People, Programs, Organizations, Newsletters, Books, Articles

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KARA provides connections to a variety of materials that relate to helping our At Risk Kids.

Related Resources

1. Promising Practices Network

               http://www.promisingpractices.net/default.asp 

2. Children's Defense Fund

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

CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves.

We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities.

CDF encourages preventive investment before they get sick or into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown.

CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations.  We have never taken government funds.

               http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer

3. Every Child Matters

By employing systematic and adequately funded public education campaigns, the Every Child Matters Education Fund provide opportunities for focusing public attention on important children's issues including the prevention of child abuse and neglect, improving the health of low-income children, and finding solutions in child care, early childhood education, after-school programs, and responsible decisions on federal budget and tax issues. Working with local volunteers and children's organizations, the Every Child Matters Education Fund conducts campaigns of:

• Public opinion polling;
  
• Press outreach, including Federal Children's Watch alerts, press conferences, op-eds, a state-specific web site and research;
  
• Field organizing and outreach to voters, parents, workers in child serving facilities, and leaders throughout targeted states. This includes voter registration and turnout efforts;
  
• Participation and visibility at campaign and civic events - including hosting events, forums, and debates;
  
• Visibility through paid TV, radio, and print ads, billboards, event-based and door-to-door canvassing of with literature, bumper-sticker, yard sign, and other campaign materials.

               http://www.everychildmatters.org/

4. Center for Excellence - Children's Mental Health - University of Minnesota

Launched in 2003 as part of the University of Minnesota Presidential Initiative on Children, Youth, and Families, and housed within the Children, Youth and Family Consortium, the Center of Excellence in Children’s Mental Health aims to promote children's mental health and collaborative action in the state of Minnesota by effectively linking research, practice, and policy.

               http://cmh.umn.edu/

5. Minnesota Child Response Center

The Minnesota Child Response Center (MNCRC) aims to integrate evidenced-based treatment models into the community systems of care for traumatized homeless and formerly homeles children in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and to create a continuum of care for highly diverse groups of underserved children and families.

               http://www.childresponse.org/

6. Minnesota Association for Children's Mental Health

The Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health (MACMH) began in 1989 as a small group of parents concerned about children with mental health disorders. Driven by the challenges of raising a child with one of the least understood and most stigmatized disabilities, these parents met regularly, defined their mission, and established a formal board of directors. A modest federal grant allowed them to hire a coordinator who began writing publications, organizing conferences and workshops, and responding to phone calls from parents seeking information about services and resources for their children.

Fifteen years later, MACMH has evolved into a statewide education and advocacy organization recognized by families and professionals as the state’s primary resource for children’s mental health. Our increase in service numbers, which can be measured in both concrete numbers and in less tangible measures, reflects our organization’s steady growth. We currently produce more than nine children’s mental health publications, including our popular A Teacher’s Guide to Children’s Mental Health, and our annual Child and Adolescent Mental Health Conference now draws more than 1,250 participants.

               http://www.macmh.org/

7. Center for Early Education & Development - University of Minnesota

Expanding awareness and understanding of the nature of the early years.

The mission of the Center for Early Education and Development (CEED) is to improve developmental outcomes for young children through applied research, training, and outreach publications.

               http://education.umn.edu/ceed 

8. Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare - University of Minnesota

Our Mission
The Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW) was established in 1992 with federal Title IV-E funding and a grant from the Bush Foundation. The Center brings the University of Minnesota together with county and state social services in a partnership dedicated to improving the lives of children and families.

The Center's goals are to:

Prepare graduate students to work in public social services through advanced education that addresses the complex practice and policy issues facing the child welfare system.

• Provide practitioners, policy makers, researchers, and educators with timely information and resources to strengthen the child welfare system s capacity to respond effectively to the families who use its services.
  
• Enhance child welfare training through a curriculum that informs child welfare professionals in effective practice methods that are sensitive to cultural and ethnic diversity and maximize the safety, permanency, and well-being of children.

               http://ssw.che.umn.edu/cascw

9. Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota

The Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota is the driving force in the mentoring movement; bringing together diverse individuals and organizations to connect caring adults with a generation of kids in mentoring relationships.  Our commitment to youth is to make mentoring more mainstream in Minnesota  Volunteer Today! 

               http://www.mentoringworks.org/

10. Council on Crime & Justice

11. Chapin Hall - Center for Children - University of Chicago

Today's children will one day be entrusted with the nation's social, political, and economic institutions. They will be responsible for the vitality of their society. All who reach adulthood in the new century must be ready to play a significant role in shaping the world in which they and their families will live. Children are preparing for that role amid accelerating change and, for many, disheartening odds. At Chapin Hall, our work begins from the assumption that we cannot afford to write off a single child. This is more than an expression of sentiment and moral obligation. Nothing less than the future of our democracy is at stake.

               http://www.chapinhall.org/

12. Missouri Department of Social Services - Division of Youth Services

Experts praise Missouri's Division of Youth Services as a "guiding light" of juvenile justice reform, and they credit Mark Steward, the division’s recently retired director, with building – and sustaining – the finest state juvenile corrections system in the country. Dubbed the "Missouri model" by reformers in other states, the youth corrections system strongly emphasizes rehabilitating young offenders in homey, small-group settings that incorporate constant therapy and positive peer pressure under the direct guidance of well-trained counselors.  ... Marian Wright Edelman       

               http://www.dss.mo.gov/dys/index.htm

13. Kidtrek

Walking Through Life with Kids

At risk kids are children and teens whose primary nurtureres (parents, grandparents, foster parents) have left "holes" in the hearts of youngsters.  KidTrek equips Christian adults to walk with kids through life, filling those "holes".

