Children's Defense Fund Greater Cincinnati

Annual Report 2001

Copyright © 2002 Children's Defense Fund Greater Cincinnati. All rights reserved.

Children's Defense Fund Greater Cincinnati258 Erkenbrecher AvenueCincinnati, OH 45229phone 513 · 751 · 2332fax 513 · 751 · 2003web www.cdfcint i .or g

Children’s Defense Fund Greater Cincinnati

Annual Report 2001CONTENTS

Letter from the DirectorThe Leave No Child Behind Campaign

Child HealthEarly Care and Education

Southwest Ohio Children’s CoalitionCincinnati Community Education Project

Beat the Odds 2001Black Community Crusade for Children

Fiscal ReportSupporters and Acknowledgements

CDF Mission

Acknowledgements

Thank you all for keeping our boat afl oat!

Amanda LeMasterAmber GoodBennett CooperBeth EngelhartBreyer SchoolCharles WoodeCrystal ClarkDarrin HunterDarrin HunterDawn CrooksDawn CrooksDelores BenjaminDelores BenjaminDerek AydeDerek AydeDiane JordanDiane JordanDonna SmythDonna SmythErmelda CooperErmelda CooperGloria YoungGloria YoungIshaq NadirIshaq NadirJennifer SteeleJennifer SteeleJohn BryantJohn BryantJori CottonJori CottonJosh WhiteheadJosh WhiteheadJulie BrockJulie BrockKenmel CarrKenmel CarrKyle SmithKyle SmithLisa Gregg

Maria NilssonMartha TottenMichael DisimileMichael KammererMichael GiddensMichael GiddensMildred CurtisMildred CurtisMona MarrowMona MarrowNatasha J. WilkinsPatrick ByrnePatrick ByrneRenecia EnglandRenecia EnglandRev. Damon LynchRev. Damon LynchRochelle MortonRochelle MortonRodney Brown Rodney Brown Rodney Brown Rodney Brown Sharyn BolichSharyn BolichSheila McCallSheila McCallStacey ThomasStephanie Scott

JohnsonThe Very Reverend The Very Reverend

James DiamondJames DiamondTina NewlandTina NewlandTricia WaddellVeronica Chapman

Volunteers

Barbara FitchBonnie KroegerCarol TalbotDiane JordanDick WeilandDick WeilandDigi France SchuelerDigi France SchuelerDr. John BryantDr. John BryantDr. Neal MayersonDr. Neal MayersonJames MasonJames MasonLeslie KreinesLouise SpiegelMary LeRoyMary LeRoyRabbi Michael R. ZedekRabbi Michael R. ZedekRabbi Michael R. ZedekRobert C. ReifsnyderRobert C. ReifsnyderRobert C. ReifsnyderRobert WehlingRobert WehlingSallie WestheimerSallie WestheimerSusan Ferrell TrollerSusan Ferrell Troller

Partners

Brooke CassmanC. Mason GrayC. Mason GrayCharles F. Casey-LeiningerCharles F. Casey-LeiningerCheryl YoungbloodEileen Cooper ReedEileen Cooper ReedJacqueline ClemonsJacqueline ClemonsKaren KahleKaren KahleKathy AtkinsonMargaret GambowMargaret GambowMaurice Rodgers, Jr.Maurice Rodgers, Jr.Michael KammererMichael KammererNatasha WilkinsSamantha WechslerSusan Bolich

Staff

Darlene KamineOzie Davis, IIIPenny Pensak

Staff Affi liates

Alva Jean CrawfordBarbara KreinesBarbara KreinesCarole RigaudCarole RigaudDarrin HunterDarrin HunterDigi France SchuelerDigi France SchuelerDigi France SchuelerJan JacobsJan JacobsJan JacobsJuanita AdamsJuanita AdamsKathy ChristmonKathy ChristmonKathy ChristmonLeslie KreinesLeslie KreinesLeslie KreinesLinda ColeyLinda ColeyMartha TottenMartha TottenMartha TottenMiriam WestMiriam WestPaulette KeysPaulette KeysReba St. ClairReba St. Clair

Beat the Odds Committee

Letter from the Director

Dear Advocates for Children,

2001 was quite a tumultuous year. Events in Cincinnati pitted neighbor against neighbor and made us search for creative and new ways to talk to and act to-ward one another. The earth-shattering catastrophe of September 11 gave us all pause to consider what we are doing and how we are doing it.

Here is the way we made it through at CDF: building the Movement to Leave No Child Behind®. When people feel left out, they have less reason to buy into the rules, because the rules simply have not worked for them. This is a time in his-tory when we can change those rules; we can make sure that our children have everything they need to thrive.

