You might not think of a public library as the "in" place to be, but some teenagers do! The Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago reports on ideas being developed for new roles that public libraries can play in developing our youth. Here's what they say: "With growing numbers of teenagers visiting libraries to socialize, do homework, and use computers as well as the Internet, libraries have found themselves pressed to address the needs of this group. Although nearly a fourth of library patrons are teenagers, libraries traditionally have devoted less of their space, personnel, and financial resources to services for teens than to any other age group. An evaluation of the Public Libraries as Partners in Youth Development, a nine site demonstration project funded by the Wallace Foundation, suggests that communities should take a closer look at the role that public libraries can play in strengthening the skills of teenagers, building the capacity of libraries as institutions, and connecting libraries more closely to communities. The study suggests that library-based youth programs, especially in low- income communities, can teach teens specific job skills at the same time that they make libraries more visible assets in the community." Click to read New on the Shelf: Teens in the Library

If you are interested in developing the brainpower of our next generation of northeast Ohio residents and workers, please come read about the Northeast Ohio Breastfeeding Education and Advocacy Network!

The Center for Regional Economic Issues promotes the understanding economic development begins with the unborn child, and many area community leaders realize effective early childhood development improves the economy. Two recent benefits of this enlightenment are a community of interest called NEOchildhood, pursuing a wide range of childhood development related opportunities for Northeast Ohio, and NEOBEAN, creating the Northeast Ohio Breastfeeding Education and Advocacy Network - all for parents, family, employers, policymakers, educators, researchers, caregivers and ultimately children. Good work!.Â

Participants at the 02.14.05 session 2 of the forum on The Economics of Early Childhood Development were asked to connect the dots from early childhood development to regional economic development. The goal of this interactive session was to broaden the discussion on early care in three ways... visit the NEO Childhood COIL for a wealth of insight on this initiative and next steps!

A two-part forum on: The Economics of Early Childhood Development - see NEO Childhood for support site and services

Location

At the 02.08.05 Tuesday@REI on Intergenerational Learning, Catherine Whitehouse gave an exceptional PowerPoint (1.73 Mgs) on the Intergenerational School she directs - this is a globally unique "Charter School" with about 100 students - read more here and by reviewing the meeting transcript and other attendee notes and comments posted to REALNEO - please feel free to add your comments.

Betsy Merkel of REI introduced Peter Whitehouse, who
introduced the panelists and facilitators:

• Dr. Cathy Whitehouse, the wife of Peter Whitehouse, is a
  founder and the Principal of The Intergenerational School, the only such school
  in the world and a charter school serving eastern Cleveland.
• Kirstin Frei-Herrman is the Project Director of Experience
  Corps/RSVP of Greater Cleveland, a program providing an intergenerational
  tutoring program in the Cleveland Public Schools.
• Crystal Davis is from the Office of Family and Community
  Engagement, Cleveland Municipal School District, an office dedicated to
  stimulating family and community involvement in the education of our children
  and implementers of aspects of the No Child Left Behind program.

The facilitators for the panel discussion were Monica
Dumitriu and Betsey Merkel, both Consultants at REI.

The 02.08.04 Tuesday@REI continues an important collaboration exploring unique value in Northeast Ohio child development - today expanding focus to "Intergenerational Learning", which leverages the value of all ages learning together. Here we see notes on presentations and discussions featuring:

The Economics of Early Child Development initiative for Northeast Ohio kicked off February 01, 2005, with a fantastic forum at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where 11 important community leaders representing organizations ranging from the Gund and Cleveland Foundations, Treu-Mart Fund, CCC, Cleveland Public Schools and Hanna Perkins, were moderated by REI leaders Ed Morrison and Roberta Waxman-Lenz in insightful presentations and Q&A on what NEO will look like in 2010, when we are the world-leaders in Early Child Development - join the over 160 attendees as we plan next steps at a special NEO Childhood Community of Interest Link here!

I attended the panel yesterday at the Natural History museum, and I commend Ed Morrison and Roberta Waxman-Lentz for recruiting such a wonderful variety of speakers. I was impressed with the work that has already been done in Northeast Ohio to begin connecting child development work and economic development work, though there is still much work to be done.

Here are some useful resources that build the connection between early child development and economic development.