KidTrek is a reproducible, church-based ministry that empowers adult leaders to work innovatively with at-risk kids by helping each church establish its own KidTrek Center – a long-term, unique and holistic approach for serving endangered children and youth.

               http://www.kidtrek.org/index.html

14. Grasstops

Our mission, Ensuring All Voices Are Heard, and our goal, to increase the ability of nonprofits and human service organizations to impact policy, allows these groups to be proactive in the polical process. 

              http://www.grasstops.org/

15. Brevity on the Net - Monthly Newsletter on Juvenile Justice

A monthly newsletter about juvenile justice from the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Brevity brings you news and information from around the country and on the Internet.  

No charge. Ever. Brevity is free. 

               http://www.ncjfcj.org/content/blogcategory/69/440/

16. aha! Process, Inc.

Devoted to educating professionals and community leaders about the effects of class and poverty on our society, aha! Process, Inc. was founded as RFT Publishing Co. in 1994 by Dr. Ruby K. Payne. The company began with an emphasis on education and the difficulty children from poverty experience in most schools. The company expanded its focus to include information for government officials, churches, and social service agencies serving people from poverty. The company spreads the message that in all types of social interaction, poverty creates obstacles that require specific tactics to overcome. Experts from aha! Process, Inc. work with school districts, social service groups, and businesses to help people better understand these related issues.

                http://www.ahaprocess.com/

17. Vision Youthz

                http://www.visionyouthz.org/about/home.htm

18. Bikers for Kids

Bikers For Kids is comprised of many giving members of the community. These members give time, money and compassion to make this organization and successful which then supports the children of the community. 

The contact for Minnesota Bikers for Kids is: __________

               http://www.bikerforkids.com/index.php

19. Marian Wright Edelman

               http://womenshistory.about.com/od/marianwrightedelman/p/m_w_edelman.htm

20. Read Sulik, M.D.

Dr. Read Sulik is the Medical Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of St. Cloud Hospital Behavioral Health Services.  Dr. Sulik oversees the development of inpatient and outpatient psychiatric programs for children and adolescents at St. Cloud Hospital.  He has worked closely with the CentraCare Health Foundation to raise over 4 million dollars for the development of child and adolescent behavioral health services at St. Cloud Hospital, including Clara’s House, a new intensive freestanding partial hospitalization facility for children and adolescents with mental health and chemical dependency problems.   

              http://cmh.umn.edu/bios/steeringcommittee/sulik.html

21. Invisible Children

Once you’ve heard Mike's message on Invisible Children, you’ll never be the same. If you want a program that gets your audience thinking, you’ll call Mike Tikkanen. He guarantees a message filled with rock solid evidence, emotion, and ideas. Call him for Luncheons, breakouts, and keynotes.

               http://www.invisiblechildren.org/

22. Social Solutions

Social Solutions is a purpose driven software company committed to:

• Providing cost effective solutions for the human services industry that improve service delivery, increase efficiency and increase their funding
  
• Sharing and fostering innovation and best practices
  
• Providing customer service that is responsive, caring and helpful
  
• Closing the gap between program evaluation and the daily practice of direct service staff and social workers
  
• Demonstrating the relationships between staff efforts and outcomes
  
• Celebrating the daily victories of direct service staff

                http://www.socialsolutions.com/content/view/43/73/

         E- Adolescence

e-adolescence .........................................................April, 2007

e-adolescence is a listing of on-line resources for state MCH professionals working to improve adolescent health, safety and well-being.  We encourage you to share this information with others.

As a resource made possible by the National Initiative to Improve Adolescent Health by the Year 2010 (NIIAH), this email is produced by the State Adolescent Health Resource Center at the Konopka Institute. The information collected here is gathered from NIIAH partners (indicated in red) and other leading organizations, newsletters and news sources. While the content included here pays special attention to NIIAH's 21 Critical Objectives for Adolescent Health, it also includes related issues and system capacity opportunities.

ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT
Facts for Families
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
http://www.aacap.org/
The AACAP developed Facts for Families to provide concise and up-to-date information on issues that affect children, teenagers, and their families. The AACAP has produced the Facts for Families in English and Spanish. Concise, easy to read descriptions of the stages of adolescent development for lay audiences. Shortcuts:
List of topics
http://tinyurl.com/m2ach
#57 – Middle School and Early High School Years
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