Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Albion, investing in itself, shows how small towns can thrive

    A number of new amenities and businesses in Boone County are the result of fundraising and community development. Local leaders have brought nearly two dozen new major projects to completion in the past ten years. Almost all of the money has been raised by local residents as a result of a “years-long effort to educate residents about the importance of keeping some of their money in their hometowns.”

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  • Mapping Lead Contamination in the Granite State

    Through education, public policy and grant programs, New Hampshire is working on decreasing the number of children with elevated blood lead levels. In 2016, the state wanted to improve lead-testing rates and over the year, they conducted 25 training sessions reaching more than 300 medical professionals, which led to 2,100 more children being tested than the previous year. Interest in lead-abatement grant programs by landlords and homeowners has also increased.

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  • Iowa foster care system changes prove positive and effective

    Iowa in 2017 imposed new rules for the agencies that run group homes for children in foster care. The rules have greatly reduced the frequency with which children are moved from place to place far from their families, a common practice that can deepen the trauma they suffer. By paying differently for such care, the state reduced the incentive agencies had to keep their facilities full. Instead, they're working more closely with families to heal them and get children back to a healthier home life.

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  • What does child care look like when it works?

    A shared service child care model is providing affordable, high-quality options for working parents. Chambliss serves 750 children in its multiple centers and operates two thrift stores that help subsidize childcare costs. The business side is run by financial experts instead of early childhood educators, which has allowed it to thrive and grow financially.

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  • Arizona program gives low-income parents a chance at career advancement

    Single mothers in Arizona are getting access to wraparound services that give them an opportunity for social and economic mobility. The Pathways for Single Mothers provides comprehensive services that include childcare, transportation, tuition, and an emergency fund.

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  • Not the 'Devil's work': Reversing Club Foot Deformities in Children

    Miraclefeet is a U.S. based nonprofit that provides free clubfoot treatment in 29 countries, including 15 in Africa. Following Ponseti, a nonsurgical treatment plan, caregivers gently manipulate a child’s feet by stretching them into the correct position and using plaster of Paris to cast the foot in that position. After 5-8 weeks, children wear braces for 23 hours every day for the first three months, then only while sleeping for 3-5 years, in order to maintain the correction. The brace is made up of a special shoe that is clipped to a bar. The treatment is less expensive and 98% effective when done early.

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  • For girls with mothers in prison, a summer camp offers much-needed support

    For three days each summer, the Girls Embracing Mothers (GEM) camp near Dallas gives girls an escape from their daily reality of being denied a normal relationship with their incarcerated mothers. Founded by a lawyer whose own mother was incarcerated, GEM combines typical summer-camp fun with trust-building exercises. During camp and afterward, the girls become part of a community of peers who understand each other's trauma – which puts them at higher risk of dropping out of school, mental health problems, and homelessness – in a place where they need not feel shame for their mothers' status.

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  • Mental health support in preschool may help lower sky-high expulsion rates

    Project PLAY, the third of Arkansas’ three-tiered mental health consultation system, has reduced high expulsion and suspension rates for children in child care settings. The program provides consultants who go into classrooms for several months of weekly visits to observe children and then work with staff and parents to address behavioral and mental health issues. The consultations can lead to earlier diagnoses of sensory disorders and increase the confidence and empowerment of child care providers. Lower expulsion rates have a long-term impact on children’s social, emotional, and educational development.

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  • For a fragile child care system, shared services and legislative activism show potential

    The State Early Learning Alliance is a membership organization of about 30 independent child care centers that pools resources to save money on essential services and free up time to focus on providing high-quality care. The group harnesses shared purchasing power to negotiate better deals for a wide range of necessary goods and services, including building maintenance, insurance, payroll and administration, food, and classroom supplies. Providers save thousands of dollars a year, which can help with skyrocketing child care costs and staff shortages due to low pay.

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  • Homeward Bound is removing the barriers between single mothers and a new career

    Homeward Bound Peterborough helps single mothers overcome their most common causes of homelessness: limited access to housing, childcare, and education. Based on a program in Toronto that has helped hundreds, the Peterborough program is serving its first cohort of seven families by providing them with affordable apartments, childcare, free college tuition, job readiness programs, and other services. The admissions criteria are strict, because even with the help it's hard to juggle a family and school while parenting alone.

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