE Life-Skills Group Facilitator training. The staff is able to deal more confidently with the young women and men in their custody through a better understanding of how to build positive relationships and respond to the needs of troubled youth. ARISE staff training also provides strategies and tools for making a difference in their own lives.
The unique ARISE curriculum is part of a comprehensive strength-based approach to providing at-risk detained youth with the core skills needed to succeed in a world that demands law-abiding behavior. The unique, easy-to-understand, attention-grabbing ARISE life-skills lessons are the basis of the approach. A crucial part of the ARISE program is the training of juvenile justice staff who work directly with the youth. ARISE equips each Life-Skills Group Facilitator with the knowledge, tools and confidence to engage in successful interventions with the youth. They are trained to generate participation and enthusiasm in youth who often prefer facing a dentist’s drill to any formal learning experience. Youth engaged in the ARISE group sessions feel safe and comfortable expressing themselves, and facilitators listen non-judgmentally. Criticism is unacceptable.
Since 1986, ARISE, a nonprofit foundation, has functioned as a developer and publisher of unique life-management skills curricula and staff training programs for staff responsible for overseeing at-risk, incarcerated youth in detention centers, secure and day treatment facilities. ARISE provides much needed structure to well-meaning but often disorganized programs, moving away from lectures and into dynamic group conversations conducted by ARISE-trained group facilitators. Youth talk about their own life experiences and learn from others’ mistakes. The ARISE library of life-skills books is continually updated with current statistics, inspirational biographies and original short stories designed to keep learners totally engaged in the ARISE group discussions.
In addition to the above achievements, ARISE recently opened to the general public its brand new online Life Skills Supermarket at www.at-riskyouth.org. Now youth-centered organizations have immediate access to the hugely popular evidence-based ARISE curriculum specifically developed for use with troubled children, adolescents and young adults. There are two options for purchase: the traditional, beautifully bound hard copies of the ARISE books, or the digital e-books, which are available instantly at half the price of their bound counterparts.
Since ARISE was established over two decades ago, it has trained and certified 5,760 ARISE Life-Skills Group Facilitators who have conducted over 4,055,708 documented hours of ARISE life-skills lessons in almost all 50 states. ARISE has been used successfully in Canada, Jamaica, England, Australia, Bahamas, Bermuda, New Zealand, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Bosnia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Botswana and the Kingdom of Bahrain. Requests for ARISE material and translation have also come in from as far away as Pakistan, South Africa, Cambodia, India, Singapore and China.
Press release PR*URGENT
10 March 2010
http://www.prurgent.com/2010-03-10/pressrelease82792.htm
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USA
New report is the first to quantify economic impact of inpatient psychiatric facilities
Beyond the clinical contributions they make to improving the lives of individuals experiencing the most severe mental and addictive disorders, inpatient psychiatric facilities nationwide add substantially to the economic well-being of the United States, according to a report from Dobson DaVanzo & Associates, LLC, conducted for the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS). This is the first such study to explore the total economic contributions of both psychiatric hospitals (including nongovernmental psychiatric hospitals, psychiatric units in general hospitals, and state hospitals) and residential treatment centers. The Economic Impact of Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities: A National and State-level Analysis is available at www.naphs.org.
The study makes two key points. First, inpatient behavioral health facilities play a critical role in serving individuals with severe and debilitating diseases. "Taken together, the findings of this report indicate that 24-hour behavioral health services are fundamental community services providing a specific level of care, which is not otherwise available," said the researchers. "These services are required by many individuals with complex mental and addictive disorders, especially under crisis conditions." Second, inpatient behavioral health providers contribute significantly to the economic well being of the country.
"In an era where demand for mental health and addictions services is increasing, investing in inpatient behavioral health care is a win-win situation for those who so desperately need this care and for the economy where job creation is a top priority," said NAPHS President/CEO Mark Covall in releasing the study.
