NCCP Insight: The National Institution for Children in Poverty

The National Institution for Children In Poverty NCCP

is a wonderful institution, that is really dedicated to helping youth and families.  Below are the aspects of the

the institution that I feel will help me understand issues in my current profession, because I work with children

who are considered to be at or below the poverty line.

Project Thrive

Project Thrive is a public policy analysis and education initiative at NCCP to promote healthy child development and to provide policy support to the State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) initiatives funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

Part of NCCP’s longstanding commitment to promote improved state early childhood policies and practices, the goal of Project Thrive is to help states strengthen and expand their early childhoodsystems, paying particular attention to strategies that improve services for those at highest risk and that help reduce disparities in access and quality of care to early childhood health and mental health.

Project Thrive seeks to ensure that infants, young children, and their families have access to:

·         Integrated high-quality health care and medical homes;

·         Early care and education;

·         Social-emotional and mental health programs;

·         Family support; and

·         Parenting education.

The project’s Virtual Policy-Sharing Network links stakeholders with shared concerns on a regular basis. Project resources include documents responsive to field needs (e.g.,  "Short Takes"), Policy-Sharing Roundtables, and online data and analytic tools.

Promoting Social Inclusion and Respect for Diversity in Early Childhood

Promoting Social Inclusion and Respect for Diversity is a two-year action research study of the formation of regional coalitions of researchers, policymakers, practitioners, evaluators, advocates, and funders to promote social inclusion and respect for diversity (SI & RD) in early childhood education in the U.S.

The role of the regional coalitions is to support, strengthen and refine already existing SI & RD efforts with young children in the Northwest and Rocky Mountain West (Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska) and the Southeast (North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi), and develop infrastructure for a more purposeful, concerted expansion of work. The project also mobilizes national organizations and other stakeholders, synthesizes and translates research findings about promoting SI & RD in early childhood, and is implementing a web-based dissemination strategy.

Following an action-research approach, the project facilitates the collective formulation and implementation of an approach, strategies, a plan for action – which may cover the areas of research, practice, policy analysis and policymaking, training and professional development, and parent involvement – a timetable for implementation, and performance indicators.

 

 

 

Improving the Odds for Young Children

Improving the Odds for Young Children shines a spotlight on state variation in the policy commitment to low-income young children and families. The result is a unique, state-by-state picture of the population of young children and the policy choices that states make across a range of services.

The project provides state-specific and national profiles that integrate data about an array of policies that affect early childhood development.  These policies fall into three categories: health and nutrition, early care and learning, and parenting and economic supports. Descriptions of the policies and the research base for their effectiveness can be found in the User Guide to the State Early Childhood Profiles.

The 2007 report State Early Childhood Policies summarizes state-level policy choices at the national level, and sets a benchmark for future reports.

The state profiles can be readily used by legislators, the business community, and others looking for a quick yet comprehensive overview of a state’s efforts to promote healthy development and school readiness. The project also conducts ongoing analyses to highlight both policy opportunities and challenges to improve the odds for young children.

Early Care and Learning

The achievement gap for low-income young children starts early in life and is difficult to reverse. What science tells us about brain development, along with what we know from economic analysis, makes it clear that investing in high-quality early care and learning is essential to reducing this gap.

States as well as communities make important choices about how much they invest in early care and learning strategies that can improve the odds for healthy early childhood development. Research is clear that early school success for low-income young children also depends on efforts to increasefamily economic security.

Strategies to help young children with the social and emotional, language, and academic skills they need to succeed in the early school years are critical across all early care and learning settings, starting with infants and toddlers. Of special concern are young children who experience multiple risks beyond poverty and economic hardship.

Publications

·         Linking Home-Based Child Care And State-Funded Preschool
The Community Connections Preschool Program (Illinois Action for Children)
Report, May 2011

·         Racial Gaps in Early Childhood
Socio-emotional Health, Developmental, and Educational Outcomes Among African-American Boys
Report, May 2011

·         Quality in Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care Settings
Report, May 2011

·         Quality Stars NY
Field Test Evaluation Report
Report, April 2011

·         Putting the Pieces Together
New York Early Learning Program Data Systems
Report, February 2011

All related publications...

Child Poverty

Nearly 15 million children in the United States – 21% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level – $22,050 a year for a family of four. Research shows that, on average, families need an income of about twice that level to cover basic expenses. Using this standard, 42% of children live in low-income families.

Most of these children have parents who work, but low wages and unstable employment leave their families struggling to make ends meet. Poverty can impede children’s ability to learn and contribute to social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Poverty also can contribute to poor health and mental health. Risks are greatest for children who experience poverty when they are young and/or experience deep and persistent poverty.

