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Every year, the KIDS COUNT® Data Book offers us a clear choice. Do we accept mediocrity for the Commonwealth’s children? Are we content with being a bottom half state? Or do citizens and elected leaders look at the data, craft solutions, and invent a better future for our children and youth? This year is no different. Kentucky ranks 34th in the nation in overall child well-being, according to the 2017 KIDS COUNT® Data Book, released [...]
This post originally appeared as an op-ed in the Courier Journal on April 26, 2017. Henry Grunwald, TIME magazine’s former editor-in-chief, asserts that journalism must speak immediately, “while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.” The Courier-Journal has met that standard in facing the plague of child abuse during April, which is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Each Sunday this month, the Courier-Journal has highlighted a [...]
Children’s health is touched deeply and pervasively by where they live, learn, and play – long before they get to the doctor’s office or dentist’s chair. This week, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute released their annual County Health Rankings. This easy-to-use snapshot compares counties within states to show that where you live influences how well and how long you live. The local level data makes it clear that [...]
Education Week recently released the 21st annual Quality Counts report, which looks at state-by-state education performance on a number of measures, including chance for success, finance, and achievement. Kentucky's overall grade was a "C" and overall state ranking was 28th in the nation. Given many of the challenges facing Kentucky's kids, like poverty, this report is a testament to the hard work and professionalism being applied every day, in every schoolhouse by Kentucky's teachers and principals. And [...]
Have you already broken your New Year’s resolutions? Blame it on the ancient Romans. Their new year commitments began with pledges to the god Janus to behave better in the next twelve months, and when the Romans failed to meet those goals, they simply suggested that, “It was the will of Janus.” Of course, making those resolutions has become a cottage industry. Some opine in a lighthearted way, such as Ami Angelowicz who calls for [...]
Kentucky Youth Advocates is excited to co-release a new study today in partnership with Delta Dental of Kentucky. The report Making Smiles Happen: 2016 Oral Health Study of Kentucky’s Youth presents findings of the first oral health surveillance study of Kentucky children in 15 years. The report was released today at the Interim Joint Committee on Health and Welfare in Frankfort, Kentucky. We extend gratitude and appreciation to Delta Dental of Kentucky for being the [...]
Kids win when elected leaders stand up for them and their families. That’s just what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Rand Paul have been doing for Kentucky kids in Washington, DC. Thanks to Majority Leader McConnell’s leadership and Senator Paul’s support for the Protecting Our Infants Act of 2015, our nation will be better able to care for infants born exposed to substances. We also appreciate Senator McConnell’s work in partnership with First [...]
This post originally appeared as an op-ed in the Courier-Journal on September 20, 2016. Read it online here. Children in Kentucky’s public schools spend a minimum of 170 days a year in the classroom. For some students, one or more of their days could find them in a situation where behaviors, classified as beyond control, lead to a staff member in their school employing a physical restraint or utilizing a seclusion room. This reality is especially true for [...]
You remember, don’t you? You’re that twelve-year old kid on a hot summer day. You and your friends are exploring that lake or pond or stream. And you pick up a handful of jagged rocks and toss them into the water. Almost magically it happens. That rock hits the surface, plunges in and then in its aftermath, those small waves emanate from the center and seemingly reach out forever. The ripple effect. Physicists have taken [...]
Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released new health insurance data, revealing good news for Kentuckians. The data shows an increase in health insurance coverage rates for people of all ages in Kentucky from 85.7 percent in 2013 to 94.0 percent in 2015. Kentucky’s overall coverage rate is now tied with two other states at 10th in the nation. The one-year estimates from the American Community Survey revealed that 95.8 percent of Kentucky children under age [...]
