The Weekly Briefing
| 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. | |
| Volume 1, Number 18 | Week of July 2-July 6, 2007 |
In This Issue
- News from Children's Futures
- CF Grants Support Homeless, Pregnant Teens and Young Children with Asthma
- HINJ Invests in Literacy Program Sponsored by CF
- Early Music Involvement for Trenton Children at CF Shows Benefits
- Community Partners' Activities
- Parenting Class Series Set
- Fathers and Families Fund Day
- ACT Violence Prevention Project Training
- News Articles
- More than 43 million Uninsured in U.S.
- State Must Publicize Maternal Death Data
- Babies at Risk from High Blood Sugar Levels
News from Children's Futures
CF Grants Support Homeless, Pregnant Teens and Young Children with Asthma
Children's Futures' grants announced this week will support a program for 150 homeless Trenton women and new training sessions for physicians to help address the needs of young children with asthma.
HomeFront, Inc. will receive $117,500 for the next 12 months to support its "Project Shana", a comprehensive program addressing factors of infant mortality, which serves approximately 150 homeless women living in HomeFront's transitional shelters. This grant will also be used to continue support of HomeFront's Huchet House, which provides transitional housing for young pregnant women.
A separate $75,000 grant will enable the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (Pediatric Council on Research and Education) to join with the N.J. Department of Health and Senior Services' Division of Family Health Services for a chronic condition management training series. The training series will help staff members from 11 Trenton physician practices improve health care for children with asthma. Previous Children's Futures' support of this program known as EPIC (Educating Physicians in their Communities) focused on improving childhood immunization rates, lead screening and child abuse detection.
Both grants reflect Children's Futures' ongoing efforts to improve the lives of Trenton's children and families.
HINJ Invests in Literacy Program Sponsored by Children's Futures
A donation by the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ) to the Children's Futures-sponsored Reach Out and Read Program (ROR) in Trenton will provide each of the eight participating medical practices with 1,000 new books for distribution to children and their families.
HINJ Executive Director and former Congressman Bob Franks announced the investment at a recent press conference hosted by the Henry J. Austin Health Center. Through HINJ, New Jersey's pharmaceutical and medical technology companies have pledged $100,000 per year for three years to support book distribution at participating sites in Trenton and throughout New Jersey.
HINJ Executive Director Bob Franks reads from one of the books
his
organization donated to Trenton's Reach Out and Read Program.
Early Music Involvement For Trenton Children at CF Shows Benefits
Getting an early start in music has interesting benefits for children participating in the "Music Together" programs at Children's Futures' family support/parent child centers. Abbott preschool teachers in Trenton have told Trenton Community Music School officials that children graduating from Children's Futures' "Music Together" classes do well in the related "Music for the Very Young" preschool program. The preschool teachers report particular value for children whose families move around the district. These children have their anxieties calmed when they discover "their songs" in the new classrooms. Trenton Community Music School officials believe there is a similar value for Children's Futures' "Music Together" graduates when they discover they already know some of the routine when entering the Abbott classrooms for the first time.
(Editor's Note: The July calendar of Children's Futures' center-based programs, including Music Together, is attached above).
Parents and children are pictured above during a recent Music
Together
program at the East Ward family support/parent child
center.
Music Together
is one of dozens of programs offered
for
families
at Children's Futures' centers throughout Trenton.
Community Partners' Activities
Tuesday, August 7:
Parenting Class Series (8 weeks) from Millhill
Behavioral Health
Program in Partnership with Isles, Inc. Parents
Empowering Parents program: 6 to 7:30 p.m..; Mill Hill Community
Room. Free. Call 989-7333 (ext. 17).
Saturday, August 11:
The 5th Annual Fathers and Families Fun
Day, presented by the Trenton Men's Collaborative and Children's
Futures: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Mill Hill Park (South Broad and Front
Streets). Free. Focused on Trenton fathers and their families
with children three years of age and younger.
Includes health screens, face painting, a magic show, party jumps and refreshments. Call 695-3663.
Wednesday, August 15 and Thursday, August 16:
ACT- Adults and
Children Together - Against Violence: Training for Family Workers
and Early Childhood Professionals in Mercer County, presented
by PEI Kids: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Princeton Area Community Foundation,
15 Princess Road, Lawrenceville. Fee: $35.
Discover how to help safeguard children from involvement with violence in this two-day workshop and share this information with staff, parents and the community. Contact Nicole Cody at 609-695-3739 (ext. 29) or via e-mail at ncody@peikids.org for more information and to register.
Links to News Articles About Early Childhood Health and Development
Survey
Finds 43.6 Million Uninsured in U.S.
About
43.6 million people, or 14.8 percent of the U.S. population,
had no health insurance in 2006, according to this New York Times
article.
After C-section, some mothers dare defy trend
The
Star Ledger reports that some women are deciding on having
vaginal deliveries after a previous Caesarean.
State must publicize maternal death data
This
Courier Post editorial says expectant parents should know the
risks of Caesarean sections and other childbirth procedures.
Study: High blood sugar levels in pregnancy puts baby at risk
According
to this Associated Press story, the higher a pregnant woman's
level of blood sugar, the greater the risk to her newborn.
Antidepressants Rated Low Risk in Pregnancy
The
New York Times examines two studies published in the New England
Journal of Medicine.
Prenatal cocaine exposure may have lasting effects
Reuters
describes how prenatal cocaine exposure may have lasting effects
on a child's ability to pay attention during the early school
years.
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.