"As organizations that serve some of the most vulnerable and at-risk populations, we are proud that our work has a ripple effect that extends far beyond the walls of our facilities," added NAPHS Board Chair Kevin P. Sheehan. Mr. Sheehan is chairman, CEO, and president of Youth and Family Centered Services in Austin, TX. "In fact, this study shows that residential treatment centers and psychiatric hospitals have a powerful impact on the overall economy, with a multiplier of 2.97 at the national level." Typically, multipliers for other industries range in size from 1.5 to just under 3.0, according to the report.
Key findings are:
All inpatient psychiatric facilities nationwide have combined total direct expenditures of $20.6 billion and directly employ approximately 223,000 people.
The $20.6 billion in direct expenditures for inpatient psychiatric facilities (which represents approximately one percent of U.S. healthcare expenditures) translates to a total economic impact of $61.2 billion on the U.S. economy. That is, for every dollar spent by inpatient psychiatric facilities, the national economy realizes $2.97.
The direct employment of approximately 223,000 jobs for inpatient psychiatric facilities translates to a total employment impact of more than 477,000 jobs. That is, for every job created by inpatient psychiatric facilities, 2.14 jobs are created in the national labor market.
Every Medicaid dollar spent in each state is matched by the federal government and creates a "super multiplier." For example, each Medicaid dollar spent on inpatient psychiatric hospitals,(1) with a match of 50 percent in a state with a base multiplier of 2.00, has a "super multiplier" of 4.00, creating $4.00 in the state economy. Although data were not available to conduct a state-level analysis of residential treatment centers, the "super multiplier" effect for residential treatment center expenditures would likely be comparable.
The researchers used a proprietary economic model known as IMPLAN to estimate the economic contribution of more than 2,250 inpatient psychiatric facilities to the entire U.S. economy and, for psychiatric hospitals, to state economies.
SOURCE National Association of Psychiatric
Health Systems (PR Newswire)
9 March 2010
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29 college students receive national community service award
The National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS) and America’s Promise Alliance are pleased to announce 29 NSCS members have been awarded Scholar of Promise Awards for their commitment to youth-related service. Full list of recipients: www.nscs.org/awards/scholar-promise.
NSCS members are awarded the Scholar of Promise Award when they complete 50 hours of youth-related service in a year. Together, this year’s recipients have completed more than 1,450 hours of service. Volunteers worked with many youth organizations including the Boys and Girls Club, American Legion Jersey Boys State, Girl and Boy Scouts of America and many more to contribute to the development and education of elementary, middle and high school students across the nation.
NSCS is an honors organization for high-achieving freshmen and sophomores at more than 240 universities across the country. America’s Promise Alliance is a cross-sector partnership of more than 350 corporations, nonprofits, faith-based organizations and advocacy groups that work together to improve lives and change outcomes for children and youth.
NSCS has managed the Scholar of Promise program since 2001. Since then, NSCS Scholars of Promise have contributed more than 78,000 hours in youth-related service. “From the time of our founding in 1994, service has been one of three pillars of our organization, “said Stephen E. Loflin, NSCS’ Executive Director and Founder. “That’s why we’re honored to partner with the America’s Promise Alliance in recognizing these students for their service.”
“Service is a cornerstone of our work at the Alliance and a proven strategy for keeping young people in school,” said Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO, America’s Promise Alliance. “That’s why we’re so pleased to partner with NSCS to honor these Scholars of Promise—young people who are leading by example and helping both their peers and communities succeed.”
Source: The National Society of Collegiate
Scholars (PR,com)
6 March 2010
http://www.pr.com/press-release/217479
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CANADA
Mandarin partners with Big Brothers Big Sisters
Mandarin Restaurants have once again partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada to offer some good fortune for kids. During the entire month of March, Mandarin will donate the proceeds of each child's buffet meal sold at any of their 21 locations across Southern Ontario to the children's charity. The total contribution will amount to $25,000 which will benefit thousands of children and provide some necessary resources to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada and its alumni program.
Big Brothers Big Sisters Alumni is a program that connects with all new and past Big Brothers Big Sisters participants from across the country. By connecting with all "Bigs and Littles", the Alumni program is giving them the opportunity to continue to experience many of the benefits from their involvement and become an invaluable resource to helping benefit thousands of Canadian girls and boys. "We are very pleased that we are once again partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters", says George Chiu, Vice-President and Chairman of Mandarin Charitable Foundation." To date, close to 15000 volunteers have registered and are sharing their stories and experiences, promoting the mentoring movement in their community and supporting their local agency.
Everyone that is currently or has been involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters is invited to register with the Alumni program. Individuals can register online at www.bbbsalumni.ca and each member will receive an official Big Brothers Big Sisters Alumni lapel pin, simply for registering. They will be kept aware of news and events, share their own inspirational stories and perhaps even reconnect with a long lost Big or Little.
For nearly a century, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada has been the leading child and youth mentoring organization in Canada. Its 135 agencies provide a range of quality one-to-one mentoring programs to children and youth in over 1000 communities across the country. Being matched with a friend who listens and spends quality time with a child gives that child a sense of value and worth. That special trusting relationship can foster and increase self-confidence, resiliency, contributing to the ability of at-risk children and youth to overcome the hardships and adversity they face in their daily lives. As a result, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada's programs have proven instrumental in reducing truancy, bullying, early school leaving, delinquency and substance abuse.
Release: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada,
marketwire
3 March 2010
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Mandarin-partners-with-Big-Brothers-Big-Sisters-1125993.htm
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Preventing youth obesity and depression with smartphones
Can texting and snapping photos with a smartphone change the lives of youth trying to avoid obesity and depression? Health Equity Institute (HEI) and Communications Studies researchers are about to find out.
Biology Professor in Residence at SF State’s HEI, Katherine Kim, and Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Christina Sabee are co-investigators on a two-year study to test the use of smartphones to manage the food choices and physical activity of 100 overweight teens from low-income neighborhoods in San Francisco. The study, funded with $480,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Project HealthDesign, will focus on youth who are at risk of depression and are being treated for weight issues at a San Francisco clinic.
The study was developed by Kim and colleagues at San Francisco General Hospital's Family Health Clinic. Kim will oversee development of the system and analyze the usefulness of technology to improve health. Sabee, whose research focuses on uses of the Internet, will study the way the process impacts patient and provider communication.
Patients selected for the study will capture information relevant to their health goals, such as snapshots of the food they are eating, their social networks and other things not typically shared with doctors. The information recorded daily by patients on their phones will be entered on a secure Web site. Researchers, clinicians and patients will be able to monitor the daily observations, but patient confidentiality will be observed. "This work will put the control of health decisions in the patients' hands and will extend the support of the clinicians beyond the clinic's boundaries," Kim said. "We also hope that the patients will become more aware and responsible for their own health."
According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the number of overweight children ages 6 to 11 jumped from 7 to 19 percent between a 1980 investigation and 2003. The percentage of overweight adolescents ages 12 to 19 tripled from 5 percent to 17 percent. The federal government has since set a national goal to lower these percentages.
"I am delighted to see this project move forward," said Cynthia Gomez, director of the Health Equity Institute. "It has the potential to make meaningful changes in the lives of people who are typically underserved by the health care system, and it is a perfect example of the kind of collaborative, inventive and innovative research we conduct at the HEI."
The HEI team is one of five from universities across the U.S. selected to explore how patient-recorded observations of daily living can improve the treatment of chronic medical problems. These studies are part of Project HealthDesign: Rethinking the Power and Potential of Personal Health Records, a national program developed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to explore how personal technology can help people become more informed patients and better consumers of health care. Kim and her team will provide frequent updates about their work through the Project HealthDesign blog and other interactive features.
Release: San Francisco State Univrsity
3 March 2010
http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/2010/spring/21.html
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CANADA
Band-aid funding an injustice to vulnerable children
Today, front line Children's Aid workers will ask local MPP Leona Dombrowsky to come to the aid of vulnerable children and families by pressing the government to fix a faulty funding formula that has kept Children Aid Societies in a funding crisis for years.
