United Way Community Care Day Volunteers Work Miracles

UPCOMINGEVENTS

Circle of WomenWinter Gathering

December 9th

Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday Season from theAction for Children Staff

Council of Franklin County

The power outage on the scheduled United Way Community Care Day didn’t deter the efforts of Park National Bank volunteers. A consequence of the storm, the volunteers rescheduled for the alternate date, September 23, much to the agency’s relief and appreciation.

The mighty four – Lisa Stranger, Linda Staubach, Drew Knoesel and Evan Bing - working alongside Action for Children staff, performed a “basement miracle.” By day’s end, reorganization, recycling and sweat equity turned a musty, overgrown and cluttered storage area into a well-ordered lower level thanks to the caring and committed volunteers.

Winter 2008In this Issue…

United Way Community Care

Advocacy: AfC Steps Up for Kids

Breakfast with the Best

Celebrating Diane

AfC Partners withMayors Office of Education

Regional Spotlight: Child Care Network, Madison County

Lights On! Afterschool 2008

United Way Community Care Day VolunteersLeft to right: Scott McIntire, Drew Knoesel,

Linda Staubach, Lisa Stranger, Evan Bing, Pat Hall

Advocacy: AfC Steps Up for Kids

Breakfast with the Best Shares Timely News

Rhonda FraasJeffrey Cullman Linda SiefkasChristine FreytagCarole Watkins

Andrew BainbridgeMary CusickLinda Day-MackessyCarol DrakeJeri GrierTodd HanksSteve JohnstonPaul G. LaCroix, IIIKathleen E. LachDr. Mary McIlroyDebra Plousha MooreSheryle PowellRichard D. RosenDavid ShouvlinDonald S. VanMeter

Muriel TiceDiane S. Bennett

Action for Children is anEqual-Opportunity Employer

8,500 Copies Printed Published November 2008

PresidentVice PresidentSecretaryTreasurerPast President

EmeritusCEO

Children First preschoolers joined school agers from the Hilltop YMCA After School program on the Statehouse steps to give visibility to Step Up for Kids Day. The press conference and rally, cosponsored by Action for Children and Voices for Ohio’s Children, represented Ohio’s participation in a non-partisan nationwide effort on Septem-ber 16 to draw policy makers’ attention to issues affecting young children.

Rally organizers referred to a UNICEF report that ranked the U.S. 20th among 21 rich democracies in child well-being. “Nationally, three million children are abused or neglected; 14 million are alone after school; eight million have no health insurance and 13 million live in poverty.”

As the welcoming speaker at the rally, Diane Bennett said, “Abundant research proves that we know how to reduce these problems… that we know a lot about healthy growth and development, and that smart new investments in children have a huge return on investment. And, we are fortunate in Ohio that many of our leaders have shown that they recognize the importance of children having quality early leaning experiences so they come prepared for kindergarten, access to comprehensive health care, and the need for after school programs. However, we must continue to spotlight children’s issues in the days before the election and continue post-election.”

Gayle Channing Tenenbaum, Voices for Ohio’s Children and Public Children’s Services Association, gave some of the Ohio statistics in her remarks: “Full-day kindergarten is available to only half of the children; 240,357 children statewide need access to quality afterschool services; the number of children

living in poverty rose from 15.2 percent in 2001 to 18.5 percent in 2007 and the poorest are children under the age of five living in single-family house-holds.” Tenenbaum closed the rally by saying, “While granted we have made many gains, the stats show we still have work to do. Together, let’s work to make Ohio a leader by being the best place for our kids and families.” The rally was the conclusion of a day that drew 80 advocates from around the state for a 10:00 to 3:00 advocacy workshop focusing on the legal rules of advocacy for non-profits, how to work with the media and develop a crisis communications plan, as well as how to work with policy makers.

Diane Bennett, Welcoming Speakerat Step Up for Kids Rally

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In tough economic times, it is those companies that know how to value and respect their employees that hold the wisdom that always impacts the bottom line. This year’s keynote speaker, Bill Herman, President of Plante & Moran, shared the history of his

company and its wisdom that has placed it on Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list for ten consecutive years.