At the national level, we have been a party to drafting federal legislation that will allow the President and Congress to do what it takes to Leave No Child Be-hind®. We insist that, if you use our motto, you live by it. We know what needs to be done for American children and we know how to do it. We celebrated our fi rst victory with the passage of the Child Tax Credit.

In Ohio, we will start a new state budget process in the fall. We are already pre-paring ourselves to translate the needs of Southwest Ohio children into state policy as well. It may be a hard road to hoe, and it will take all of us to make it happen.

Our Beat the Odds® luncheon and its honorees personify what happens when a local community pulls together to celebrate its children. The lives of these young people speak to hope and inspiration. Every child in Greater Cincinnati should have that. It’s our job to make sure they do. Yours and mine. If not now, when? If not us, who? Please join me and pledge to Leave No Child Behind®.

Eileen Cooper ReedDirector/Advocate

Marian Wright Edelman Founder & President, Children’s Defense Fund

Eileen Cooper Reed Director / Advocate,

Children’s Defense FundGreater Cincinnati

CDF’s Mission

The mission of the Children’s Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life with the help of caring families and communities.

Because children have no vote, and therefore no political power, their needs often land at the bottom of the list, any list. Our mission is to bring the needs of children to the attention of the general public and policy makers. We do this through com-munity mobilization, public education, advocacy, research and publications.

Children’s Defense Fund Greater Cincinnati is supported wholly by individuals, foundations and corporate sponsors. We neither seek nor accept government funding.

The Leave No Child Behind Campaign

Last spring the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, D.C. launched its Movement to Leave No Child Behind, an ambitious campaign to build a grassroots movement to involve all Americans in doing what needs to be done to meet the needs of children. The vision and mission of the campaign is to ensure all American children a healthy start, a head start, a fair start, a safe start, and a moral start.

Working with a range of child ad-vocacy networks and members of Congress, the Act to Leave No Child Behind was developed to embody this vision and to move for-ward for children. The Act (S.940/ H.R.1990), introduced by Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Rep-resentative George Miller (D-CA) on May 23, 2001, addresses key areas affecting children’s well-being, school readiness, school achievement, and safety. The Act to Leave No Child Behind incorpo-rates policies and programs proven to improve the lives of children. Many of the provisions in the Act’s 12 titles are drawn from legislation introduced separately by Republi-cans and Democrats in the House and the Senate.

Locally, we’ve been reaching out to our coalition partners to join us in this effort. We urged clergy to include the Leave No Child Behind message in their Children’s Sab-

baths and have spoken to study groups, planning committees, and entire congregations to encour-age congregants to join us in this important work. Presentations on the Act have been made to local or-ganizations and their boards such as 4C, Children, Inc., the Hamilton County Human Services Planning Committee, the Junior League, the Thriving Children Vision Council of the United Way, and the statewide Have-A-Heart-Ohio Coalition. We’ve also asked coalition partners - sec-ular, religious, and professional - to endorse The Act—and so far our list exceeds 50 organizations and over 200 individuals.

We’ve made visits to local legis-lators, including Congressmen Chabot, Portman and Boehner, and Senators DeWine and Voinovich, accompanied by coalition partners, to discuss pieces of this legislation, and how our children here in Ohio will benefi t. And, we’ve also encour-aged state legislators and elected offi cials to endorse the legislation.

Our mission and vision in the months ahead is to do what it takes to meet the needs of children and their parents by building on the strengths and sense of fairness of the people in our community, learning from the best public and private ideas and successes, and moving forward to a renewed com-mitment to all our children.

Child Health

CDF Cincinnati continues to coordinate health outreach efforts in Hamilton County through the Covering Kids grant funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered by the Ohio Commission on Minority Health.

Our accomplishments in 2001 included:

• Produced Healthy Start, Healthy Families (HSHF) commercials that aired on fi ve Greater Cincinnati radio stations serving our various demographic targets.

• Our outreach model for an electronic transfer of information from Cincinnati Public School’s free and reduced school lunch program application to outreach agents was chosen as a best practice and documented by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank based in Washington, DC.

• In order to increase the enrollment of junior high and high school aged stu-dents, CDF initiated the Coaches Campaign, based on a model developed in Boston. Participating coaches throughout Hamilton County received information on HSHF plus training / instructions on how to identify uninsured student ath-letes and how to assist their parents with the application process.

