Family Re-Union 8: Family and Community

Selected Links for Family and Community

Roundtable #3

Excellent schools, child care and health centers that support family and community life

School-community partnerships

Center for Social Organization of Schools
CSOS is an educational research and development center at Johns Hopkins University.

National Network of Partnership Schools
The network's home is at Johns Hopkins University. This website contains news and information on Network members' school-family-community partnerships. Network members are from across the United States and abroad.

Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships
Located at Johns Hopkins University, the Center conducts research on school, family and community partnerships and organizes an International Network of Scholars who are working on community partnerships. Website includes links to the Center's publications and to related survey data.

Institute for Responsive Education
A research-based assistance and advocacy agency promoting the partnership of schools, families and communities. Housed at Northeastern University in Boston, IRE sponsors a wide range of research and policy studies, demonstration projects and publications on reconnecting school and community. The related links from this website are extensive.

U.S. Department of Education
Contains extensive information on national efforts related to education, including partnership involvement.

Alliance for Children and Families
Link to the Alliance's FAST program, recently recognized by President Clinton as a "Best Practice" for promoting school safety. The Alliance also connects children and family organizations in developing community-centered initiatives.

Annie E. Casey Foundation
Link to the Foundation's "School-Community Partnerships" site.

Community Organizations
This site provides information on creating partnerships that support families in helping build learning communities by organizing before and after-school and summer activities, helping to make streets safe for children, and supporting supervised recreational activities.

Beacon Programs:

New York City Beacons Initiative
The first of the Beacons programs started by the New York City Dept. of Youth and Community Development. The program offers school-based after-school, evening and week-end programs for children youth and families. Also provides support and services to parents, senior, and others in the community.

Beacons Project, Minneapolis
Implemented in 1997 by the Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board, the project replicates the original Beacons concept. The website contains information related to the implementation, funding and programs of the project. The Dewitt-Wallace Readers Digest Fund has provided funds for the implementation of four Beacon Projects nationwide.

Beacons Centers, San Francisco
A link to information on three Beacon-replication sites in the San Francisco area partially funded by the Mayor's Office for Children, Youth and Families.

Excellent child care

Children's Defense Fund
Through the "Child Care Now" link, you can access information on public policy, new initiatives, media coverage, tips for parents, facts and figures, and resources related to child care issues.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Foundation's link to "Child Care You Can Count On" includes comprehensive information on model programs, policies, community advocacy and other child care issues such as affordability, accessibility, and quality. The site contains useful links to other organizations involved in child care issues.

Child Welfare League of America
Contains information on expanding community involvement in providing quality child care services. The site also provides links to information on positive parenting family child care systems, child care for at-risk families as well as an extensive listing of related child care links.

National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care
The site contains information critical to promoting health and safety in out-of-home child care settings. It includes the entire text of the National Health and Safety Performance Standards Guidelines for Out-of-Home Child Care Programs, a resource developed by the American Public Health Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Maternal Child Health Bureau.

The Child Care Action Campaign
CCAC site provides information on building partnerships among communities, schools and business leaders to improve child care and early education. The organization also informs parents, community leaders and the public how to advocate for public policies that support children and families.

National Child Care Information Center
Supported by the Department of Health and Human Services, this site provides linkages to resources engaged in quality, comprehensive child care services.

Child Care Bureau
Contains linkages to information on policy, funding and research data related to quality and affordability of child care. Direct link to the Child Care Partnership Project website which provides practical information on creating and maintaining public-private partnerships that enhance child care services in communities.

U.S. Department of Labor
Link to the D.O.L. websiteon "Employer Child Care Options." Gives summaries of numerous different types of employer-provided child care programs. Includes summaries of types of services (on-site/offsite, family daycare, emergency care, etc.), information services (educational and referral), financial assistance (vouchers, flexible spending accts.), flexible leave policies (job sharing, telecommuting), and public-private partnerships.

Health, Families and Communities

Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities
Home page of the Center which is affiliated with the UCLA School of Public Health and the UCLA School of Medicine.

Healthfinder
Just for you: families and communities
Provides links to information and support resources for traditional and non-traditional families, families in transition, newly-formed families, and families experiencing substance abuse and other difficulties.

National Survey of American Families
Provides an overview of health data collected from the 1997 survey of families in 13 states Survey pays particular attention to low-income families, and reporting on important aspects about their lives and how they differ from the lives of children and adults in families and communities of higher incomes.

Coalition for Healthier Cities and Communities
The coalition is a partnership of entities from public, private and non-profit sectors collaborating to focus attention and resources on improving the health and quality of life of communities through community-based development. Link to the Healthy Communities Agenda, a CHCC initiative to encourage nationwide dialogues and subsequent action to enhance community health.

Duluth Kids
Use of early childhood health indicators to support public and private activities related to improving child health in this community.

The Benton Foundation: Networking for Better Care
This site contains a report on the use of electronic media in providing health information. Includes a section on community-based action in using electronic communications in addressing health in a community.

Sound Partners for Community Health
A Benton Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded program that fosters collaboration between public radio stations and community organizations to facilitate citizen involvement in making decisions affecting the health of their communities.

Community Toolbox
A site maintained by the University of Kansas that contains links to research and skill-building information to promote community health and development..

Healthy City: Toronto
Website of Toronto's Health City initiative including links to healthy city indicators and a healthy city evaluation tool kit..

Healthy Valley 2000
Website containing helpful information and reports of a community effort to evaluate and measurably improve the quality of life in this Connecticut valley region. Includes a report summarizing the research conducted as part of the effort to mobilize and engage the community in identifying its problems and building on its strengths.

Project React: Community Organizing
This is one section of an excellent website which focuses on community health education and organization. Though the site provides information on mobilizing community efforts in the context of receiving quick treatment for heart attack., its also contains a comprehensive and helpful overview and step by-step guide to organizing action for any community-based effort. The site is housed at the division of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota.

The Search Institute
The institute works with communities toward applying research into youth development. The website contains information and links related to the institute's Healthy Communities-Healthy Youth initiative. Specific focus is on communities and asset-building.

Children's Health Priorities Project
This is a project of the Public Health Policy Advisory Board that is seeking to provide a comprehensive framework for setting priorities and targeting resources for the health of our nation's children. The PHPAB reveals that the greatest emerging threats to children's health today, are primarily injuries, homicide and suicide. The report contains examples of interventions that parents, policymakers and communities can use when seeking ways to lower risks for children.

Community-Campus Partnerships for Health
A non-profit organization that fosters partnerships between communities and educational institutions and seeks to improve the education of health professionals, civic responsibility and the overall health of communities. Based at the Center for the Health Professions at the University of California, San Francisco, Partnership research projects include: service-learning in nursing education; a national evaluation of service-learning in health professions; and a national study of academic health centers and their surrounding communities. The Partnership also provides service-learning training and technical assistance.

National Network for Health
This site contains links to an extensive array of helpful sites that promote health and safe individuals, families and communities. It is sponsored by the USDA & Land Grant University System as well as by the Cooperative State Research Education & Extension System.