2011
Rhode Island
Kids Count Factbook

New at Rhode Island KIDS COUNT

January's episode of the Rhode Island KIDS COUNT TV show is now online! Watch as host Elizabeth Burke Bryant and guests Dr. Daniel Kane and Dr. Carol Lewis discuss children's health issues in Rhode Island and their recent receipt of Covering Kids awards.

Watch Capitol TV's coverage of the news conference held to announce Rhode Island's receipt of a $50 million Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge grant.

Check out December's episode of the Rhode Island KIDS COUNT television program! Chris Amirault, President of the RIAEYC, and Tammy Camillo, Director of RIAEYC and BrightStars, sat down with host Elizabeth Burke Bryant to discuss Rhode Island's early learning system.

Dozens of elected officials, non-profit leaders and child care providers gathered at CCRI's Providence campus to celebrate Rhode Island's receipt of a $50 million Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge grant. Rhode Island is one of nine states awarded the federal funding. The grants will help states build more efficient and effective early learning systems. Click to read the Providence Journal article, watch the coverage on WJAR and WPRI or view the photo gallery.

You are invited to celebrate Rhode Island's successful application for the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant, Monday, December 19, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. at CCRI's Liston Campus in Providence, in the atrium. Rhode Island was one of nine states awarded this competitive grant that will bring $50 million over four years to improve early learning and development opportunities for Rhode Island's young children.

On December 16, 2011, the White House announced that Rhode Island and other states - California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio and Washington - will receive grant awards from the $500 million Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge fund, a competitive grant program jointly administered by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius made the announcement of state grantees this morning at a White House event with over 100 early learning and development experts, educators, and policymakers, including Deborah Gist, Rhode Island's Commissioner of Education. Click to read to White House's news release.

On December 7, 2011, Policy Analyst Leanne Barrett testified before the state’s Joint Legislative Task Force on the Education of Children in the Care of DCYF. Leanne presented statewide data on the number of young children (under age 6) who are victims of child abuse and neglect and the number of children young children (under age 6) in out-of-home placement. She also presented an overview of Rhode Island’s early learning system. Recommendations included minimizing the number of placements experienced by infants and toddlers and ensuring that all young children who have experienced child abuse or neglect or who are in foster care are participating in high-quality early learning programs.

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