news & updates Weekly Briefings Weekly Briefing: Volume 2, Number 20
| 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 20 |
 |
 |
 |
June 6, 2008
In This Issue
Impact of Children's FuturesCF Board Salutes Melinda Green for Service to Trenton's Children and Families Children's Futures' Board of Directors praised CF Vice President Melinda Green for her efforts to enhance the health and well-being of Trenton's children and families. "Helping implement new child care and parenting programs for thousands of Trenton families is just one result of her dedicated commitment," noted Children's Futures' Board Chair and former New Jersey Commissioner of Health Christine M. Grant. Ms. Green, who announced her resignation effective June 30th, will become a Boston-based consultant beginning this summer. At Children's Futures, she has directed the development of the early care and education initiatives, including: child care systems, child and family literacy, leadership and capacity building efforts for Trenton nonprofit organizations; and the CF grant-making process. "Melinda Green has a passion for children and making sure they have the tools they need to reach their fullest potential from the very start. She has had a major impact on every aspect of our work," said Children's Futures' President and Board Member Floyd K. Morris, Jr. Prior to joining CF, she served as the director for the African-American Early Childhood Resource Center at the Washington, D.C.-based National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI). Ms. Green also spent a decade as executive director of the Child Care Connection (CCC), the regional child care resource and referral agency located in Mercer County that now administers the Children's Futures' child care quality improvement program. She has also held positions in the early care and education field including work as a therapeutic teacher of preschool neurologically impaired and disabled children. Ms. Green is a past president of the board of directors of the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Princeton Area Community Foundation. Ms. Green will be honored by Children's Futures and its community partners at a reception being planned for June 27th. For more information, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Trenton Reads Debuts This Weekend at Heritage Days A citywide literacy initiative launches this weekend at Trenton Heritage Days with programs for the entire family. Trenton Mayor and Children's Futures' Board Member Douglas H. Palmer said the Trenton READS initiative, "... will create community-based approaches that encourage our entire city to read." Families coming to the Trenton READS tent (located on West State Street between the Statehouse and Thomas Edison State College) will be treated to a free book distribution, hourly children's book readings, and opportunities to participate in arts and crafts activities based on the books that are being read. Reading pledge cards will also be available for children and adults who promise to participate in a summer reading program. Spearheaded by the Mercer County Workforce Investment Board (WIB), other organizations collaborating on the early childhood literacy sub-committee with Children's Futures include the College of New Jersey, the Trenton Board of Education, Child Care Connection, the Trenton Public Library, Mercer Street Friends, and Camp Fire USA. Representatives from these organizations have been working on the Early Childhood Sub-Committee to address language development, vocabulary building and other skills critical to a child's growth and development. Early childhood literacy is part of Children's Futures' work in Trenton to ensure school readiness.
Students Display Media Savvy Presenting CF-Inspired Projects On Tuesday evening, Trenton Central High School students presented their Trenton Youth Communications Partnership (TYCP) media showcase projects to a large crowd of business leaders, media representatives, educators and parents. During a 12-week Trenton Public Education Foundation (TPEF) mentoring program, the students visited media outlets, advertising agencies and agency marketing departments to learn about effectively communicating stories through the media and other avenues. The final showcase projects were based on health topics provided by Children's Futures and judged on content, creativity and presentation quality. Uniquea Antley, mentored by Children's Futures with support from Melinda Green, Joyce Kersey and Iris Rawls, won first prize (a laptop computer and printer) in the competition. In her presentation, Uniquea described how implementing a city-wide "greening initiative" could contribute to safe and healthy environments for Trenton's children and families. Dr. George Pruitt, President of Thomas Edison State College (TESC), surprised two of the top four competitors by awarding them paid summer internships at TESC. In addition to Children's Futures, partners in this mentor-based internship program included: Capital Health System, Community News Service, LLC (Trenton Downtowner, etc.), Deutsch Communications Group, Thomas Edison State College, Educational Testing Service (ETS), Joseph Jingoli & Son, Learning for Life (Boy Scouts of America), Mercer County Community College (TV, Radio and WWFM 89.1), New Jersey Network (NJN), Princeton Plasma Physics Lab (PPPL), PSE&G, Rutgers University, The Next Level Consulting, LLC, The Trentonian, The Times, Trenton Central High School, Trenton Public Schools, Trenton Thunder, Vagabond Vistas Photography, Verizon, and WIMG AM 1300. Here is contact information for the TPEF: Post Office Box 22545 Trenton, NJ 08607; Phone: 609.777.5663; Fax: 609.777-2956; E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Survey on Health and Well-Being Improvements Continues Public/Private Ventures (P/PV), a national research organization based in Philadelphia (www.ppv.org), is still conducting an evaluation of the Children's Futures initiative. As part of the evaluation, in March, interviewers from the Center for Survey Research at the University of Virginia began calling Trenton residents who were randomly selected to complete a 25-minute telephone interview, the 2008 Children's Futures Community Survey. This is the second time that Trenton residents will have participated in this interview - 654 residents completed a similar interview in 2002. Trenton residents eligible to complete the interview include parents of children aged 5 years or younger. Those who complete the interview will receive a $10 gift card from Wal-Mart as compensation for their time. The interviews ask residents questions about their background, neighborhood, child care, health, health insurance coverage, family planning, and social services utilization. Interviewers will continue to call residents primarily during the evening hours and on weekends. The evaluation will help Children's Futures identify the ways in which Trenton agencies have met the initiative's goals of improving the health and well-being of Trenton's young children. Links to Print/WEB NewsPrenatal Nurse Home Visitation Provided to Black Women Reduces Chances of Preterm Delivery, Could Help Reduce Disparities, Study Finds Mom's Behavior Key to Dad's Involvement in Child Care Fatty Acids Improve Preterm Infants' Mental Abilities FDA Proposes New Drug Label System Children's Futures' Board Tours City of Trenton, Looking to Improve Child Health & Development Outcomes Specialist Can Help to Better Control Asthma Upcoming Community ActivitiesJune 2008Today, Friday, June 6:
Tomorrow, Saturday, June 7:
Sunday, June 8:
Friday, June 13:
Saturday, June 14:
Ongoing Community Activities
|
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.