Research is clear that poverty is the single greatest threat to children’s well-being. But effective public policies – to make work pay for low-income parents and to provide high-quality early care and learning experiences for their children – can make a difference. Investments in the most vulnerable children are also critical.

Publications

·         Who Are America’s Poor Children?
Examining Health Disparities by Race and Ethnicity
Report, July 2011

·         Poor Children by Parents’ Nativity
What Do We Know?
Brief, April 2011

·         Healthy Kids and Strong Working Families
Improving Economic Security for North Dakota Families with Children
Brief, April 2011

·         Who are America’s Poor Children?
The Official Story
Brief, March 2011

·         Who Are America’s Poor Children?
Examining Health Disparities Among Children in the United States
Report, January 2011

·         Basic Facts About Low-income Children, 2009
Children Under Age 3
Fact Sheet, October 2010

·         Basic Facts About Low-income Children, 2009
Children Under Age 6
Fact Sheet, October 2010

·         Basic Facts About Low-income Children, 2009
Children Aged 6 through 11
Fact Sheet, October 2010

Note:   These aspects are useful tools that will engage and extend my learning opportunity so that I can be of help to the families with children that I help serve daily.  Just about everything on this website dealing with poverty is no shock to me. Kids go through a lot. Some do not have food to eat, others do not have housing and many of children are delayed or behind, because when poverty attacks, it affects the whole system.  NCCP Young Leaders is a community of young professionals and graduate students. Through a combination of outreach, education, community service and fundraising initiatives, NCCP Young Leaders generate new and creative ways to continue NCCP’s mission of promoting the economic security, health, and wellbeing of America’s low-income families and children. The "Unclaimed Children Revisited"  was an important part of the NCCP and it does as follows: 

Unclaimed Children Revisited

Unclaimed Children Revisited is a multi-pronged initiative to generate new knowledge about policies across the United States that promote or inhibit the delivery of high-quality mental health services and supports to children, youth, and families in need.

The initiative builds on a framework developed over 25 years ago in a landmark study conducted by NCCP’s former director, Jane Knitzer.  Unclaimed Children Revisited highlights best state policy practice. It places special emphasis on identifying policies that promote developmentally and culturally appropriate services, family and youth engagement, and the effective use of evidence-based services.

Unclaimed Children Revisited includes:

·         a national survey of state child mental health directors;

·         UCR: California Case Study: mental health policies, services, and supports for children and youth in California, with a focus on 11 counties;

·         a case study of outcomes-based management in children’s mental health service delivery in Michigan; and

·         a working paper series on family and youth perspectives, financing, trauma, school-based mental health and cross-systems support of effective practices.

Unclaimed Children Revisited is funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, The California Endowment, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation. The work of the project is guided by national and state advisory committees.

Poverty in Other Countries

Since I have been unsuccessful at reaching my contacts, I chose to do the alternate assignment for this week's blog.

TJ Skalski

TJ Skalski is Principal of The Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School (MECCS), the first Indigenous charter school in Canada. Originally from the Blood Reserve and raised in southern Alberta, she eventually left to complete her education, including a Masters of Education degree.

Surrounded by Mother Nature, MECCS recently moved from Wabamun into the former Saint John’s School of Alberta located 35 minutes southwest of Stony Plain, AB on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River near Genessee. A Program Showcase on MECCS can be found in the January/February 2010 issue of Exchange.

For additional information, go to meccs.org.

Personal Thoughts:

