Media/Press

AGENDA FOR CHILDREN

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Agenda for Children's Staff (alphabetically by last name)

Ashana Bigard
Extension 125: Family Resources for Early Education (FREE), Program Manager. ABigard@agendaforchildren.org

Magelene Brown
Extension 114: Child Care Technical Assistance Program, Advisor. MBrown@agendaforchildren.org

Kenya Celestine
Extension 110: Receptionist. kcelestine@agendaforchildren.org

Simone Cifuentes
Extension 133: Child Care Rescources, Information Coordinator. SCifuentes@agendaforchildren.org

Christine Constant
Thibodaux Office: Family Child Care Visitation Program Coordinator. CConstant@agendaforchildren.org

Dianna Constant
Thibodaux office: Child Care Resources, Thibodaux Region IV Coordinator, Map to inclusive Child Care Training Program Coordinator. ccrr3@mobiletel.com.

Lisa Cooks
Extension 111: Operations Manager. LCooks@agendaforchildren.org.

Olayeela Daste
Extension 112: Child Care Resources, Parent Counselor. ODaste@agendaforchildren.org.

Cora C. Dillworth
Extension 129: Child Care Technical Assistance Program, Information Manager. CDillworth@agendaforchildren.org

Lanette Dumas
Extension 126: Positive Steps Training Program, Coordinator. LDumas@agendaforchildren.org

Derrick Edmond
Extension 122: Covering Kids and Families, Program Coordinator for the Southeast Regional Coalition. DEdmond@agendaforchildren.org

Teresa Falgoust
Extension 117: Kids Count Program, Coordinator. TFalgoust@agendaforchildren.org

Jessica Jamison
Thibodaux Office: Child Care Resources and Inclusion. ccrr3@mobiletel.com

Betty Lacy
Thibodaux Office: Positive Steps, Training Manager. ccrr3@mobiletel.com

Tasha Landry
Extension 130: Accounts Payable Manager. TLandry@agendaforchildren.org

Kathleen Lee
E xtension 116: Child Care Technical Assistance Program, Coordinator. KLee@agendaforchildren.org.

Miss McKinnie
E xtension 135: Positive Steps, Materials Assistant/Registrar. MMckinnie@agendaforchildren.org

Charlotte M. Neal
E xtension 124: Positive Steps, Training Manager. CNeal@agendaforchildren.org

Debbie Pavur
E xtension 113: Child Care Resources, Parent Counselor. DPavur@agendaforchildren.org

Sharon Pomeroy
Extension 123: Policy and Communications Coordinator. SPomeroy@agendaforchildren.org

Debbie Price
Thibodaux Office: Positive Steps Training Program, Data Entry. ccrr3@mobiletel.com

Judy Watts
President and Chief Executive Officer. JWatts@agendaforchildren.org

AGENDA FOR CHILDREN: HISTORY AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Founded in 1984 and incorporated in 1986, Agenda for Children (AFC) is a statewide child advocacy organization with offices in New Orleans and Thibodaux. In the late 1980s, this organization was prominent in the effort to see that the federal SOBRA option became adopted in Louisiana, making Medicaid coverage available to low income working families for the first time. Following this successful effort, we created an outreach project, funded by a local foundation, to make New Orleans families aware of the new opportunities for health coverage. This experience is reflected in our current work, continuing to connect families with health care through the ongoing incremental Medicaid expansion policies, LaCHIP being the most recent.

While AFC's beginning was devoted to assuring adequate health care for working families it's commitment to the health and well-being of children and families in Louisiana continues to drive its involvement in influencing policy and practices in Louisiana.

Child care and early education are additional priorities for Agenda for Children. In 1989, AFC created the state's first child care resource and referral (R&R) office, helping families find and choose quality child care that meets their needs and the needs of their children. Now serving families throughout Southeast Louisiana and working in collaboration with R&R services in Baton Rouge and Shreveport, the R&R office is now just one component of a comprehensive quality child care initiative at Agenda for Children, known as Child Care Resources (CCR).

The R&R component maintains a database of over 2,400 child care and early education programs. In fiscal year 2003, we assisted 5,690 families who called seeking help with their child care needs. Our training programs for child care personnel offered 330 workshops-typically three hours long-for over 7,700 participants on topics ranging from brain development to "messy play," plus an additional 73 sessions on CPR and Pediatric First Aid. Agenda for Children also maintains a database of 75 child care health consultants available to assist child care providers with problem-solving and meeting health requirements.

Our newest training series is especially for parents. In the first nine months of this program, 68 sessions were conducted for 738 participants in homeless shelters, public housing developments, schools, and other venues. Another recently added component of CCR focuses on improving the quality of care in family child care homes, informal, largely unregulated settings in which a provider cares for fewer than seven children in her own home. Our family child care "visitors" did 730 on-site technical assistance visits in the first ten months of the program.

Agenda for Children has published the bi-annual Kids Count Data Book on Louisiana's Children as part of the 50-state network of Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count grantees since 1992. In 2003, AFC produced the Louisiana Family Self-Sufficiency Standard in cooperation with the University of Washington and the Washington DC-based Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW), documenting the actual income-by location and family size-that it takes for a family to make ends meet. In 2002 AFC developed the Louisiana Children's Oral Health initiative and, in collaboration with the LSU Dental School, released a forty-two page policy brief, "Brushing Up on Children's
Oral Health in Louisiana," credited with leading to the inclusion of oral health in the list of Medicaid eligible services for pregnant women.