"In 2006, the government legislated CAS's to do much more to improve safety and better outcomes for children and families, but has not kept up its side of the equation with adequate funding," says Mark Zwart CUPE 2197 President representing front line workers at the Hastings Children's Aid Society. "We're calling on our MPP to step up and advocate for long-term provincial funding in the coming provincial budget to sustain child welfare programs in our community,"
Since October 2009, CAS's across Ontario have operated under a collective budget deficit of approximately $67 million at 37 agencies. Last week, Children and Youth minister Laurel Broten announced $22.5 million in 'mitigation' funding for 26 agencies. This funding provides only a stop-gap and leaves agencies considering program closures in order to address ongoing and compounding funding shortfalls. CAS agencies need stable long term funding to be able to protect children.
Provincial child welfare workers believe provincial legislation changes to improve child safety and care are positive and have resulted in CAS's being better able to protect and support vulnerable children. While agencies and workers have strived to better support children and their families the provincial government fails to fund at a level to support their own initiatives and legislation.
CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn says, "There is no excuse for the government to cut the very supports that allow at-risk children to flourish. Overall provincial child welfare (2008/09) spending only represented 1.2% of the Ontario government's (2008/09) program spending."
"Investing in social services like the CAS not only meets community and social needs, it delivers strong economic stimulus – it is both a deficit and poverty fighting measure," says Hahn. "These investments are a critical underpinning for Ontario's economic recovery. Doing what's right for children is what the priority must be."
Press release: PR-USA.Net
2 March 2010
http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=341747&Itemid=95
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GEMS testifies at Senate hearing on sex trafficking of children in the United States
Rachel Lloyd, the executive director of GEMS: Girls Educational & Mentoring Services, testifies at the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law Hearing: "In Our Own Backyard: Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in the United States".
Statements were heard from Committee Members, The Honorable Patrick Leahy (Vermont), The Honorable Russ Feingold (Wisconsin), and The Honorable Richard J. Durbin (Illinois) with additional testimony from United States Senator for the State of Oregon, The Honorable Ron Wyden, Ambassador-at-Large, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking In Persons, Luis CdeBaca, U.S. Attorney Western District of Missouri, Beth Phillips, Cook County State's Attorney, Anita Alvarez, and GEMS Youth Outreach Worker and Trafficking Survivor, Shaquana.
“Trafficking in human lives is the world's fastest growing criminal enterprise, victimizing children, women, and men throughout the world. It is easy to pretend that such an abhorrent practice does not exist here in our own country, but the sad truth is that the United States is not immune. We must do all we can to end human trafficking in the United States and around the world,” said Senator Leahy who worked with then-Senator and now Vice President Biden, Senator Brownback and Senator Wellstone on the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000 which aimed to protect victims of human trafficking.
Rachel Lloyd is the founder and executive director of GEMS, the nation's largest non-profit organization designed to service and empower American girls and young women, ages 12-21, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking. “In Our Own Backyard” is a fitting title for this hearing as every day GEMS sees the commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children in New York, and as a national trainer and advocate sees the exploitation of children in every community across the country. Yet for many years the approach to this issue has been “Not in My Backyard”. Trafficking and sexual exploitation has been something that people believed, or wanted to believe, happened in other places. Yet there are an estimated 100,000 children bought and sold for commercial sex in the US and an estimated 300,000 children are at risk for commercial sexual exploitation each year,” testified Lloyd, a recognized expert on the issue of domestic human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children.
Shaquana, a 19 year old survivor of commercial sexual exploitation who was lured and manipulated at 14 into the trade, shared her experience as a child trafficking victim before the Committee. Through GEMS services and leadership training, Shaquana now educates at-risk girls and young women throughout New York City as a GEMS youth outreach worker and graduated as her high school’s valedictorian. She is now a college sophomore majoring in liberal arts.
“Today’s hearing signifies how far we have come in beginning to address this issue. The attention of the federal government is critical in addressing this issue and the presence of representatives from law enforcement, the Department of Justice and the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Office demonstrates significant progress in the recognition of what’s happening to children in our own backyard,” concluded Lloyd.
For information about GEMS, visit: www.gems-girls.org
Press release: PRLog
26 February 2010
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