A privately held company, Plante & Moran is also the recipient of Fortune’s Employer of Choice recognition and the Practice Innovation Award from Practical Accounting, and they have also been named a Technology Pacesetter for their leading technology consultation from Accounting Today. Yes, as a public accounting firm, they are money savvy guys in a day when we need money savvy guys.

At the Breakfast for the Best event, Herman inspired attendees with intriguing information about what his company is doing to support its employees and build their bottom line. This year’s Breakfast with the Best event raised $115,000 for the programs and services of Action for Children, with over 350 of the local business community attending the event at the Arena Grand Theatre.

If you want to stay informed about what really matters in today’s economy for your business, call Kathie Boyuk about Breakfast with the Best at 614-224-0222,ext. 159.

Action for Children Partners with Mayor’s Officeof Education: Faith Based & After School Forums

Celebrating Diane… 25 Years’ Leadership at Action for Children

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Action for Children and the Columbus Mayor's Office of Education together hosted a series of afterschool faith-based forums. Each forum was held at a different location throughout the Columbus area. The forums took place on September 10th at the Leo Yassenoff Jewish Community Center, on October 8th at the First Church of God, and on November 13th at New Covenant Believers Church.

These forums offered an invaluable opportunity for after school practitioners, the faith-based community, and the public to come together to listen to experts in the field of after school programming and to discuss

the importance of after school programs and activities to our youth and families. Many of the after school programs in central Ohio are currently housed within faith-based organizations, which made this collaboration to initially create these forums a perfect match. Action for Children is making plans for hosting more after schoolprogramming series in the future.

Please call 614-224-0222 and ask to speak with an Action for Children After School Specialist for more information about these forums and about after school programming in central Ohio.

The solid past, strong present and a committed future, in the leadership and staff of Action for Children, were represented at the September 25 evening in celebration of CEO Diane Bennett’s 25th anniversary. Since she was hired in 1983, the agency has grown from 13 staff and a $250,000 budget to a multi-million dollar budget commensurate with an increased staff of 70.

Diane spoke of her pride in the agency’s accomplishments since its beginnings in 1972 with the vision of Cee Cullman, founding “mom” and first president. And, she under-scored Cee’s hope for a future that would make children and those who cared for them a number one priority.

Rhonda Fraas, board president and past presidents Carole Watkins (2006-2008)

and Mary Cusick (2004-2006) shared a culled list of what they called

Diane’s Top 25. Highlights of her visionary leadership include:

“Following the market trends in 1984, you led the creation of the Employer program to help central Ohio employees plan and offer child-care benefits to their employees. This led to the start of COB (Circle of Business) which has more than 50 businesses, reaching more than 1,000 employees;Under your leadership, the agency started a special program to help schools and community groups develop resources to care for school-age children (our After School program) and PhoneFriend, a warm-line to children home alone after school – in its 12 years we reached 60,000 children;

Beginning in 1995, Action for Children became the regional hub for a resource and referral network funded by Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Action for Children Delaware made us one agency in two locations…just this past year Union County became our third location;

In 2002, the Art of Positive Parenting (TAPP) joined Action for Children providing parent education classes to 300 families a year;

In 2003, you helped develop a strategic framework the became the springboard for School Readiness Solution Group and the State’s 10-year plan to create a new early learning system to address the problems of uneven program quality, limited access and limited public investment.

Diane, who is all about shared responsibility and leadership, thanked everyone for their contributions and said, “Success is not about me, it is about all of us and our many commu-nity partners and collaborators. Working together we can co-create a world for children…one that allows each child to grow, be and reach his/her fullest potential.”

The SOURCE is a free quarterly publication of Action for Children, 78 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43215. Story ideas and comments are welcome and should be addressed to the CEO.

