Another Success for SST!

On March 10th the Student Success Team hosted, “An Evening Dedicated to Parent Voices.” The theme of the event was parent engagement as it relates to student success. Around 80 parents and educators started the night with dinner provided by Jugs Catering followed by the keynote speaker, Randy Minniear, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NFL Alumni. The second half of the event was dedicated to hearing what parents had to say about family engagement. This was done by a panel of 2 parents and 2 educators each posing a question to the parents on parent engagement. The parents were able to discuss the questions in small groups while a facilitator recorded their answers and feedback. The event ended with raffling off a Sony VIAO laptop and a HP netbook to parents. The information provided by parents will be used to direct further discussion and events on family engagement.

Indiana United

Our nation was founded on principals of immigration. In some way, all of us have friends, neighbors and relatives who immigrated to this country. My great-grandparents immigrated from Slovakia and Slovenia to seek a better life for themselves and their children. I feel grateful for the wonderful opportunities that this afforded me and my family.

Indiana is part of this great nation and today it is facing the possibility of dramatic immigration changes that can affect all Hoosiers. If Immigration Bill SB 590 passes it could jeopardize Indiana's economic development and families. Therefore, members of the community from all sectors need to rise against Immigration Bill SB 590 to maintain our reputation as a welcoming and friendly state. A rally will be held next week to speak out against this legislation. Please be sure to share this information with your friends and colleagues.

Indiana United

Location: Indiana State House (south steps)
200 West Washington St.
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Time: 3:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Legislative Update 3/11/11 - Not Much is New

With the House Democrats still residing in Illinois, there isn't a whole lot of legislation moving. The Senate is continuing some hearings on bills that made it over, but there isn't a lot in terms of youth-related legislation. Here is a short list of bills with some activity:

HB1020 Commission on mental illness and addictions (C. Brown, Simpson, Lawson) - Hearing was scheduled for 3/9/11 at 10:00 a.m.

HB1002 Charter schools (Bosma, Kruse) - Hearing was scheduled for 3/9/11 at 1:30 p.m.

HB 1083 Child solicitation and child trafficking (Crouch, Head) - Hearing scheduled for 3/15/11 at 10:00 a.m. in room 233

Hopefully next week the House can mediate it's differences and come back to work to best serve the people of Indiana. Is it time to call in Dr. Phil? Just kidding...or am I?

We Owe it to our Young People

What do Anchorage, Cincinnati, Honolulu, Scottsdale and Virginia Beach all have in common? They all are part of America’s Promise Alliance 100 Best Communities for Youth! That’s right, each year America’s Promise Alliance recognizes 100 cities or towns throughout the United States that are “making extraordinary efforts to reduce dropout rates and provide outstanding services and supports to their youth”. All of the communities recognized have dedicated a significant amount of time and resources into helping youth succeed in school and life and have made a valuable pledge to resolve this issue for the long-haul.

In 2010, the whole state of Indiana had no communities that made the 2010 100 Best Communities for Youth list. Now, we know we’re better than that! Many of our organizations work very hard to support our students’ academic success as well as success in life. And many of us personally take the time to tutor or mentor children in Indianapolis. It’s time again that Indy stepped up and became one of America’s Promise Alliance’s 100 Best Communities for Youth in 2011. This is a rigorous activity, and will take the support from lots of organizations to collaborate – but if you’re ready, the time is now! There are lots of potential media attention and even some grant dollars at stake.

Another great way to recognize organizations doing great work to champion the positive development of youth is through America’s Promise Alliance’s Promise Places. To become a Promise Place, “organizations must deliver the five promises to the youth they serve: caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, an effective education and opportunities to help others”. In central Indiana, there are currently three organizations that were recognized as Promise Places in 2010. Those organizations are The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, The First Tee of Indianapolis and Net Literacy. Congratulations to those wonderful organizations that won this award in the past, and lets make sure that next year we have even more from Indy. All of our organizations should strive to become Promise Places and to better serve the youth we work with.

For more information and to apply for the 100 Best Communities for Young People and Promise Places, visit: http://www.americaspromise.org/Our-Work/Community-Action/100-Best-Communities.aspx.



Legislative Update 3/4/11

As I was getting ready to prepare my weekly post, I read the Indiana Association of United Ways' (IaUW) policy update newsletter and thought that I couldn't have summed it up any better. Thanks to Lucinda Nord for making this post easy for me this week!


Meltdown at the Statehouse
Oh, my! Political pundits and policy wonks are challenged to call what might happen next in our Statehouse or with the scores of bills that hang in limbo.