TJ Skalski, who is the principal of the Mother Earth Children's Charter  School in Canada, took some time to explain her role in the child education  and development field.  She spoke about her up-bringing, and how she had  the support of her mom and grandma.  TJ Skalski spoke about how her mom  and grandma were heavily involved with her life, promoting her and teaching  her that she can be and do what she desires. She spoke about "reinvesting in  the our children"  and revitalizing their communities.  TJ Skalski chose to make  a difference by doing her job, because she wants to build dreams, inspire hope,  and teach the children that they can be and do whatever they desire to with the  proper work ethics and determination. China's Poverty: China "The world's most populous country with a population of 1.27 billion in 20011 ,  China has made major strides in poverty reduction in recent years. By 2001  5 per cent of China's population lived below the national poverty line.2  Rural  poverty is estimated to have fallen from 250 million in 1978 to 35 million in 2000  and from 30.7 per cent of the population to 3.7 per cent according to official statistics. 3 Between 4 and 8 per cent of the urban population, somewhere between 15  and 31 million people live in poverty.4 Much of this decline in poverty is due to  far-reaching processes of economic and social transition  However, economic  growth has been slower in Western China, leading to higher poverty rates.  For example, in 1988, a person in the West was 3 times as likely as their  Eastern counterpart to be poor; by 1998, they were 6 times more likely to be  poor.5 This figure shows the enormous rise in inequality in China in recent years  - from one of the most equal societies in the world to one of the most unequal.6  Furthermore, the national poverty line is low by international standards, meaning  that many more people live close to poverty.  China's transition from a centrally  planned to a globalised market economy has helped reduce chronic poverty and  disadvantage, but also created new forms of vulnerability and poverty. Eastern China, in particular, has clearly benefited from controlled liberalisation, and carefully  used foreign investment - China receives more foreign investment than any other  country in the world except for the US.7  At the same time, throughout the country,  adapting to the market and preparing for joining the World Trade Organisation in  2001, has had enormous implications for employment and well-being.  One critical  area of reform is the ongoing restructuring of state-owned enterprises. In 1995-2000,  the state sector lost 31 million jobs. Not enough new jobs in the non-state sector  have yet been created and an estimated 14.6 million are without a full-time job - an  unemployment rate of 12.3 per cent.8   In addition to this, inflation in the early 1990s  and the introduction of charges for health and education services increased pressures  on many households. Liberalisation has also led to massive migration, as over 120  million people have moved to the cities since 1990, in search of better opportunities. Childhood poverty 4.2 million Chinese children live in absolute poverty and 8.7 million live in  disadvantaged conditions.9  Both the absolute numbers and proportion of  children living in poverty have declined over the 1990s. Education and health  levels in China are higher than in many countries with equivalent incomes  -  life expectancy at birth is 71 years, and 85 per cent of the population aged  over 15 are literate. However, improvements in these areas have slowed down  over the 1990s and there are major regional differences. For example, in 1999  the national child mortality rate was 32 per thousand but 47.9 in the West.10   While 80 per cent of Western Chinese children complete primary school, this  is 9 per cent fewer than the national average and 15 per cent fewer than in  Eastern China. Recent studies suggest that the health and education reforms  are reducing poor families' ability to make use of these vital services. For  example, one study in Beijing, China's richest city, found that 75 of poor  families could not afford all children's education costs such as tuition fees  and stationery costs, while 50 per cent of poor families in Shanghai had no  medical insurance because they could not afford it.1"  Below is an active case study for a poor migrant family in China Case Study - Nan Nan China Fourteen-year-old Nan Nan moved to Hefei, the capital of China’s Anhui province,  a year ago. She used to live and go to school in a rural part of Anhui, and is finding \ life in her new school difficult: “I do not like studying at the school in Hefei, I have  no friends here, all my friends are now in Shucheng.  I am regarded as a rural farmer  child.  My schoolmates always laugh at me because of my rural accent.  I am two  years older than the kids in my class, who say I must be stupid because I cannot go  into a higher grade with kids my own age. The teachers do not care much about me.   I always wish I could go back to Shucheng, but my mum and dad told me that if I  study at the school in Hefei, I will receive better teaching and get good grades, and  that I can then have a better life in the future.” Nan Nan used to live in Shucheng, on a rural farm four hours away by train from Hefei.  Her parents migrated to Hefei six years ago.  Her father found a job on a construction  site, and her mother became a roadside fruit vendor.  When Nan Nan’s parents migrated  to Hefei, they left Nan Nan and her brother with their grandparents in Shucheng. Two  years later, Nan Nan’s parents took her brother with them to Hefei, while she stayed on  with her grand parents in the village: “I prefer living with my grandparents in the village.  My parents used to come back every year for a couple of days during Chun Jie (the  Chinese New Year), but they did not have much time to check my schoolwork, and  just used to give me some money when they came back to visit me.  My grandparents  were very nice to me, they never swore at me if I did not get good grades at school,  and I could play with my friends for as long as I wanted.”  Nan Nan has very fond  memories of life in the village. A year ago her parents decided that she too should  join them in Hefei, so Nan Nan moved to the city and to a new school. Talking about the family’s decision to leave Shucheng, Nan Nan’s mother says that  life on the farm was becoming too difficult for her family.  She recalls that they used  to get a very poor harvest every year, earning only 200 RMB1 from every mu2 of their  harvest – that is, 200 RMB gross, without deducting the cost of seeds and chemical  fertilizers. She says they decided to move to Hefei because of the better income-earning  opportunities available there: her husband now earns 800 RMB per month, and she earns  400 RMB. Despite their higher incomes, Nan Nan’s parents still find that life in Hefei is  financially tight. They pay 200 RMB a month to rent their small flat, and since Nan Nan   does not have a Hefei Hukou (a residential permit for Hefei), they are also obliged to pay  a ‘sponsorship fee’ to her school on top of the tuition fees. The family used up all their  savings to buy a Hukou for Nan Nan’s brother, and cannot afford to buy one for Nan Nan too. Life in Hefei has other disadvantages, too. It is not only Nan Nan who has trouble getting along  with people in the city – Nan Nan’s mother has also experienced similar problems: “We do not  have any city friends in Hefei, our friends are rural people like us. We sometimes try to make  friends with city people, but we always feel they are condescending. And people in charge of  the city administration are so tough on us – they take away our vending stall, and charge us a  fee to get our fruit back.” Nan Nan’s father has to stay on the construction site where he works, and he can only visit the  family once a month. Nan Nan lives with her mother and brother in a small, damp and dimly lit  rented flat, which is only about 10 square meters. As there is no toilet in the flat, the family has  to go to the public toilet. The family’s most expensive possession is a television set. Nan Nan’s  mother gets up at 6 o’clock every morning and goes to the wholesale market to buy fruit,  which she then sells on the street.  Nan Nan gets up together with her mother, makes  breakfast for her brother and herself, and then goes to school. Nan Nan’s mother gives her  and her brother 3 RMB every day for buying lunch. Nan Nan cooks the evening meal, as her  mother comes home late, usually around 8 o’clock.  Nan Nan’s mother does not like the fact  that she comes home too late to help her children with their homework in the evening: “Our main  purpose in migrating to Hefei was to make a better life for our children. However, now I am so busy,  I don’t even have time to spend with them, to check how they are doing at school. I sometimes  wonder why we came." Personal Thoughts about the Case Study:  This story listed above is about a migrant family who was from China.    The migrant family moved to find a better life and education for their children.  The children explain how they miss home, friends and family.  The children  explained how they felt like the teacher's did not care about them and how  the other children discriminated against them. After reading about this family,  It was quite apparent that the children who endure poverty as children, have a  higher chance of experiencing adverse affects from poverty throughout life.  In  conclusion, the families overall feeling about the move, which in the beginning  was for better opportunities was in question, and the parents felt that life was  a toss up between education and little to no free time to be a real family in their  new world experience.

