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Early Childhood Programs Help Children Thrive
December 29, 2008 - First Focus recently released five briefs on the effectiveness of early childhood programs in improving outcomes for children including: reducing crime, increasing high school graduation rates and improving educational outcomes. The series, entitled Impacts of Early Childhood Programs, includes briefs on state pre-kindergarten , Head Start, Early Head Start, model early childhood programs and nurse home visiting. The series summarizes existing evidence on early childhood interventions and their impact on children and families.

Satellite Conference Highlights Opportunities and Challenges in Pre-K
December 10, 2008 - Rhode Island KIDS COUNT hosted a national Pre-K Now satellite conference, Diverse Delivery of Pre-K: Opportunities and Challenges, attended by policymakers and child care providers from across the state. The conference included a panel discussion with providers from the New Jersey Abbott Pre-K System about the opportunities and challenges associated with implementing the Abbott Preschool system. Panelists included Cynthia Rice of the Association for Children New Jersey and Lorraine Cooke of the Egenolf Early Childhood Center in Elizabeth, NJ. View pictures from the event.

Celebrating Children's Health
November 17, 2008 - Rhode Island KIDS COUNT hosted the eighth annual Celebration of Children's Health to celebrate the progress the state has made in achieving positive health outcomes for Rhode Island's children in a packed venue at the Providence Marriott. Several elected officials were in attendance, including: U.S. Senator Jack Reed, Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts, Senate Majority Leader and incoming Senate Presidet M. Teresa Paiva-Weed, Senator Rhoda Perry, Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline and Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian. View the event press release here and the presentation from the luncheon highlighting Rhode Island's achivements.

Children's Health Coverage is Almost There
October 24, 2008 - Read the recently released report: Almost There: Covering the Remaining Uninsured Children in Rhode Island. According to the report, while fewer children in RI (6.9%) are uninsured than the national average (11.0%), there is more work to be done.With a number of small policy changes, RI can provide all children with the health coverage they need for healthy child development. View the press release and executive summary.

Children Living in Poverty in Rhode Island
September 17, 2008 - Poverty is related to many of the challenges to the well-being of children. Children are most at risk of not achieving their full potential. In Rhode Island, 17.5% (40,468) of children under the age of 18 lived below the federal poverty threshold according to the recently release Issue Brief, Child Poverty in Rhode Island. This Issue Brief provides updated data on the children living in poverty in Rhode Island.

Implementation of Significant Changes to Health Insurance Coverage for RI Children and Families

Read the paper "Rhode Island's Medicaid Proposal Would Put Beneficiaries At Risk and Undermine The Federal-State Partnership Could Set Dangerous Precedent for Other States" by Judith Solomon of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

New Data Show Increase in Children Living in Poverty and Uninsured Children
August 26, 2008 - According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, 17.5% of Rhode Island's children under age 18 lived in poverty in 2007, up from 15.1% in 2006. 6.9% of Rhode Island children were uninsured in the three year period from 2005-2007, compared with 6.4% of children 2004-2006. Rhode Island ranks 11th in the nation for children's health insurance coverage. View the press release, and the data tables on children's health insurance coverage and child poverty, prepared by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT.

Dr. Gregory Fritz Dicusses Shortage of Mental Health Service Providers in RI
August 25, 2008 - Dr. Gregory Fritz, Academic Director at Bradley Hospital and a member of Rhode Island KIDS COUNT's Board of Directors, spoke with the Providence Business News about the shortage of mental health service providers, its impact on children, and what can be done. Read the article, Five Questions With: Dr. Gregory Fritz.

Issue Brief on Children with Autism in Rhode Island Released
August 19, 2008 - According to the newly released Rhode Island Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Issue Brief, the number of children and youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) increased 30 fold over the past 14 years, and students with ASDs make up 5% of RI children receiving special education services. The Issue Brief provides an in-depth analysis of the issue of children with ASDs, including: the prevalence of ASDs in Rhode Island at the city/town level and at the national level, definitions of relevant key terms, educational opportunities for children, interventions, treatment, therapy, and support for parents.

Summary of the 2008 KIDS COUNT Essay on Juvenile Justice Reform Now Available
August 18, 2008 – A summary version of the 2008 KIDS COUNT essay, A Road Map for Juvenile Justice, presents the six pervasive challenges raised in the essay that face our nation’s juvenile justice systems today. It highlights key facts and data, and offers promising solutions for approaches that have been proven to improve outcomes for youth, families, taxpayers and communities.

Report on Birth Outcomes Ranks RI 3rd Best in Prenatal Care
August 6, 2008 - The report, Right Start for America’s Newborns: City and State Trends 2008, is now available online. At 2.2%, RI has the 3rd lowest rate in the nation of mothers receiving late or no prenatal care. According to the report, RI made positive progress in 4 out of 8 measures of infant well-being since 1990, and RI ranks in the top half of the nation in 7 out of 8 measures of infant well-being. View the press release for more information about the report.

