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Making Young Children a Top Civic Priority:

Overview. Key examples from around the world and pop cultureBoston: Demographics, strengths and challenges Boston: History and current state of governance, accountability, funding, and public engagementOther initiatives in Boston and MA Questions and other resources. What does a city and commun

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Making Young Children a Top Civic Priority:

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    1. Making Young Children a Top Civic Priority: Data and Research Team Presentation to the City/Community Work Group July 10, 2007

    2. Overview Key examples from around the world and pop culture Boston: Demographics, strengths and challenges Boston: History and current state of governance, accountability, funding, and public engagement Other initiatives in Boston and MA Questions and other resources

    3. What does a city and community that makes early childhood development a top civic priority look like?

    4. Reggio Emilia, Italy http://zerosei.comune.re.it/inter/reggiochildren.htmhttp://zerosei.comune.re.it/inter/reggiochildren.htm

    5. UNICEF Children’s Cities Launched in 1996 to make cities “liveable for all” 867 total – only two in the United States – Chicago and Oakland Characteristics: Developing a city-wide “Children's Rights Strategy” or a comprehensive agenda for building a Child Friendly City Creating permanent government structures to ensure priority consideration of children's perspective and coordinate efforts Ensuring assessment and evaluation of the impact of law, policy and practice on children Producing a regular State of the City's Children Report to monitor children’s status Investing in necessary programs through a children's budget Making children's rights known among adults and children Promoting children's active involvement in issues that affect them and taking them into consideration in decision-making Ensuring a child-friendly legal framework Supporting organizations and institutions that promote children's rights http://www.childfriendlycities.orghttp://www.childfriendlycities.org

    6. Pop Culture Rankings Best Cities to Have a Baby in America (Fit Pregnancy): Boston is 1! Best States for Babies (Child): Massachusetts is 4 Best Cities for Families (Child): Boston is 9 Best Children’s Hospitals (Child): Children’s Hospital Boston is 2 Fit Pregnancy’s Best Cities to Have a Baby - http://www.fitpregnancy.com/bestcities2007/main07 Child magazine’s Top 10 Lists - http://www.child.com/ (about halfway down the page)Fit Pregnancy’s Best Cities to Have a Baby - http://www.fitpregnancy.com/bestcities2007/main07 Child magazine’s Top 10 Lists - http://www.child.com/ (about halfway down the page)

    7. Where do the rankings come from? Some things you would expect… Pediatricians per capita Immunization rates Infant mortality rate Crime rate School spending Pupil-teacher ratio Paid leave laws Child care ratios Average cost of a 3-bedroom home Stroller friendliness - measured by climate, access to pathways and trails, park acreage per city population, number of public parks per city population, and nearby recreational opportunities Stroller friendliness - measured by climate, access to pathways and trails, park acreage per city population, number of public parks per city population, and nearby recreational opportunities

    8. How do we compare? * Family Economic Self Sufficiency Index: Based on a family of two adults, one infant and one preschooler ** Preschool Care Cost/Infant Care Cost Family Economic Self Sufficiency Project - http://www.sixstrategies.org/ links to state-level projects Child Care Cost data from the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies - http://www.naccrra.org/docs/policy/breaking_the_piggy_bank.pdfFamily Economic Self Sufficiency Project - http://www.sixstrategies.org/ links to state-level projects Child Care Cost data from the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies - http://www.naccrra.org/docs/policy/breaking_the_piggy_bank.pdf

    9. What do we know about Boston’s birth to five year olds and their families?

    12. What did we learn? Dorchester is home to 20% of 0 to 5 year olds. Age group is evenly spread in other areas - 7% to 11% in Roxbury, Mattapan, East Boston, Allston/Brighton, Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park. 43% of householders with 0 to 5 year olds are foreign born. 47% of 0-5 householders do not speak English as a first language. 8300 (26%) with limited English proficiency. Needs of children 0 to 3 are better met than those of ages 3 to 6 – particularly for children with special needs.

    13. What else did we learn? Boston is resource-rich, abundance of health, early care and education, and family support organizations Lots of strategic planning; DSS and other state agencies pushing for “system” development Boston has unique models – Countdown to Kindergarten, ReadBoston, and Reach Out and Read – and many more are growing

    14. What kind of Governance, Accountability, Funding, and Public Engagement structures does Boston have for early childhood?

    15. Boston’s History: The Office for Children Office for Children existed within the City of Boston under the Mayor’s Office of Community Partnerships from 1997 to 2002; focused on birth to 13 Major focus was support for ECE providers through small quality improvement grants ($500 to $4,500) for accreditation, staff training, parent engagement and moveable equipment Other projects: Boston Children’s Week – events for families during April school vacation, expanded to a full month Boston Family Resource Guide – family info guide Room to Grow Report SummerFun Resource Fair

    16. Boston: Governance Many organization that impact young kids – DEEC, BPS/Countdown to Kindergarten, ECE providers – but none taking leadership with a holistic view of early childhood Community Partnerships for Children is the closest to a city-wide governing body – but only focuses on ECE Boston Full-service Schools Roundtable brings together providers to provide non-academic support children in school – but only focuses on K-12 (mainly K-8) No home within City for early childhood

    17. Boston: Accountability No city-wide standard/definition for school readiness – yet No data on how many kids are ready for school – yet No single source of information about Boston’s young children – yet? MA School Readiness Indicators Project – state project in 2001 identified 35 key indicators – working on measuring various indicators Lots of information from providers about services – but little to no information from parents directly about needs and services School Readiness Indicators Initiative - http://www.gettingready.org (includes information about the Massachusetts School Readiness Indicators Project) School Readiness Indicators Initiative - http://www.gettingready.org (includes information about the Massachusetts School Readiness Indicators Project)

    18. Boston: Funding Focus of youth funding has been school-age and teens, mainly after-school programming Funders, like the general public, are slow to understand the importance of the early years reluctant to shift funding away from at-risk age group Boston Education Funders is Boston’s city-wide education funding group – but mainly interested in K-12 initiatives Providers are left to compete for limited resources that don’t allow for much coordination and collaboration between systems

    19. Boston: Public Engagement Several current and planned programs/campaigns focused on raising awareness about specific early childhood issues or targeting parents Very little focus on birth to three No campaign to promote city-wide understanding of the importance of early childhood FrameWorks Institute research highlights lack of public understanding of child development and needs Child development is a “black box” – no model to explain it Child rearing happens in family – outside actions irrelevant Day care isn’t about child development School Readiness is confusing and can be seen as negative – hurrying children, academic focus rather than social/emotional Talking Early Child Development and Exploring the Consequences of Frame Choices - http://www.buildinitiative.org/communications/Message_Development/frameworksmemo.pdf The Frameworks Institute - http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/Talking Early Child Development and Exploring the Consequences of Frame Choices - http://www.buildinitiative.org/communications/Message_Development/frameworksmemo.pdf The Frameworks Institute - http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/

    20. Connections to Other Initiatives/Planning

    21. Questions? What other information does the group have or want to guide our work?

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