Sharing Web Resources: Education Across the Map

NCCP

National Center for Children in Poverty Mailman School of Public Heath ..Columbia University......

http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_968.html 

"The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) is the nation’s leading public policy center dedicated to promoting the economic security, health, and well-being of America’s low-income families and children. NCCP uses research to inform policy and practice with the goal of ensuring positive outcomes for the next generation. We promote family-oriented solutions at the state and national levels.

Our vision:

• Family economic security
• Strong, nurturing families
• Healthy child development

Founded in 1989 as a division of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, NCCP is a nonpartisan, public interest research organization."

Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Young Children in the Child Welfare System

What Every Policymaker Should Know

Authors: Janice L. Cooper, Patti Banghart, and Yumiko Aratani

Publication Date: September 2010more: This is one of the website/resources I am following and i chose to look in on the issue of "Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Young Children in the Child Welfare System".  It is noted that children who experience abuse and neglect early own, have great change of experiencing some sort of mental health issues as adults.   This particular article speaks about the children who are in the social service program, and how though it aims to meet the needs of the children it serves; in most cases very few of the social services programs have met the goals of addressing the mental Health areas affecting children.  This was important to me, because just to today i was sadden by some of the articles surfacing about the mom who took her two  kids into social service and shot them and herself , after being repeatedly denied social service.  I cannot even imagine what those children thought as their own mom, who loved them proceeded to take their lives.  If they had survived their mental state would have been in question, because they endured a horrible journey to death.  Children are being used as scapegoats for reason of poverty, and failure, and their lives are being destroyed daily, some even killed.  There is a major break down and our children need us to do more listening than talking, because if we open our ears and we open our eyes, then we will see the horrible pictures that surround them on a daily bases.