In case you have missed the news (is this even possible?), the House Democrats left the state, leaving 3 Democrats for procedural actions during scheduled sessions. Democrats left in protest of the right-to-work bill and other bills they consider are hurting education and the middle class--bills related to use of tax dollars in private schools, minimum wage, collective bargaining, school funding formula and more. House Republicans continue to convene session and remain steadfast that they will push through an aggressive set of reforms related to education, collective bargaining, local government and more--issues Republicans say they were charged to do by the sweeping elections of 2010. Governor Daniels has indicated he will call Special Sessions until the end of 2011 if necessary, even if it affects his role in national politics and the 2012 presidential election.

The Indiana General Assembly has two required obligations this session:
1) to pass a 2-year state budget and
2) to redraw the congressional and state legislative district maps

So what is the status? The Senate continues to work on the handful of bills that passed the House before the walkout. The House Rules Committee passed an extension for 2nd and 3rd reading deadlines--this committee report is awaiting adoption by the full House once a quorum is achieved. Representatives in both caucuses continue to meet and strategize about bills--both here or in Illinois. We wait and see--no one really knows how this will turn out.

Co-Location Capstone Group Checks in!

As a graduate student earning my degree from IUPUI’s School of Public and Environmental
Affairs (SPEA), I am participating in a capstone project that will mark the completion of my degree in
May.  This semester, MCCOY has two different groups who are working on real projects for the organization!  My group, which consists of myself and three other SPEA graduate students, has the privilege of working with MCCOY’s Early Intervention and Prevention (EIP) team on the Co-location of Services Project. Co-location is the concept that many services can be delivered in one physical space. Sometimes, organizations may be physically co-located, which means that they share office space. Other times, they may only be providing services in a central location. Our group is exploring the types of co-locations models that exist and researching the best practices with regard to implementation. To assist MCCOY this semester, we have three goals:

Identify the strengths and weaknesses of co-location as a strategy.
Our research so far indicates that there are many benefits to organizations and clients when services are co-located. We will be creating a general cost/benefit analysis for MCCOY as a decision-making tool to determine when co-location is a feasible, cost-efficient, and effective strategy.

Identify best practices of co-location.
There are many sites, nationally and locally, which serve as examples of successful co-location
projects. We will survey and interview these sites to identify factors which contributed to their success, as well as to note current challenges they face. This information will be used to create a business plan detailing possible implementation strategies for co-locating services in Indianapolis.

Supplement asset mapping and gap analysis work.
MCCOY’s project partners at SAVI have done an excellent job identifying community assets and gaps. Our team will work to provide additional information that will contribute to the selection of the location(s) of the co-location project.

The major focus for our team over the next several weeks will be our survey and interviews. We have
developed a comprehensive survey that was sent this morning to approximately 100 co-location sites across the nation!  We hope to learn more about how these projects started, as well as how they operate now. We have also selected a handful of sites nationally and locally to serve as models for MCCOY’s project. We will be conducting interviews with representatives from these sites to gain a more in-depth look at the strengths and weaknesses of co-location as a strategy and at the opportunities and threats that exist in the communities where the sites are located. By my next post, I anticipate that we will have some exciting results to share from collecting our data!

Over the past few months, we have really enjoyed working with MCCOY and have learned much about the organization’s role in the community. We’ve had the opportunity to attend the EIP task force meetings, and I personally was energized by the variety of partners in the room who share a vision for Hoosier families.  Co-location projects require strong relationships between the partners in the project, and I believe that the Indianapolis nonprofit community regularly demonstrates a willingness to collaborate. As university students, I know that we are excited to offer our research to the larger collaborative effort.

If you are interested in learning more about our research, you can email our team at CoLo@mccoyouth.org.

Good nutrition is a key to happy, focused kids – and families!

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. One way to ensure you’re getting the most bang for your buck is to eat locally grown produce.

In-season fruits and veggies are less expensive and have more nutrients than produce that has suffered through days of interstate—or international—travel.

Here are some great resources:

What’s Fruits and Veggies are In Season in Indiana?

Here is a more general list of what’s in season in the northern hemisphere by month.

Of course, there’s an app for that: Locavore.

In Indianapolis, you can even have organically grown produce delivered right to your door.

The American Heart Association’s website has a whole section devoted to Healthy Kids with great articles like Healthy Snacks Under $1.

And the Mayo Clinic children’s health website provides nutrition guidelines for children according to age and gender.