• To address the healthcare issues of Greater Cincinnati’s growing Hispanic population, we have convened organizations serving that population to identify opportunities to make sure Hispanic children in our area receive the healthcare coverage and access they need.

• Last fall, CDF coordinated a Back-to-School Health Campaign with seventeen area discount department stores. This included the distribution of HSHF infor-mation and application assistance.

• CDF partnered with the University of Cincinnati to co-facilitate a 400 level class with an emphasis on service learning. CDF staff members spoke to class-es about various children’s issues and our advocacy work done in respect to the fi ve starts. Subsequently, each student spent volunteer time in local community agencies helping to identify and enroll uninsured children into HSHF.

• In an effort to assess the uninsured rate on Cincinnati’s west side, we have partnered with LaRosa’s Pizza to provide schools with pizza parties who return the highest numbers of student healthcare surveys to be fi lled out by parents.

• CDF continues to work directly with the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to en-sure that the implementation of family-friendly policies and procedures are kept on the front burner and are followed as prescribed by both state and federal regulations.

Early Care & EducationOur Keeping Child Care in the Public Eye project, now in its fourth year, has sought to: (1) develop public and policymaker understanding of early care and education issues; (2) provide supply and demand data necessary for sound planning; and (3) develop coordinated community strategies. The project has become a model of suc-cessful collaboration between our many partners in the county childcare coalitions.

The Greater Cincinnati Childcare Staffi ng Taskforce (GCCST), convened by CDF in late 1999 as the Hamilton County Child Care Staffi ng Crisis Task Force, continued to focus on the staffi ng crisis in early care and education programs. However, the downturn in the economy in 2001 ended the crisis in recruiting staff for early care and education programs. But the lack of education and training of existing staff and high turnover rates fueled by the low wages and lack of benefi ts remained serious problems.

Members of GCCST now include representatives from childcare coalitions in Butler and Clermont counties and Northern Kentucky. We continue to develop funding for regional initiatives that will improve wages, reduce turnover, and encourage the edu-cation and training of the childcare workforce. Our accomplishments include:

1. A Director’s Training Program – a series of monthly trainings designed to develop stronger management and leadership skills and provide opportunities for peer support for child care center directors. Training began in September 2001 with over 40 directors participating. 4C is now the lead agency for this exciting project.

2. A wage stipend project for childcare workers intended to reward education, job performance, and improve retention. The Hamilton County Commissioners and the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services approved the project for funding, but the fi scal crisis at the department led to a lack of funding. We did successfully implement a similar project in Butler County with 4C as the lead agency.

3. Increased support for a local childcare worker scholarship program, Center Con-cepts Awards, Inc., a member of the GCCSCT. We received contributions for the scholarship program from the Procter and Gamble Foundation, the Andrew Jer-gens Foundation, Scripps-Howard, and the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services.

4. Developed a comprehensive proposal for an Early Childcare Stabilization Project and began seeking national, state and local funding for the project.

5. Developed with the Southwest Ohio Children’s Coalition, an early care and educa-tion policy and budget platform for the 2002-2003 state budget process. We pre-sented this agenda to all of Southwest Ohio’s state legislators prior to last year’s budget session.

6. Participated in the Early Childhood Sub-Committee of Cincinnati Community Action Now (CCAN). CCAN incorporated GCCST recommendations into its implementation plan.

7. At the close of the year members of the GCCST and the county childcare coalitions began to work with CDF on reauthorization of the federal Childcare and Develop-ment Block Grant in 2002.

Southwest Ohio Children’s CoalitionThe Southwest Ohio Children’s Coali-tion (SWOCC), established in 1995, provides an on-going opportunity for education, information, advocacy, and professional development on leading public policy issues related to children. Several new organiza-tions joined SWOCC in 2001, and it currently has 33 member organi-zations representing some of the largest social service and child care providers in the community as well as leading civic and community organizations. CDF coordinates and provides staffi ng to SWOCC.

In 2001, SWOCC focused on the state biennial budget process. Early in the year SWOCC members convened to develop a broad public policy platform that could be used as the basis by which all SWOCC public policy responses could be measured. The platform served as a tool for our members to debate and develop its budget recommenda-tions and advocacy strategies at the state and local level. The principles that we established were:

• To ensure that Ohio’s children are in safe, nurturing and permanent families,

• To ensure access to quality medi-cal and behavioral health care for Ohio’s children,

• To invest in early care and edu-cation and after-school care for Ohio’s children and,

• To invest in programs to help move Ohio families out of poverty.

After establishing these principles we were able to develop a series of state budget recommendations. We presented the SWOCC public policy platform and the accompanying budget recommendations to our Southwest Ohio state legislators at a Legislative Breakfast in April.