Actual Story

Mother denied welfare benefits shoots her children then kills herself

December 7, 2011  A US woman denied welfare benefits has killed herself and shot her two children after a seven-hour stand-off at a government social services office.  The children, a 10-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl, are in a critical condition, Texas police investigator Joe Baeza said.  The stand-off began about 5pm on Monday.  Mr Baeza said the woman was speaking to two employees when she pulled out a gun and said she wanted to speak to a supervisor. When the supervisor arrived, he convinced her to let the employees go in exchange for keeping him.  Meanwhile, about 25 other people were moved to safety, police said.  Police negotiators stayed on the phone with the woman throughout the evening, but she kept hanging up. She let the supervisor go unharmed about 7.45pm, but stayed inside the office with her children.  After hanging up the phone about 11.45pm, police heard three shots, and a SWAT team entered the building. Inside, they found her body and her two wounded children.  The 38-year-old woman had recently moved to the area from Ohio. She told negotiators about a litany of complaints against state and federal government agencies. It sounded as if she had been denied services several months ago, Mr Baeza said, but it wasn't clear what triggered Monday's stand-off.  "This wasn't like a knee-jerk reaction," Mr Baeza said, adding that the woman felt she was owed restitution of some sort.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/mother-denied-welfare-benefits-shoots-her-children-then-kills-herself-20111207-1ohqy.html#ixzz1jU

The Harlem Children's Zone

Harlem Children's Zone, Inc. has experienced incredible growth - from the number of children we serve to the breadth of our services. But one thing has stayed the same: the agency's "whatever it takes" attitude when it comes to helping children to succeed.

The organization began 1970 as Rheedlen, working with young children and their families as the city's first truancy-prevention program.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, the crack epidemic tore through Harlem; open-air drug markets flourished while families disintegrated. While many inside and outside Harlem gave up hope, HCZ's staff believed that new approaches were necessary.

In 1991, the agency was among the first in the city to open a Beacon center. Our Countee Cullen Community Center turned a public school that used to shut its door at the end of the school day into a community center offering a range of services and activities on nights, weekends and summers.

In the 1990s, to help keep local schools safe, the Peacemakers program began placing AmeriCorps participants in classrooms. These young people were a welcome presence assisting teachers during the school day and then running programs after school.

The beginning of the Children's Zone^®

In the early 1990s, HCZ ran a pilot project that brought a range of support services to a single block. The idea was to address all the problems that poor families were facing: from crumbling apartments to failing schools, from violent crime to chronic health problems.

HCZ created a 10-year business plan, then to ensure its best-practice programs were operating as planned, HCZ was in the vanguard of nonprofits that began carefully evaluating and tracking the results of their work. Those evaluation results enabled staff to see if programs were achieving their objectives and to take corrective actions if they were not.

In 1997, the agency began a network of programs for a 24-block area: the Harlem Children's Zone Project. In 2007, the Zone Project grew to almost 100 blocks. Today the Children's Zone^®serves more than 8,000 children and 6,000 adults. Overall, the organization serves more than 10,000 children and more than 7,400 adults.  The FY 2010 budget for the agency overall is over $75 million.

This organization really touched my heart, because it reaches out to all that are need to advance the family, the children and provide them with the skills needed to succeed.  I especially liked the video insert about "Transforming Public Housing".  Basically the founder, sought to educate herself and return to do the work in the Harlem communities.  Dissatisfied with the outcome of children seeking much needed services, she decide to bring the services to them. The children get help with homework, they educate them on issues affect them today, they have access to art, music, cooking etc, all of which is free.   What makes this organization  unique,  is that it did not accept failure, but rather, met the needs of the children/families head on.  The Harlem Children's Zone goes the extra mile, to save America's children.

I think all the Harlem Children's Zone, and the NCCP are direct example of the topic for this week, which is:  Changing Demographics and Diversity.  The organizations are trying to transform the mind, the environment and opportunities for children and families it serves/educates.

The Mission Statement of the CAYC:

"The CAYC exists to provide a voice on critical issues related to the quality of life of all young children and families.

What is the CAYC?

"The Canadian Association for Young Children (CAYC) was granted it's Federal Charter in 1974. To this day, the CAYC is the only national association specifically concerned with the well being of children, birth through age nine - at home, in preschool settings and at school.

Members of this multi-disciplinary association include parents, teachers, caregivers, administrators, students and all those wishing to share ideas and participate in activities related to the education and welfare of young children.

The Aim of CAYC:

 To influence the direction and quality of policies and programs that affects the development and well being of young children in Canada.

 To provide as forum for the members of Canada’s early childhood communities to support one another in providing developmentally appropriate programs for young children.

 To promote and provide opportunities for professional development for those charged with the care and education of young children.

 To promote opportunities for effective liaison and collaboration with all those responsible for young children.

 To recognize outstanding contributions to the well being of young children.

 To recognize outstanding contributions to the well being of young children."

Recent issues of interest to me are their educational links which cover everything from child abuse, to eduating parents and childcare providers on how to teach and invest in children.