The 1998 Commission on the Future of the South report

Notes from the first Early Child Development Forum:

A two-part forum on: The Economics of Early Childhood Development

 Awareness: Session; One February 1, 2005, 4:00-6:00PM, Cleveland Museum of Natural History on Wade Oval in University Circle

Location

What will NEO look like in 2010 if we focus on Early Childhood Development (ECD) supporting pregnant women, babies and children - for them and for economic development

Forum 02/01 is part of a process leading to regional action plan. Roberta Waxman-Lenz at REI, Joe Gauntner (sp?) Dir. Cuyahoga County Center for Family and Children and Joyce Bressler (sp?) at Starting Point.

In anticipation of the 02.01.05 REI forum on Early Childhood Development, being held at the Natural History Museum in University Circle, WCPN is featuring the topic on their 90.3 at 9 radio broadcast on 01.25.05 - tune in and get up to speed on this most critical issue for our community... and visit the NEO Childhood Community Of Interest Links for more insight!

Location

A two-part forum on: The Economics of Early Childhood Development

 Awareness: Session; One February 1, 2005, 4:00-6:00PM, Cleveland Museum of Natural History on Wade Oval in University Circle

 Alignment and Action: Session Two, February 14, 9AM to 12PM, Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development in Shaker Heights

No big surprise NYNY Major Bloomberg is a master of ICE -
Information Community Effectiveness - as that has made him untold $ millions.
But I am always surprised how well he and NYC.gov use the WWW to serve the
diverse needs of citizens - through his virtual outreach he makes clear he is
an ingenious and caring statesman very deserving to lead one of the world's
most remarkable and complex cities. For example, today I received the following
"Health and Mental Hygiene News" on "How to Find a Doctor",
which "tells
you how to find the doctor you want regardless if you have insurance or not,
lists many free or low-cost health insurance programs, and explains how having
a regular doctor can greatly improve your health." How many 100,000s of
people in NEO need this knowledge, from an eGov taking care of citizen needs?

Speakers
> Senator Jeff Jacobson, Representative Claudette Woodard and Paul Marshall

Location

Education
World

The George Gund Foundation today annouced major grants including $5 million for the Cleveland Museum of Art's
renovation and expansion project, a very exciting $1 million to Cuyahoga County's Invest in Children (IIC) initiative, and nearly $4 million more for 79 other programs that reflect the Foundation's continuing commitment to the urban
core of the region. This near-$10 million in funding brings their 2004 grant-giving total to nearly $30 million. "Invest in Children" is dedicated to Effective Parents and Families, Safe and Healthy Children, Children
Prepared for School and A Community Committed to Children... exactly what REI Director Ed Morrison and other community leaders recommend for insuring our long term economic development - read more and see links to that program and other related news and information below. Thank you Gund Foundation!

In his ED Pro, Ed Morrison highlighted important observations about the importance of broadband internet access... in this case highlighting a foundation initiative to improve access for rural regions of Minnesota, but the same thinking must be applied to underserved, disconnected urban populations, like in inner-city Cleveland and East Cleveland. Note, in the grand spectrum of Internet access, dial-up is the minimum need of every citizen of the new economy, the level of broadband discussed here (e.g. DSL or Cable, via wires or wifi) is a valuable step beyond dial-up, and beyond that is ultra-broadband, like with OneCleveland, which provides even higher speed communications for large institutions. Toi consider what action is needed here, read the insightbelow, inserting "urban NEO" for "rural MN" and replacing "Blandin" with "Cleveland", "Gund" or any other area or national foundation.

Providing childcare and pre-K advantages to more children cannot be considered only an issue of increasing the quantity of centers. Quality matters. The National Association of School Boards of Educations (NASBE) recently issued a policy update addressing this issue and the need to focus on the manner in which we assess young children. The Association states that “there is actually a fairly broad consensus today about many issues related to early childhood testing. For example, there is general acknowledgement that issues of technical adequacy are more difficult to address with young children, who have shorter attention spans and go through periods of fluctuating development. Experts also agree that…no single assessment should be used to rank, label children, or exclude youngsters from educational experiences.�

Suppose you wanted to expand the reach of preschool to low-income families not able to pay for these benefits. To whom would you turn? A recent article in the Washington Post tells of the Freddie Mac Foundation providing a $450,000 grant for a free preschool program in Alexandria, Virginia. The program, Child and Family Network Centers, enrolls over 170 children whose families earn too much to qualify for Head Start, but not enough to pay for a private preschool. The founder of this program, Barbara Mason, states, "I think every city's going to need a program like ours because there are always going to be kids that fall through the cracks." She started the center twenty years ago in response to the large discrepancy she saw between "the kids coming out of the projects and their middle-class peers." The $2.3 million budget of the center comes from three sources: one-third is from city, state, and federal funds, one-third from foundations, and one-third from fund raising.Â