news & updates Weekly Briefings Weekly Briefing: Volume 2, Number 15
| Welcome to The Weekly Briefing, featuring news from Children's Futures, updates about our community partners' activities and links to recent news articles about early childhood health and development. |
| Weekly Briefing: Volume 2, Number 15 |
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April 18 to April 25, 2008In This Issue
Impact of Children's FuturesCF's CEO Partners Work to Ensure Protections for Children Monthly CEO Partners' Meetings offer an opportunity for CF's lead collaborating agencies to raise issues impacting Trenton's children and families and develop solutions together. Recently the CEO Partners discussed the need to find safeguards to ensure protections for children are in place in child care settings. This served as the impetus for CEO Partner Nancy Thomson, Executive Director of the Child Care Connection, to provide background on two issues to both New Jersey Child Advocate Dr. Susan Hodgson and Acting Department of Children and Families (DCF) Commissioner Eileen Crummy. Representing the New Jersey Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies during testimony at DCF's budget hearing last week, Ms. Thomson shared the concern that New Jersey is one of a handful of states that does not require criminal background checks and fingerprinting of its family child care providers. She noted, "Most parents make an incorrect assumption that providers are carefully screened before becoming a State-registered family child care provider....the time has come for all children to have this basic protection." Her recommendations included support of criminal background checks and fingerprint checks of all family child care providers, their household residents and substitutes, whether they are State registered or voluntarily unregistered. She also recommended the posting of all child care center violation reports on the internet, so parents can make informed child care choices for their children. Nancy Thomson told the Weekly Briefing that the ability to share ideas with her CEO colleagues helps identify problems, promote solutions and ultimately strengthen the CF collaborative. At the Mercer County Human Advisory Council Legislative Breakfast in mid-May, similar child care safety concerns will be formally presented to local legislative representatives. To reach Ms. Thomson, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Trenton Activities to Underscore "Cover the Uninsured Week"
Support for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's national Cover the Uninsured project will be in evidence during a health fair for residents at Children's Futures' newest South Ward Parent/Child Center at El Centro/Catholic Charities on Saturday, May 3 on 327 South Broad Street (see information in the calendar section below). Another health fair presented by WellCare and the Department of Community Affairs will be held this Saturday, April 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Grant School at 159 North Clinton Avenue. This Saturday and next Saturday's events will provide free health screenings and information about securing health insurance to uninsured and underserved members of the Trenton community. Both events are free. Cover the Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. For more information about this Saturday's event at Grant School, please contact Luisa Robinson at 609-392-2446. For more information about the Health Fair at Children's Futures' newest South Ward Parent/Child Center at El Centro/Catholic Charities on May 3, please contact Sandra Pinto at 609-394-3617. To learn more about the Cover the Uninsured project, please visit CoverTheUninsured.org. New Jersey's Senators Will Co-Sponsor Healthy Families Reauthorization During the National Healthy Start Association's Annual Spring Conference last week in Washington, D.C., a group of Trenton nurses, social workers, and parents led by Children's Futures' Healthy Start Project Director June Gray met to update New Jersey representatives and their staffs about the progress of Trenton's Healthy Start program Children's Futures Healthy Start program is a comprehensive community-wide project that integrates the Healthy Start core services--consortium, outreach/client recruitment/ universal screening, case management/care coordination, and health/parenting education within Trenton's integrated perinatal health care system. During a Congressional reception last week, Senator Frank Lautenberg told the Trenton group that he and Senator Robert Menendez agreed to join as co-sponsors of the Healthy Start Reauthorization Act, which continues funding for Healthy Start projects. Other members of CF's group included Brenda Tift, Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies Coalition Coordinator; Rachel Hansen, Nurse Family Partnership Supervisor; Sue Maloney, Healthy Families Supervisor; and Trenton consumers Yamina Crosland and Valerie Riley and their children.
Parents Learn About the Detection and Prevention of HIV Educating the community about HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the goal of Sista, a program for the prevention of HIV infections. A dozen moms have been meeting at CF's South Ward Parent/Child Center at El Centro/Catholic Charities for a series of sessions to help educate themselves and others about HIV. During the sessions, facilitator Marisol Flores from the City of Trenton discusses how HIV is transmitted, common myths about HIV infection and what really happens when someone becomes infected. Participants are also encouraged to be assertive in their relationships and protect themselves. Free HIV testing is also offered to attendees. This program is the first group of its type offered for residents in Spanish. In addition to becoming educated about HIV, participants also agree to communicate the facts about HIV to their relatives and friends. According to Client Services Coordinator Sandra Pinto, "El Centro/ Children's Futures South Ward on South Broad Street is pleased to be able to collaborate with the City to inform the community and prevent HIV infections."
Links to News ArticlesHealth Care Insurance Gaps Affect All of Us Crean Centro de Apoyo Para Familias Testing Blood Leads to Diagnosis of Anemia Community ActivitiesIsles, Inc. is providing dust sampling in 115 homes to determine if hazardous lead levels are present. If high levels are found, Isles will counsel parents about next steps including---protecting their children, speaking to a landlord, working with a city housing inspector, and applying for loans or grants to make a home lead safe. For more information, please call 609-341-4703. The New Jersey State Parent and Information Resource Center, a program of Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey, has valuable services available for schools and community agencies (including FREE workshops for parents to support parental involvement efforts) Workshops are provided on a first-come, first-serve basis with priority given to schools/agencies that can gather more than 30 parents per session. For more information please call 732-246-8060 ext. 110. To receive workshop application forms, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it CitySmiles Offers Information About Programs Throughout the Year for Children and Families: For more information about fun and educational programs for children and parents contact CitySmiles at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit CitySmiles.org CF Center-Based Programs for Parents and Children: Free programs at Children's Futures' centers provide expectant parents and parents of newborns and toddlers with opportunities to enhance their parenting knowledge and skills. Children's Futures' partners offer these sessions to improve literacy, promote nutrition, build children's musical awareness and encourage parent/child bonding. For more information, please call Tonya Bellamy at 609-695-1977 (ext. 109) or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The next Weekly Briefing will include English and Spanish versions of the May 2008 calendar. April 2008Saturday, April 26:
Sunday, April 27:
May 2008Friday, May 2:
Saturday, May 3:
Monday, May 5:
Thursday, May 8:
Friday, May 16:
Thursday, May 22:
Thursday, May 29:
Saturday, May 31:
June 2008Saturday, June 7:
Sunday, June 8:
Saturday, June 14:
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For a complete calendar of events, please refer to our calendar page.
About Children's Futures
Established in 2001 with major support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Children's Futures is a nonprofit organization that works city-wide in Trenton, N.J. to improve child health and development outcomes. Through an unprecedented collaboration among public agencies and nonprofit organizations, Children's Futures seeks to strengthen parenting, increase access to primary quality health care and child care systems, and increase social supports for families, so that every child in Trenton enters preschool healthy and ready to learn.
About The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years, the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime.