Early Care and Education
New Issue Brief Released on Access to
Early Learning Programs in Rhode Island |
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The latest Rhode Island KIDS COUNT Issue Brief, Access to Early Learning Programs in Rhode Island, includes detailed information about the four major types of early learning programs: Pre-Kindergarten programs, child care (including center-based and family-based child care); Head Start and Early Head Start and early childhood special education, including Early Intervention. Early learning experiences shape the brain architecture that enables children to develop language, literacy, cognition, behavior and social-emotional skills. Recommendations focus on strategies to improve access to effective early learning programs from birth through kindergarten. |
| Youth Development
Equipping Students for Success |
The latest episode of the Rhode Island KIDS COUNT cable television show features Volunteers in Providence Schools (VIPS) Executive Director, Terri Adelman, and VIPS volunteer Ellen Brosofsky. VIPS is a not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to enabling all Providence public school students to succeed in school by providing them with educational support services and individualized help so that they can grow academically and socially.
Also featured on the show were College Visions Director Simon Moore and Darren Canonico, a student who is active at College Visions. College Visions provides low-income and first-generation college-bound youth in Rhode Island with the individualized advising and resources needed to enroll in college. |
| Economic Well-Being
New Census Bureau Data on Child Poverty |
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Children in poverty, especially those who experience poverty in early childhood and for extended periods of time, are more likely to have health and behavioral problems, experience difficulty in school, become teen parents, and earn less or be unemployed as adults. Rhode Island KIDS COUNT released new data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey showing that 15.5% of Rhode Island children under age 18 lived in poverty in 2008, down from 17.5% in 2007. Rhode Island ranks 22nd in the nation, an improvement from 2007 when Rhode Island ranked 31st (with 1st being best and 50th being worst). Nationally, the 2008 child poverty rate for U.S. children under age 18 was 18.2%. |