SWOCC members were active in the state budget debate. Some partici-pated in legislative visits, others tes-tifi ed at budget hearings, and many wrote letters or called their legislator to lobby for a particular program or policy.

After the state budget was passed in June, we distributed a fi nal budget analysis to SWOCC members. In August we held a State Budget Brief-ing, attended by approximately 200 ing, attended by approximately 200 ingpeople, including SWOCC members and other community allies.

In December SWOCC sponsored a Federal Legislative Briefi ng. Rec-Federal Legislative Briefi ng. Rec-Federal Legislative Briefi ngognizing that much of the work of Congress had been focused on the immediate economic and secu-rity issues facing the country after September 11th, we invited our federal representatives to join us for an informal discussion of issues related to children and their families currently under discussion at the federal level.

Cincinnati Community Education Projectmembers.

In these neighborhoods, Steering Committees made up of parents, stu-dents, school staff, and other com-munity members have come together to identify the needs, assets, and pri-orities for their communities’ neigh-borhood schools. Over the course of eight intensive working meetings, each Steering Committee develops a set of recommendations regarding school site and school-community partnerships that are then presented to the School Board. Through this pro-cess, members of our communities have a real opportunity to shape the future of Cincinnati, and to ensure the healthy development of all of our children.

Academic Redesign

Toward the end of the year 2000, CPS selected Burton, Rockdale, and Cen-tral Fairmount schools for “redesign” (a complete overhaul of school staff and curriculum) based on a three-

year record of failing performance. CDF worked with each of these school communities to help reconsti-tute their site-based governing bod-ies, select their preferred candidate for principal, and recommend a new comprehensive reform model for in-struction. Throughout the school year and summer, CDF worked with the schools to strengthen their site-based governance, facilitate the transition to a new staff, and broker partnerships with lead agencies that will coordi-nate community resources to support the students and their families. This year, we are working with school com-munities at Chase, in Northside, and Rothenberg in Over-the-Rhine.

“We are a group of many with a common purpose working toward a common end. All of us are interested in bettering the community and making the immediate world (our neighborhood) a better place for our kids and others.”

—Steering Committee Member

Everyone knows that when parents and communities are involved in education, children do better in school. And when children do bet-ter in school, they do better in life. That’s why, for the last two years, the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) has worked diligently in neighborhoods throughout Cincinnati to ensure that parents, community members, and the students themselves have a voice in the direction of their schools.

Through the Cincinnati Community Education Project, CDF focuses on engaging the community in education through two avenues: the Community Learning Centers Pilot Project, and the Cincinnati Public Schools Aca-demic Redesign process.

Community Learning Centers Pilot Project

Over the next decade, the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) will implement an ambitious plan to improve school facilities across the district. The plan

to renovate and build new facilities presents a unique opportunity to engage those who have the great-est stake in the success of their neighborhood schools – the parents, students, school staff and teachers, and other community members – in a process to design schools that are truly responsive to the needs of the whole community. With funding from KnowledgeWorks Foundation and the Procter & Gamble Fund, the Children’s Defense Fund has teamed up with Cincinnati Public Schools, and Concordia, Inc., (an architecture and planning fi rm that has developed a model for community engagement) to ensure that this opportunity is not lost. These partners have piloted an initiative to create Community Learning Centers – schools that bring together multiple partners to offer a range of services and opportunities to children, youth, families, and com-munities – in Walnut Hills, Avondale, and Over-the-Rhine, with the com-mitted and ongoing participation of a wide cross-section of community

Beat the Odds®

We celebrated our 6th Annual Beat the Odds® Celebration on March 30th at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Neediest Kids of All, Time Warner Cable, and WCPO-TV Channel 9 provided major underwriting for the event.

We felt privileged to honor the following students who showed great spirit and integrity in beating the odds: Nazarene Adams of Taft High School; Donnell Kelly of St. Xavier High School; Timothy Meloy of Mt. Healthy High School; Erin Murray of Purcell Marion High School; Roseanna Tressler of Holmes High School; and Susan Zaghlool of Aiken High School.

Marian Wright Edelman, Founder and President of the Children’s Defense Fund, gave the keynote address. She talked about the triumph of the students being honored, and about the work of CDF and our Movement to Leave No Child Behind®. Mrs. Edelman No Child Behind®. Mrs. Edelman No Child Behind®left all in attendance inspired to make sure that all children can beat the odds.

