June 1, 2009
Voices for Georgia’s Children is undergoing a transition period as the organization welcomes new staff in the months ahead. As of June 1, 2009, Blog for Georgia’s Children will be on hiatus until further notice.
We hope to re-energize the blog before long, as well as re-energizing a dialog about making Georgia a better place for kids.
Thanks to all who’ve visited us. It’s been both a pleasure and learning experience for us.
Marc
May 1, 2009
Boston has seen the public/private Harlem Children’s Zone and wants to replicate this inner-city swath if the Obama administration is serious about replicating the successful New York program around the country.
It’s gratifying to see how integrating key services – prenatal care, parenting classes, early care and learning – creates a pipeline for success in a place where the odds are stacked against most kids. Voices’ Birth to Five initiative is beating the drum for more support in these individual services, never mind bridging them together.
Private sector support for the Harlem Children’s Zone is lagging now due to the current economy, forcing the organization to pool resources with others. All any of us in the non-profit world can do right now is hang on and hope communities realize the importance of this work.
April 23, 2009
Better late than never, I suppose.
The 4/23 AJC has a brief article referring to the report issued two weeks ago by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) that grades progress made by states offering Pre-K to four-year-olds.
The news is encouraging but much needs to be done. Georgia’s groundbreaking Pre-K program serves only about half of eligible children whose parents want it. Voices was happy to see that the Georgia General Assembly did not cut the proposed 3000 new slots out of the 2010 budget.
Full coverage at the Voices for Georgia’s Children website is here
April 21, 2009
I promised to only talk about or post items telling good news, but I could not ignore the commentary by 18-year-old Jonathan Wall in the Monday, April 20 issue of the AJC.
Jonathan discusses the disparity in student achievement between white and non-white students, which is a sad thing. But his writing style and the poise with which he expresses himself – at his age – is refreshing. It’s one of those instances where you see a glimmer of hope for the future.
April 8, 2009
This report in today’s NYT was initiated by the NIEER (National Institute for Early Education Research) to promote its annual report on the state of the country’s preschool programs.
Georgia’s Pre-K program is funded by the state lottery, but many states are planning to use federal stimulus dollars as a means of shoring up theirs.
Education secretary Arne Duncan’s quote stating that spending a dollar on preschool brings states a return of $10 is powerful. Let’s hope the data backs it up.
You can also read a summary about the NIEER report and get more information from the Voices website.
April 2, 2009
The new legislation introduced today by Georgia State Sen. Bill Hamrick (R-Carrollton) as the Child Protection and Public Safety Act (SB 292) recommends that the state adopt a revised juvenile code for delinquent and deprived children.
This could prove to be a landmark bill, modernizing a set of laws that were first set in place during the early 1970’s and amended haphazardly over the decades.
The actual bill hasn’t been posted to the Georgia General Assembly website yet, but you can learn more about SB 292 in a press release posted on the JUSTGeorgia website.
March 27, 2009
Our parents walked to school, so can’t today’s kids?
Because of today’s suburban sprawl, probably not many. But for a town in Italy where walking is practical, having kids walk addresses traffic congestion, pollution and childhood obesity all at once.
It’d be nice if more metro area parents made their kids at least take the bus, which in itself could reduce the choking traffic and resulting bad air quality.
March 25, 2009
The dreaded “pre-existing condition” has forced many people to go without health insurance or pay massive premiums if they could even find a carrier to accept them. For the most part, only healthy people can buy private health insurance.
Now, insurers are saying they’ll write policies for people with pre-existing conditions if the federal government requires insurance for everyone, much like the Massachusetts model. Of course, the private insurers would stand to gain considerably from a law requiring everyone to have personal health insurance, with a large pool to spread the risk.
Out of control health care costs are the underlying problem, yet it is the health insurance industry that shares a healthy portion of the blame for allowing these costs to explode over the decades. Can more health insurance for everyone actually reduce costs while making people healthier?
There’s discussion now of an expanded Medicaid program for all citizens that would compete with the private insurers. If that happens, the point of excluding people with pre-existing conditions would be moot. Nevertheless, this exclusion would let a lot of families breath a little easier.
March 17, 2009
Sorry for the sporadic posts. We’ve had nothing but bad news, it seems, for so long that I’ve decided that I’m only going to post items that are positive or hopeful.
This story on MSNBC.com highlights people whose careers have been upended, but perhaps their stories – and those of the kids they teach – will have happier endings. Teachers in Georgia get a lot of the blame for poor student performance, which for most is unfair. On the other hand, if more of our best and brightest who become castoffs in the economic meltdown start teaching our kids, perhaps there’s reason to feel positive about the future.
March 13, 2009
Gov. Perdue has put together a website for tracking the state’s accountability of how it spends federal stimulus funds, or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
The website includes a video of Governor Perdue’s directives to state agency leaders given during a meeting last month. Direct links with contact information to each state agency are provided so that anyone can ask questions regarding funding, timelines, the grant process and other issues for a specific agency.
For example, here is a link showing a grant to the Dept. of Community Health.
There are also links to federal and local governments and associations that will play a role in receiving stimulus dollars.
Georgians can also report fraud and abuse to the Office of the State Inspector General.
