Child Advocacy 360: 'news you can use' in strengthening communities for children & families

  • “Hope” Grows: an Intergenerational Community, 14 Years On

    Fourteen years ago, two researchers turned an abandoned air force base into a vibrant intergenerational community to strengthen foster families and turn seniors into active givers of supports. Now, as sites across the country replicate this approach, Hope Meadows is adapting to the new challenges that come with long-term success.
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  • Youth Advocacy Center teaches teens how to shoot for the stars

    We have written before about the work of New York's Youth Advocacy Center and were once again impressed with this one-to-one learning experience...
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  • The 4 M's of Quality: Quality Matters, is Measurable, Moveable and Malleable

    The 4M framework, developed by The Forum for Youth Investment, puts forth in a few concise paragraphs that "quality matters, quality is measurable, quality is moveable, and quality is malleable."
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“Kid-Powered”: Turning a County-Owned Farm into an Earth School

Earth School December 3—Concerned that young people were increasingly disconnected from the real (read: natural) world, actress and teacher Barbara Sarbin turned a county farm into a hands-on Earth School. Here’s a look at how she did it.
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Connect For Kids and CA 360 Content Partnership Update - March 2010

When Child Advocacy 360 and Connect for Kids formed our newsletter and Web partnership two years ago, we anticipated that we would one day be part of a larger news enterprise , with an audience reflecting a broad range of interests in child/youth advocacy.

Within the next few months we expect to turn on the lights at Spark Action, a state of the art site hosting additional youth advocacy organizations and opening new opportunities for interaction with readers.

We will continue our high focus on Who's Doing What That Works stories, as well as Voices & Views, all done in the essence journalism style that has characterized our work.

At Child Advocacy 360 we feel privileged to be working closely with CFK and its parent organization, The Forum for Youth Investment.

-- Hershel Sarbin, editor and publisher

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> Child Advocacy 360 SmartBrief archives

Adoption and Foster Care

  • Lessons Learned from Tracking Brenda Eheart and Hope Meadows

    When I launched Child Advocacy 360 Foundation and its news service in 2007, one of our first Who’s Doing What That Works stories was about Hope Meadows, the multi-generational community in Rantoul, Illinois created by Brenda Krause Eheart, Martha Bauman Power, Carolyn Casteel and a small group of like-minded friends.

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  • Wanted: Youth Work Principles in Schools

    Karen Pittman recently sat down with the real experts on the "high school dropout crisis"—seven students from Des Moines, five of whom had dropped out and another who had come very close. In her latest Youth Today column, Karen shares what these young people had to say about why they left, what made them return to school and what they recommend for education.

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  • Major Child Welfare Law Signed; CFK PolicyWatch

    To borrow a tagline and flip it: what happens in Washington, doesn’t stay in Washington—far from it. Budget and policy decisions on Capitol Hill (and in state capitals across the country) have a big impact on even the smallest neighborhoods. Connectforkids.org looks at the new child welfare reform law, enacted in October 2008, and other policies to watch.

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  • Getting Beyond the Foster Care System: What Works for Teens

    Could you have made it entirely on your own at 18 or 21? Each year, roughly 25,000 young people “age out” of the foster care system, many without family or economic supports. Without connection to a caring adult and support to plan and prepare, these youth face steep challenges, including higher rates of unemployment, poor educational attainment, health issues, incarceration, and homelessness.

    But those are the problems, the statistics—what about the potential of these teens, and their desire to succeed? We spoke with Betsy Krebs, co-director of the New York City-based Youth Advocacy Center, about what works to help teens aging out of foster care succeed. There’s room for the whole community...

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Checking In on Hope Meadows 2010: Influence Far beyond Its Boundaries

We have long recognized and written about the tremendous accomplishments of Brenda Eheart, founder and CEO of Generations of Hope, which created Hope Meadows, the intergenerational community in Rantoul, Illinois, where families adopt neglected and abused children from the foster care system. These families live amidst neighboring "grandparents" who create a supportive environment.

We spoke to her again recently – shortly after she had received an Inspire Award from AARP given to "outstanding individuals who are using their energy, creativity and passion to make the world a better place" (and which she shared with the likes of Clint Eastwood and Scott Hamilton) and a Purpose Prize fellowship from Civic Ventures.

Far from resting on those lofty laurels, Eheart is busier than ever seeking to expand—both geographically and conceptually—her idea of supportive communities. We caught up with Eheart just a little while after she received the latest accolades. Here are highlights of our discussion:

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Issue and Insights:

  • The Good News Imperative in Child/Youth Advocacy-A Plan for Action at the Top

    How could something so simple as the power of good communication about good works and good results produced by advocacy initiatives in communities across America be so neglected by thought leaders and top executives in the child/youth field?

    Why is it that the power centers of philanthropy for children, youth, and families—America's foundations—so seldom seize the opportunity to include obligatory disciplines and funding for effective messaging, as an imperative in accountability measurement for their grantees?

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  • Communication Designed to Inspire Community Action: the Under-Achievers - HS

    Because I have a strong belief in the power of community action and citizen engagement in all areas of child well-being, I constantly comb major Websites and print publications for relevant Real People, Real Results stories to share with Connect for Kids readers.

    I pass these positive stories and insights on to supporters of my own Foundation, Child Advocacy 360, and a growing list of friends across the country who share my passion for good news that has the potential to inspire us all to act, wherever we live.

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  • The Good News: A ‘Multiplier Effect’ in Child Advocacy

    By Hershel Sarbin

    My most recent column reviewed “The Cost of Doing Nothing,” a report from the bipartisan advocacy organization First Focus that clearly addressed the lifetime consequences of poverty experienced during childhood with regards to health, crime, employment as well as the economic costs to society. The report notes that if the recession drives an estimated 3 million children into poverty, as economists predict, the country will lose $1.7 trillion (or about $35 billion dollars a year over the lifetime of
    these children).

    I felt compelled to make the connection, once more, between poverty and the huge cost of systemic failure in child welfare—foster care, aging out, the absence of early childhood education.

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Voices and Views:

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    Case Study: How MomsRising.Org Uses Social Media To Get Its Message Out

    MomsRising.org is not a child advocacy group in the pure sense—it is focused on matters ranging from child care to family leave. But it can serve as a role model when it comes to social media.

    “They do a lot of lot of online stuff,” says Tony Larson, communications associate for Every Child Matters. “We’re trying to keep up with them at times.”

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  • Twitter/Facebook: Time Well-Spent for Child/Youth Advocates?

    This year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference drew standing-room only crowds to sessions on social media. But one question remained unanswered after hours of talk: Can Twitter and Facebook perform miracles for hardworking child advocates?

    That’s dubious, based on the evidence.

    Take the area of fundraising. “Very, very little money is raised through social networking sites,” says Mal Warwick, chairman of Mal Warwick Associates, an agency serving nonprofits.

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