parentspotlight

Saturday, October 6, 2007

TANF Initiative for Parents (TIP) /Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

TANF Initiative for Parents (TIP)
The TANF Initiative for Parents (TIP) was born out of the Child Welfare Reform effort, to help new parents with children under 12 months old who are on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) improve their parenting skills and encourage their child's well-being and healthy development.
TIP offers parents the opportunity to choose between having a TIP representative come directly to their home to work one-on-one with them or participating in community sessions at their local One-Stop Career Center. Or they can choose a combination of the two.
Through its extended support network, TIP creates a training plan that best suits each parent's situation, providing them with guidance on good nutrition, available medical and child care services, resume writing, job interview skills and more. Parents are also given the opportunity to share their experiences with families like themselves and are referred to other services they may need.
View the TIP brochure (pdf format) - English; Español

Early Childhood Resources (Tri-State and National)

main source of links: http://www.newjerseychildcarecenters.com/

Mother and More Chapters in New Jersey - Mothers & More is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of mothers through support, education and advocacy.
Matching Moms in New Jersey- Meet other moms in New Jersey for playdates, friendship, and support.
Mom To Mom Chat.com - A site for Moms, by Moms - Find support, encouragement, articles, discussion boards, business opportunities, resources, chat room, link and flyer exchanges. A friendly place to meet for ALL Moms. StepMoms, GrandMoms, Work-At-Home Moms, Divorced Moms, Charitable Moms, Moms of Special Needs Kids, and more can find other Moms to chat with, meet new friends, find work-at-home ideas, recipes, places for Moms to shop, share ideas and more!
MOPS Mothers of Preschoolers - MOPS helps moms through relationships established in the context of local groups that provide a caring atmosphere for today's mother of young children.
Newborn Baby Checklist - Preparing your baby is easy with TinyTotLots.com, the most comprehensive newborn checklist for your new baby.
New Jersey Newcomers and Mom's Club Directory - A directory of Newcomers and Moms clubs in New Jersey, which are designed to give people new to the area the opportunity to meet and develop friendships with others who live in the area. Many of these groups have general meetings and interest groups which encourage members to learn about their new city, its culture, activities, lifestyle, and to develop friendships by sharing interests and hobbies with each other.
The New Parents Guide . com - Parenting Information, Shopping and Family Travel. Lists of baby names and meanings; lists of the most popular names; buying guides; convenient shopping for baby products and gifts; family travel & vacation guides; family resorts and much more!
Visually Impaired Preschool Students - Offers appropriate services to infants, toddlers and preschoolers who are visually impaired from birth to school age and to their families; to maximize each child's developmental potential through direct services, advocacy, and community education.
New Jersey's School for the Deaf Katzenbach Campus Ewing New Jersey

Compass Needs Assessment for Middlesex County and Franklin Twp (Somerset County) by United Way of Central NJ

UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL JERSEY
COMPASS NEEDS ASSESSMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The United Way of Central Jersey COMPASS Needs Assessment process was conducted
by The Eagleton Institute’s Center for Public Interest Polling in consultation with
representatives from the United Way of Central Jersey (“UWCJ”) and from Middlesex
County. The main objective of this study is to provide information on the social service
and related needs of residents within the UWCJ service area – which is defined as all of
Middlesex County and Franklin Township in Somerset County.
The specific issues addressed by this study include employment, health care access,
housing needs, child care, youth needs, senior social needs and respite care,
transportation needs, literacy issues, and barriers to accessing needed services.

Data Collection: June 2001 – May 2002

Blogger's Note: We have provided the link to the full report. This is an extensive document. It has 141 pages.

http://eagletonpoll.rutgers.edu/UWCJ_Report.pdf

Friday, September 28, 2007

NJ After 3 - evaluation of afterschool program

New Jersey After 3 was established in 2004 by the state’s governor as a private, non-profit corporation to address the growing need for safe, accessible, high quality after-school opportunities for school children in New Jersey. During the 2006-07 school year, New Jersey After 3 served approximately 13,500 children in 66 after-school programs serving 95 schools throughout the state.

A three-year Policy Studies Associates (PSA) evaluation aims to yield information that state and local policymakers and program administrators can use to improve the quality, availability, and effectiveness of New Jersey After 3. The program is the nation’s first statewide public/private partnership that focuses exclusively on support for after-school programs. New Jersey After 3 works with youth-serving nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations, universities, hospitals, foundations, corporations, faith-based organizations, cultural institutions, and others to provide a range of resources for after-school programming.
Here is the link to the full report: http://www.policystudies.com/studies/youth/NJA3.html

New Jersey After 3 (NJA3) is a statewide after-school organization modeled after The After-School Corporation (TASC). It is dedicated to expanding and improving after-school opportunities for New Jersey students in grades K-8. TASC has provided extended technical assistance to NJA3 staff in program development, fund development, grant selection, and evaluation. NJA 3 is also a partner in TASC’s Building Healthy Communities initiative, which is funded by the Corporation for National & Community Service’s Learn and Serve America.

Mission:
New Jersey After 3 is a private, non-profit corporation dedicated to expanding and improving afterschool opportunities for New Jersey’s kids. Our vision is that all New Jersey children will have the opportunity to participate in vibrant, high-quality, comprehensive, structured, supervised and enriching afterschool activities. New Jersey After 3 is formed as a public-private partnership to maximize the resources available to afterschool programs for New Jersey kids.

Here is the link to the full report: http://www.policystudies.com/studies/youth/NJA3.html

Here is the link to NJ After 3: http://www.njafter3.org

Journalism internships

Monday, August 13, 2007

Child Abuse Prevention: Parents Anonymous

Parents Anonymous
http://www.parentsanonymous.org/

As the nation’s premier child abuse prevention
organization, Parents Anonymous® Inc. is a
community of parents, organizations and
volunteers committed to strengthening families
and building strong communities, achieving
meaningful parent leadership and shared
leadership, and leading the field of child abuse
and neglect. In addition to a description of the
leadership initiative, publications, resources, and
related links, this site describes training programs
and technical assistance services for promoting
and implementing meaningful Parent Leadership
and Shared Leadership in communities.

Teen Pregnancy an Issue in NJ

Did you know the following about Teen Pregnancy?
Highest Black Teen Pregnancy in NJ: Among black teenagers aged 15–19, pregnancy rates were highest in New Jersey (209 per 1,000) source: Guttmacher 2006 report

• High incidence of unwanted pregnancy / abortion in NJ: Teenage abortion rates were highest in the District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Nevada and California. Fifty percent or more of teenage pregnancies end in abortion in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. (2006 report from Guttmacher)

Inadequate pre-natal care: About 1/3 of pregnant teens receive inadequate prenatal care; babies born to young mothers are more likely to be low-birth-weight, to have childhood health problems and to be hospitalized than are those born to older mothers. Teens who give birth are much more likely to come from poor or low-income families (83%) than are teens who have abortions (61%) or teens in general (38%).

Highest Black Teen Pregnancy in NJ: Among black teenagers aged 15–19, pregnancy rates were highest in New Jersey (209 per1,000) source: Guttmacher 2006

Through our information blog and parenting workshops, NENI hopes to improve the likelihood of a healthy childbirth and reduce the number of subsequent births during teen years. About 1/4 of teenage mothers have a second child within 2 years of their first. About 13% of all U.S. births are to teens. Our intention with this grant is to provide online and/or in person pre-natal education in partnership with educators and physicians. When our funding expands, we will add pre-natal workshops.

Main Statistics Source: The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_teen_sex.html)

Check out additional parent resources on our website at http://www.neni.us/