Help Foster Kids Build Lasting Relationships
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From the federal level, the Administration of Children, Youth and Families are offering funding opportunities to support effective strategies to help youth at risk of aging out of foster care develop skills to strengthen and manage their relationship with biological family members and other important individuals in their lives. The end goal is to promote a healthy transition into adulthood. Projects selected for funding will be expected to:
Increase reunification or other permanency for youth who are at risk of aging out of the foster care system;
Build protective mechanisms (i.e. self-regulation, coping, and self-efficacy) and factors with youth to promote relational competencies and the ability to successfully seek out environments and social settings that support their own positive development now and in the future;
Demonstrate effective strategies to promote connecting youth with adults in a long-lasting and meaningful way;
Develop models or strategies of youth relational competency, youth leadership, employment and educational achievement;
Evaluate the processes and outcomes of these strategies and models; and
Each project will serve as a "learning laboratory" producing knowledge about capacity-building and effective practices in the coordination and delivery of services to young people in foster care. The application deadline is July 7, 2012.
PHOTO GALLERY: Conversations with Kids
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Seeing a blank page by mistake? Sorry for the inconvenience. Click here to continue on to the full "Saturday in the Park: Conversations with Kids" photo gallery.
Honda to Fund STEM & Environmental Education Initiatives
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The Americann Honda Foundation is offering grants ranging between $20,000 and $60,000 annually for 501© (3) non-profits and both public and private schools. Youth education programs must be specifically focused on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and/or environmental subject matters. Eligible organizations can only apply once per year and must submit two-years of financial reports to be considered for the grant. Honda offers four deadlines throughout the year. The next is November 1, 2011.
California Foster Care, Mental Health Reforms
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Under a new agreement, California will begin providing intensive mental health services, both home- and community-based, for children in foster care or at risk of entering the foster care system as part of the early periodic screening, diagnosis and treatment (EPSDT) requirements mandated by federal law.
The new services will be available to a class of children covered under Medicaid, a requirement virtually all foster kids and those at risk of entering foster care meet, according to advocates.
The agreement is the result of a settlement reached after nearly two years of negotiations in a class action suite, Katie A. v. Bonta, aimed at statewide child welfare and health reform. The case, first filed more than nine years ago, charges county and state agencies with neglecting to provide federally-mandated mental health services to children in the state’s foster care system.
The California suit is just one of many that is in the process of or has already been filed across the country seeking to force states to comply with federal Medicaid requirements concerning the well-being of children.
City’s ‘Saggy Pants Ban’ Pays Off in First 10 Months
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In its first ten months of existence, Albany, Ga.’s ban on saggy pants has netted the city nearly $4,000 in fines. The city’s “Public Indecency Prohibited” ordinance has lead to more than 180 citations since being enacted in November of last year, according to a story in the Albany Herald, with police averaging 20 or so citations a month. At the current rate the city could see an additional $1,500 in revenue before year’s end. While violators cannot be arrested under they law, they can expect to pay a fine between $25 and $200 depending on their number of infractions of the law. The ordinance bans the wearing of pants and skirts more than three inches below the hip line.
The Poetic Days of Late Summer: Inside VOX’s Media Café
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Thoughts of summertime and teens usually bring to mind images of baseball, swimming holes and lazy, nothing-filled afternoons. But nestled in the corner of a Midtown Atlanta high rise a group of teens have been passing the dog days of the season in a slightly different way. For nearly two decades VOX Teen Communications has been honing the journalism and leadership skills of a diverse cross section of Atlanta teens. Each year more than a hundred pass through the newsroom doors or slide into the seat at one of their workshops. During the school year, the non-profit publishes the city’s only teen-powered newspaper.