Legislative Wrap Up Released
July 31, 2008 - The 2008 Legislative Wrap Up has been released. This publication by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT summarizes selected laws and budget appropriations affecting children that were passed during the 2008 session of the Rhode Island General Assembly.

RI Pre-K Law Garners National Attention
July 15, 2008 - Pre-K Now, a national public education and advocacy organization, highlights the passage of the Pre-Kindergarten Education Act in RI in "Today in Pre-K". The law calls for the creation and implementation of a state-funded Pre-K program serving 3 and 4 year olds in communities with high concentrations of low-performing schools.

New RI High School Graduation Rate Comparable to US Rate
June 26, 2008 - RI has a 70% high school graduation rate and a 19% dropout rate based on new methodology for calculating RI graduation rates. Compare each RI school district's new graduation rate with its old rate and view detailed information about the new methodology in this supplement prepared by Rhode Island Kids Count.

2008 KIDS COUNT Data Book: A Roadmap for Juvenile Justice Reform
June 12, 2008 - RI ranks 21st among the states for overall child well-being in the 19th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, a national and state-by-state profile of the well-being of America’s children that ranks states on 10 key measures and provides data on the economic, health, education, and social conditions of America’s children and families.

This year's Data Book essay outlines key action steps and model programs with the potential to change the reality and prospects for the nearly 100,000 youth confined in U.S. juvenile facilities on any given night. According to the report, in 2006 the rate of detained and committed youth in custody in RI was lower than the national rate. In 2006, the ratio of youth of color to White youth in custody in Rhode Island was worse than the U.S. ratio. View the article in the Providence Journal.

Rhode Island KIDS COUNT Presents: Pawtucket Data in Your Backyard
June 5, 2008 - Rhode Island KIDS COUNT Presents: Pawtucket Data in Your Backyard. The data on child well-being in Pawtucket show some encouraging trends in recent years in both health and education. Improvements are seen in education results for 4th grade reading proficiency and high school graduation rates, yet outcomes still fall below the state as a whole. The presentation included highlights of improvements and declines in the well-being of children and youth in Pawtucket. The presentation was hosted locally by the Rhode Island Parent Information Network. View the press release and the Pawtucket City / Town Fact Sheet.

RIte Care Works!
June 4, 2008 - In RI, the percentage of preventable hospitalizations for children enrolled in RIte Care decreased, while the percentage for unisured children more than doubled. Adults enrolled in RIte Care have the lowest rates of preventable hospitalizations according to Rhode Island KIDS COUNT's latest publication released at the RIte Care Works event at the RI State House.

New Report on Health Insurance for RI Families
May 12, 2008 - Rhode Island’s rate of uninsured children (6.4%) was the 10th lowest in the U.S. in 2006, according to a recently released Rhode Island KIDS COUNT report, Health Insurance for Children and Families in Rhode Island. The U.S. rate of uninsured children is 11.1%.

Release of 2008 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook
April 7, 2008 - Rhode Island KIDS COUNT released its annual publication on the well-being of children and families in RI, the 2008 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook.The Factbook reports on 62 indicators of child well-being across five subjects: Family and Community, Economic Well-Being, Health, Safety, and Education.

Financial Analysis of Expanded Learning Opportunities in Rhode Island
March 2008 - This report describes municipal, public, and private sources of funding for a broad array of expanded learning opportunities, including afterschool programs, child care, and employment opportunities for youth in Rhode Island. This report  is meant to serve as a starting place for further work on sustainable public and private funding for high quality expanded learning opportunities for Rhode Island’s children and youth.

Top 5 Reasons to Support RIte Care
March 27, 2008 - View the Top 5 Reasons to Support RIte Care released by the RIte Care WORKS Coalition. The report highlights the positive health outcomes, cost-efficiency and strong public support of Rhode Island's health insurance program for low-income children and families.

New Report Showcases Strategies and Practices That Drove New Investments for Early Care & Education
March 4, 2008 - Voices for America’s Children has released ''Increasing State Investments in Early Care and Education: Lessons Learned from Advocates and Best Practices.'' The report features the advocacy efforts of organizations in 10 states, including Rhode Island, that recently passed an early care and education legislative initiative.

Rhode Island Children in Immigrant Families
January 30, 2008 - According to the recently released Issue Brief entitled, "Rhode Island Children in Immigrant Families," Rhode Island is tied with 11 other states for second lowest percentage of recently arrived immigrant parents in the U.S. The Issue Brief provides a statistical portrait of children in immigrant families in Rhode Island.