Child Abuse Prevention Month Coffee and Celebration
Please join us for coffee and refreshments to learn more about child abuse prevention. You are welcome to attend our Interdisciplinary Child Protection Team meeting from 2 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. immediately following. For further information, please call Melissa at 749-9740 or Denise at 742-9595.
Date: 2009-04-27
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Location: 307 1st Street South, Virginia, 3rd Floor, Liz Prebich Room
YMCA Strong Kids Auction
Title: YMCA Strong Kids Auction
Location: Mt. Iron Community Center, Hwy 169
Description: $7 admission includes dinner, live & silent auction, & entry in $500 cash raffle. Items to bid on include gift certificates, art work, events, clothing, local merchandise and fishing trips! Tickets are available at the YMCA, from board members, volunteers, staff, and at the door. All donations will help support programs for our area youth! Contact the YMCA, 749-8020 for more information!
Start Time: 17:00
Date: 2009-04-24
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month
Three things you can do:
1. Watch the Homeland Insecurity video (if you have a 3G connection or better; not recommended for dial up connections).
2. Visit Every Child Matters to read the Homeland Insecurity report.
3. And make your final stop Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota where you can find ways to support the April campaign and local child abuse prevention resources. Follow this link to sign up for the PCA-MN e-list.
March 27, 2009 - Click to support Mesabi YMCA playing field improvements!
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The Mesabi Family YMCA is participating in the Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Plant A Seed fundraiser to improve and expand the outdoor playing field used for Iron Range Youth Spring and Fall Soccer, T-Ball, Summer Camp and other YMCA programs.
Click on Tony the Tiger to show your support for the Mesabi Family YMCA soccer field project (scroll down to vote) or visit frostedflakes.com for tips and tools to help spread the word! |
Rural Go Run: Women’s Leadership Training
Friday, May 1, 2009 at 5:00pm to Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 3:00pm
Fortune Bay Resort and Casino
Tower, MN
Rural Go Run is a weekend-long training to inspire, equip, and inform women from all walks of life to lead more effectively in your work, community, and politics. The training will focus on communications, fundraising, organizing and other leadership skills.
Take advantage of this unique opportunity to build your skills and network with other women leaders from rural communities!
This is a national training program that engages local experts, public officials, current and former elected officials, and speakers to help train and share their experiences and stories of success.
We make this training affordable for women from all income levels. Scholarships are available.
Hosted by the White House Project Midwest.
Sign up NOW! (Registration Required)
Visit Rural Go Run on Facebook - And help spread the word!
Questions?
E-mail nlittlewolf at thewhitehouseproject.org
Ready 4 K Action Alert: Be a Voice for Children—Contact your Legislator Today
If you can’t make it to the Capitol tomorrow, you can still have an impact! House representatives need to hear that early care and education should be a top priority in budget negotiations.
TOMORROW, Thursday March 19, 2009, parents, teachers, early care and education professionals, and others from across the state will stand up and be counted at the Voices for Children Advocacy Day.
TODAY, the Minnesota House majority caucus (DFL) is voting on budget targets for each House Committee.
Action Needed: Please contact your legislator today to show your support:
Tell your legislators (or their staff):
“Investments in quality early childhood care and education yield one of the best returns on our public dollars. An economic recession is exactly the wrong time to cut early childhood, because investing in our youngest citizens is a long term solution to our financial crisis, as well as a short term support for working families. Now is the time to ensure that parents can access high quality early learning choices so their children are prepared for school and life. Invest now!”
Please take action today.
March 16, 2009 - Peter Heegaard, Todd Otis: If it’s dramatic returns we want, invest in our youngest citizens - As the Minnesota Legislature and the governor grapple with the large budget deficit that confronts our state, we want to encourage our policymakers to use the concept of return-on-investment in assessing which programs to support, Pioneer Press Opinion.
Reminder: Voices for Children Advocacy Day
Thursday, March 19, 2009, is Voices for Children Advocacy Day at the Minnesota State Capitol!
Voices for Children Advocacy Day is an opportunity for parents, teachers, early care and education professionals, and others from across the state to stand up and be counted as a voice for children.
Stand up and be counted as a voice for children with parents, teachers, early care and education professionals, and others from across the state. Plan now to be part of this exciting event on Thursday, March 19!
Voices for Children Advocacy Day is a collaborative effort of Head Start, Child Care, School Readiness, Early Childhood Family Education, Ready 4 K and many other children’s advocacy organizations.
For Immediate Release: Lawmakers are coming to Virginia to discuss state budget deficit and Governor Pawlenty’s budget proposal
Lawmakers will be in Virginia at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, February 20th to get input on the governor’s budget recommendations and listen to the public’s ideas to address the state’s $4.8 billion budget deficit.
