The Carnegie Corporation of New York has awarded several states and cities grants to help ease the “quiet crisis” facing the nation’s youngest children.
The foundation sounded the alarm about the poor health and welfare of children from birth to age 3 in the 1994 report “Starting Points: Meeting the Needs of Our Youngest Children.” The report made the case that the first three years of life are the most crucial to healthy development, yet are also those most overlooked by policymakers.
The foundation last month awarded $3.15 million in grants to help nine states and five cities implement reforms recommended in the report, including parenting programs, improved prenatal and pediatric health care, high-quality child care, and community development and outreach programs.
Grants of up to $300,000 each will go to the cities of Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. The states are Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia.
Educators and child-welfare experts from a diverse group of institutions have pooled their knowledge in a new book, Expanding Partnerships for Vulnerable Children, Youth, and Families. The book is based on presentations from a 1994 conference on how colleges and universities and child-serving professionals can work together to improve child welfare.
Information is available from the Council on Social Work Education, 1600 Duke St., Alexandria, Va. 22314-3421; (703) 683-8080.
The Family Resource Coalition is offering eight states special help in making children’s services more responsive to families and communities.
States targeted for technical help are Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Washington, and West Virginia. The project, underwritten by a $2.7 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, N.J., is designed to help cash-strapped communities plan efforts to combat child abuse, teenage pregnancy, and welfare dependency.
Information is available from Selene James, Family Resource Coalition, 200 S. Michigan Ave., 16th floor, Chicago, Ill. 60604; (312) 341-0900.
Sociologist Elijah Anderson examines the culture of inner-city street life and offers examples of people working to make a difference for youths in violence-ridden communities in the premiere issue of Hope. The magazine’s mission is to offer an antidote to the bad news about community life that often permeates the media.
The first issue also includes profiles of a business-sponsored program to improve recreational facilities in poor neighborhoods and a Vermont hospital that delivers health care in a home-like setting.
Information is available from Hope Publishing Inc,. P.O. Box 160, Brooklin, Maine. 04616; (207) 359-4651.
--Deborah L. Cohen