Diane with the Current* and PastAfC Board Presidents: Seated L to R:

Muriel Tice, Diane Bennett, Floradell PfahlStanding L to R: Steve Johnston, Lou Briggs,

Rhonda Fraas*, Tanny Crane, Carole Watkins,Don Bender, Mary Cusick, Sam Koon

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Lights On! Afterschool 2008

Regional Spotlight: Child Care Network, Madison County

Child Care Network Madison County

Action for Children’s child care resource and referral (ccr&r) partner for Madison County is Child Care Network. Founded in 1994, Child Care Network is housed at The Ohio State University Cooperative Extension office in London. The ccr&r service operates 15 hours a week, with 24/7 self-search available for Madison County residents via Action for Children’s website.

Child Care Network provides referrals to centers, family child care home providers, preschool programs, school age programs, and camps, as well as referrals to other Madison County

agencies and organizations as needed. The Network, like all of the regional partners, also provides professional development for center staff and home providers; either directly, or through Action for Children’s regional services, or by way of local agencies.

While coordinator Laura Eldridge’s office hours are part-time, she is a full-time advocate for

child care and early learning in Madison County and, located in Madison County, she is actively involved in her community. Focusing on children and families, she works collaboratively with the Cooperative Extension, Madison County Family & Children First Council, Ministry for Community, Madison County Department of Job & Family Services, Help Me Grow, and Ohio Department of Job & Family Services. She serves on local boards that include the London Library and Habitat for Humanity. She is active with the Promoting Stable Homes and Families continuing improvement process, advocating for child care for second and third shift employees. During the past year, Ms. Eldridge has initiated a

relationship with the Madison Messenger, submitting a column on a monthly basis to inform the community about quality child care and early learning and to reach out to families. She has presented information about the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment tool (DECA) to Head Start center staff and she has been instrumental in advocating for early learning as part of Madison County’s Needs Assessment tool administered by Miami University. Looking at the needs of school age children, she recently worked with several community collaborative organizations to receive second year funding from the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio for the PATH mentoring program for girls 12 – 17 years of age. In future, she would like to include boys in this program.

If you would like to learn more about Child Care Network in Madison County, call Laura Eldridge at 740-852-0975, ext. 15.

More than a million people rallied in support of afterschool programs at 7,552 events nationwide for this year’s Lights On! Afterschool held in October – a leap from the event’s inaugural year in 2000, events numbered 1,200. And, 130 people "attended" the first-ever online rally for Lights On! Afterschool on Facebook!

In Columbus, Action for Children staff took part in the event at Sullivant Gardens Recreation Center, a partnership with City of Columbus Capital Kids program. Mayor Michael Coleman was in attendance. The children performed a song for the Mayor and all who attended, a tradition created by the children who have attended this long-running and successful afterschool program in past years. Mayor Coleman “swore in” the children as Mayor for the Day, which was particularly exciting for the room full of miniature mayors during this election year!

In Delaware County, Action for Children at Andrews House staff participated in the event at Dempsey Middle School, which hosts an afterschool program run by 21st Century Learning Centers. The children were building robotic LEGO cars and racing them in the school

hallway and they were on computer programs using virtual reality to do surgery. Delaware hosted numerous Lights on Afterschool events throughout the day. Action for Children friend and former employee, Karen Jackson, served as Delaware’s ambassador for the events.

The new Action for Children of Union County, and director Rhonda McDonald, celebrated their first Lights On! Afterschool event at the YWCA, which operates a latchkey program for the community. The event ran from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m., with activities led by YMCA employees for the 68 children in attendance. Mitch Potterf ran a fit kids activity, Ron Smith led a karate class, Jessica Smith led the craft and snack group, and Tracy Zimmerman led pool activities. Michelle Rutledge and Y Child Care director Suzy Zumwalde respectively made sure everyone had what they needed and helped with transportation for the children from activity to activity.

Lights On! Afterschool is an initiativeof the national Afterschool Alliance,a nonprofit public awareness and advocacy organization that works to ensure that all children and youth have access to quality afterschool programs. More information is available at www.afterschoolalliance.org For afterschool programs near you, callAction for Children at (614) 224-0222 or email IR@actionforchildren.org .