The public meeting will be at the Mesabi Range Community and Technical College, Small Auditorium, 1001 Chestnut St. W., Virginia.
Town Hall Meetings on Governor Pawlenty’s budget proposals and the state budget deficit will take place around the state on Thursday, Feb 19 and Friday, Feb 20, and in the Metro area Feb 23-26.
Visit either the House Town Hall Meetings or Senate Community Hearings page for more locations and to sign up to testify …and forward these links to family and friends across the state!
Message from Ready4K:
It is critical that supporters of young children attend the town hall forum in your community to express your support for early childhood care and education.
Key messages to share:
» The Governor’s proposed cuts are short sighted. While they may appear to help balance the budget in the short term, it perpetuates what Minnesota is currently dealing with—the choice “not to pay now so you have to pay later” scenario.
- See the Star Tribune editorial: Jay Kiedrowski: Accounting gimmicks won’t fix the budget
» The cuts proposed are potentially harmful for young children and their families. With increased co-pays and decreased reimbursement rates, families will be forced to put their young children in potentially harmful situations.
- “Although the Governor claims to “preserve coverage for children,” DHS estimates that 26,399 fewer children would be enrolled in state health care programs by FY 2011, ” Minnesota Budget Project.
» Many of these costs will have to be passed on to families, creating a situation where families have limited access to quality environments.
- Read the Minnesota Budget Project post on how the Governor’s budget would hit Minnesota families hard. (Insider Tip: the Minnesota Budget Project and Jermaine Toney will be at the March 16 Parent Summit in Saint Paul.)
» Combined with the massive cuts the Governor proposes to health care, lost child care assistance adds to the challenges families will have if this budget were adopted.
Child Care WORKS on Governor Pawlenty’s 2009-2010 Biennial Budget:
Governor Pawlenty’s budget for the next two state fiscal years includes the following proposals for child care:
» Reduce Child Care Assistance program provider reimbursement rates by 3% from current maximum rates;
» Raise family copayments by 3% for families receiving child care assistance;
» Limit retroactive eligibility for child care assistance to six months.
These proposals total over $10 million in funding reductions. The Governor also proposed extending current pilot projects (School Readiness Connections and ParentAware projects, but not the Pre-K allowances project) using unspent Basic Sliding Fee funds. He did not add any funds to reduce the waiting list for Child Care Assistance; currently there are about 7,000 families on the statewide waiting list.
Are you concerned about K-12?
Read the Minnesota Department of Education’s Summary of the Governor’s 2009 Education Budget Proposal and check the Excel file for local district impacts, and read what the Minnesota Budget Project has to say about the Governor’s recommended E-12 budget.
Related Article
February 15, 2009 - Lawmakers’ Range sessions set - In coming weeks, lawmakers accustomed to giving answers have set aside time to listen to local people’s suggestions for solutions of the state budget crisis. Friday, legislators will be coming through Northeast Minnesota, including a stop in Virginia, Mesabi Daily News.
Another Insider Tip: Prepare a written statement with your contact information you can give to the committee administrator should the schedule be too full for you to have a chance to speak, and check these resources from Parents United for tips on Preparing Testimony and Presenting Your Case when meeting with legislators.
Show Time! 4pm January 28
A small group of Quad Cities Early Childhood Coalition members will gather at the Parkview Learning Center Computer Lab (Room 143) to watch the Minnesota Summit on Early Care and Education starting at 4:00 p.m. live from the House Chamber!
Come join us for popcorn and beverages, networking, and an interesting discussion!
Date: Wednesday, January 28
Time: Show starts at 4:00 PM
Place: Parkview Learning Center Computer Lab, Room 148
More Information on the Summit
Strong Foundations Conference
Circles of Influence: Expanding Your Sphere to Ensure Positive Outcomes
Thursday, January 15, 2009 - Saturday, January 17, 2009, Cragun’s Resort, Brainerd.
Registration Deadline: Monday, January 5, 2009.
Strong Foundations: Minnesota’s Birth-to-Three Conference for Healthy Development
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Shamoon Shanok, LCSW, PhD, director of the Institute for Infants, Children & Families of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, New York City, NY
Keynote Presentation: Patterns, Parallels and Parenthood: Guiding Principles for Our Work
Using videotape to discuss brain development, early relationships, the effect of parent upon baby, and of baby upon parent, Dr. Rebecca Shamoon Shanok will delineate key guiding principles for all the fields of early and earliest childhood, highlighting ideas about why and how to work closely with parents and within parent-child relationships.
A limited number of scholarships are available for child care providers.
Sponsored by: Center for Early Education and Development, Minnesota Department of Education, Minnesota Department of Human Services and Minnesota Department of Health.
More Information & Online Registration