“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a
matter of choice.
It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be
achieved.”
- William Jennings Bryan
Welcome
Welcome to the December
issue of Come Together, Investing
in Children's E-mailer. In this issue, we present a report
recently prepared for the Children's Aid Society of London
and Middlesex, a look at the innovative ideas of Richard Florida
and a piece on community capacity building.
We are still looking
to include more content written or suggested by our readers.
Please contact Greg Picken at info@investinginchildren.on.ca
if you would like to contribute to the e-mailer. As
well, we're always interested in your feedback. If you have
any ideas, concerns or suggestions, please e-mail them to
info@investinginchildren.on.ca
Protecting Children
"Protecting Children
is Everybody’s Business:Investigating the Increasing
Demand for Service at the Children’s Aid Society of
London and Middlesex" is the results
of a study by Alan W.
Leschied, Ph.D., Paul C. Whitehead, Ph.D., Dermot Hurley,
M.S.W., and Debbie Chiodo, M.A. Below is
an excerpt from the Executive Summary. Follow the links below
for the complete summary and report.
 Keeping
our children safe is the responsibility of our whole community,
not the child protection system alone. As the agency mandated
to protect vulnerable children under the age of 16, Children’s
Aid Societies act as a barometer of the health and well-being
of families in communities; but the issue is too large, its
impact too far reaching, and its causes too complex for them
to shoulder the responsibility alone. Results from this study
are alarming – too alarming too ignore.
Over the last decade, the number
of CAS referrals for service and admissions to care has dramatically
increased. In a six-year period between 1995 and 2001, the
number of children in CAS care in London and Middlesex increased
70% – from 445 children to 758. In the last two years,
the trend has shown no signs of slowing down.
To read the full executive
summary, click
here.
To read the full report, click
here.
Community
Capacity Building
 “All
the historic evidence indicates that significant community
development only takes place when local community people are
committed to investing themselves and their resources in the
effort. That’s why you can’t develop communities
from the top down, or from the outside in.” –
John McKnight, John Kretzmann, Mapping Community Capacity
Community Capacity Building is a global phenomenon,
with projects being undertaken around the world with an almost
universal goal of “building community capacity.”
But if you ask people to define exactly what community capacity
building is, you are likely to get a different answer from
each of them.
What did the
study find? Click
here to find out.
The
Creative Class
 In
the 90’s, cities competed for factories, corporate offices,
distribution centres and the like with a number of incentives,
including tax breaks, land deals and the construction of big
civic projects like arenas, convention centres, and strangely,
aquariums. While some cities were able to lure the corporations
they sought, many also saw that they were losing skilled workers.
Bruce Katz, director of the Center on Urban
and Metropolitan Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington
said in USA Today “We built the stadiums. We built the
hotels. We built the convention center. We still lost people.
And the 90’s were a phenomenal decade. There’s
an implicit recognition that the big-ticket items didn’t
quite do the trick.”
What does this mean? Richard Florida, a professor
of Economic Development at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh,
has a theory. And many of North America’s mid-level
cities are paying attention.
What are the indicators?
Click here.
Making Children
Matter
May 18 & 19, 2004
 With
collaborating partner Voices for Children, Investing in Children
is pleased to announce an upcoming provincial conference:
Making Children Matter: Building Better Communities for
Children.
Confirmed keynote speakers include:
- Stephen Lewis:
community advocate and UN envoy
- Sandra Griffin: Executive Director of
Canadian Childcare Federation
- Dr. Doug Willms: author of The Vulnerable
Child and chief researcher for the National Longitudinal
Study on Children and Youth
- Dr. Sharon Rich,
Faculty of Education, UWO: knowledge dissemination and information
technology
Other speakers of interest:
- Helen Connell and Alan Leschied re: current
research study
- Suzanne O’Byrne: director of Success
by Six at Ottawa United Way
- Mark Totten: Ottawa speaking on restorative
justice
- Sam Gardner and Cathy Vine: developing
community report cards
- Dr. Jean Clinton: building a community
asset model
- Dr.
Kathleen Bloom,
University of Waterloo: research,
models and tools for early literacy interventions
And many others of interest to those who care
about children and communities
Check our website for further
information and registration materials.
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