Each student received a $1000 scholarship to use in the pursuit of a post-secondary education and/or for the transition into the workforce, a Beat the Odds® plaque, a gift basket donated by the women of the Junior League of Cincinnati, and recognition in several tri-state area newspapers.

Barbara Fitch, of Cincinnati Children’s and CDF’s Partners Committee, and Carole Rigaud, Beat the Odds® Committee Chair, also received Beat the Odds® plaques in recognition of their work and their dedication to the children of the Greater Cincinnati area and to the Children’s Defense Fund.

The event was a tremendous success, thanks in large part to the staff of Cincinnati Children’s, but also to the women who sat on the steering committee: Mildred Curtis, Esq., Honorary Chair, Carol Rigaud, Chair, Kathy Christmon, Jean Crawford, Jan Jacobs, Barbara Kreines, Leslie Kreines, Reba St. Clair, Digi France Scheuler, and Martha Totten. Darrin Hunter, our wonderful volunteer and friend, designed our invitations, program, and annual report. The entire CDF staff pitched in and helped make the event run smoothly.

Other generous contributors to the event were: Ashland, Inc, the Bethesda Foundation, Christ Church Cathedral, the Kaplan Foundation, The Procter & Gamble Company, Provident Bank, Jim Reed, Toyota Manufacturing North America, Inc., the University of Cincinnati, College of Education, and Western-Southern Enterprise.

Black Community Crusade for ChildrenIn 2001, the Crusade gathered steam with the assistance of a strong Steering Committee. Free-dom Schools, the program brought to Cincinnati by CDF, served even more children. This year, seven different sites ensured that Freedom Schools, admin-istered by the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative, served children throughout the Cincinnati Empowerment Zone. All Freedom Schools sites serve at least one meal, usually lunch, and are staffed by bright young ser-vant leaders in high school and college.

The reading based curricu-lum is culturally competent, and children spend their mornings in reading activi-ties and their afternoons in a variety of recreational activities including fi eld trips once a week. At the end, the children graduate with lots of smiles and tears.

During the fall of 2001, two public allies joined CDF to work on leadership devel-opment for youth and to organize young people to express their community voice on issues important to them. They’ve made head-way on both counts.

Children’s Defense Fund Supporters

Ashland, Inc.Automated Health SystemsBethesda Foundation, Inc.Christ Church CathedralCincinnati Children’s Hospital

Medical CenterCincinnati Youth CollaborativeDaniel & Susan Pfau FoundationEpiscopal Church of the DioceseEpiscopal Society of Christ

Church Frisch’s RestaurantHalom HouseHealth Foundation of Greater

CincinnatiJack & Jill of America, Inc.

Cincinnati ChapterKnowledgeWorks FoundationMayerson FoundationNeediest Kids of AllOhio Commission on Minority

HealthPublic AlliesRobert Woods Johnson

FoundationSC Ministry FoundationThe Andrew Jergens FoundationThe Junior League of CincinnatiThe Kaplan FoundationThe Procter & Gamble CompanyThe Procter & Gamble FundTime WarnerToyota Motor ManufacturingUniversity of CincinnatiWCPO-TV Channel 9Western Southern EnterpriseXavier University

Foundations & Organizations

Adath Israel SisterhoodBetty Ann WolfBobbie SterneCarole RigaudDiane WeberDonald E. KindleGloria WalkerGreer, Margolis, Mitchell, Burns

& Assoc.Gregory Allgire SmithHarriet F. RauthIn honor of Miss Jordan

SteinbergJean A. SiebenalerJim ReedJohn & Frances PepperJudith BechtelJudy DombarJudy OrentKatherine M. TeipenLeslie KreinesLouise SpiegelMemory of Lorraine EpplenMichael J. BurbaMr. & Mrs. David Joseph, Jr.Mr. & Mrs. James AndersonMr. & Mrs. Raymond BolichRabbi Irvin M. WiseRichard WeilandRobert C. TerwillegarSarah DombarShirley WortheiserSteven R. HoweSusan Elizabeth Watts

Individual Contributors

Our heartfelt thanks to the faithful supporters who make our mission at CDF complete!

Fiscal ReportFinancial support for the Children’s Defense Fund Greater Cincinnati offi ce was provided by founda-tions, corporations, civic and religious organizations, along with individual contri-butions. Revenues totaled $415,769; and expenses totaled $427,468.

CDF does not accept gov-ernment funding, nor do we receive United Way funding. Corporate and individual contributions are always welcome. You can mail your donations to:

Children’s Defense Fund258 Erkenbrecher AvenueCincinnati, Ohio 45229.