Monday Morning Report | First 5 LA - Champions for Our Children
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To submit comments, or to suggest items for this newsletter or First5LA.org, contact Denise Nix, writer/editor, at [email protected] or 213-482-7831.
Calendar

Click events below to view full listings.

Success with Challenging Behavior: ADHD
Wed., March 9, 2011
6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

PEDS (Parents Evaluation of Developmental Status)
Thurs., March 10, 2011
8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

PEDS:DM (Parents Evaluation of Developmental Status:Developmental Milestones)
Thurs., March 10, 2011
2 - 4 p.m.

Association of Batterers' Intervention Programs 17th Annual Domestic Violence Conference
Thurs., March 10 -
Sat., March 12, 2011

Pediatric Nutrition 101: What You Didn't Learn in School but Need to Know for Therapy
Sat., March 12, 2011
8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Managing Infant Complications to Maximize Breastfeeding Success
Tues., March 15, 2011
1 - 4 p.m.

Webinar: Supporting Children with Down Syndrome
Wed., March 16, 2011
10 - 10:30 a.m.

DIR/Floortime Orientation for Parents
Tues., March 22, 2011
6:30-7:30 p.m.

The Seventh Annual Childhood Grief Conference
Wed., March 23, 2011

The DIR Approach to Pediatric Feeding It's All About Relationships
Mon., March 28 -
Tues., March 29, 2011

Autism Awareness Walk and Fair
Sat., April 2, 2011
10 a.m.- 1 p.m.

The Help Group and Music for Autism's Second Concert
Sun., April 3, 2011
1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Community Resource & Job Fair
Fri., April 8, 2011
11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Free Health Screenings
Sat., April 9, 2011
10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Food Allergies & Intolerances
Sat., April 9, 2011
9 a.m. - Noon

Tools of the Trade: Business of Lactation Services
Fri., April 15, 2011
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

March 7, 2011


Budget Update
Legislators Move to Take First 5 Funding Without a Ballot Initiative
Some lawmakers believe a two-thirds vote of the Legislature is allowed under Proposition 10's terms. More �
Opposition Grows Against First 5 Funding Grab
Newspaper articles and editorials from around the state discuss potential harm of First 5 funding grab, and advocate against it. More �
Policy Pick
Bill Would Require Insurance Companies to Cover Maternity Care
A California lawmaker introduced a bill that would require health insurance companies to cover maternity services, ranging from prenatal to postpartum care. More �

News and Announcements
WIC Report: Positive Parenting Practices
Giving praise, showing affection and discipline are some of the ways parents can ensure emotional and social development in their children. A new report explores how some of Los Angeles County's low-income families use positive parenting practices. More �

The John Tracy Clinic
At the John Tracy Clinic in Los Angeles, deaf children learn to speak and their parents learn how to help, and how to cope. More �



Child Development 101
The Differences Between Boys and Girls
Beyond the obvious differences, boys and girls exhibit different gender characteristics from their earliest days. More �

Evie's Desk 
Cngrts 2 text4baby, keep up gdwerk!

Reaching pregnant and new mothers with healthy - and possibly life-saving - tips for their babies is a challenge. Medical professionals, social workers, child advocacy agencies and the like are teeming with must-know advice ... but have a hard time finding and communicating with those that must know. That is, until about a year ago, when the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies (HMHB) and a coalition of partners cracked the code.

The founders of text4baby (or bebe in Spanish) figured out that the Internet, television and articles in periodicals are not sources of prenatal or early childcare information for many new parents in the United States. However, almost everybody has a cellular telephone, and statistics from Pew Internet show that text messaging is on the rise, especially among minorities.

 

The free service that delivers practical information right to the hands of expecting and new parents just celebrated its one year anniversary, and has more than 131,000 participants nationwide. They hope to reach one million soon, and are asking for organizations, agencies, corporations and nonprofits to help them with that goal by partnering with them and spreading the word. (First 5 LA is a text4baby partner).

 

The idea of text4baby is to tackle the alarming low birthweight, preterm births and infant mortality rates. According to 2006 data from the National Center for Health Statistics, one in 14 babies (7.4 percent of live births) in Los Angeles County had a low birthweight (weighing less than 5.5 pounds). One in nine L.A. County babies (11.4 percent) is born preterm (birth before 37 weeks gestation). Nearly 700 infants died by their first birthday - representing an infant mortality rate of 4.6 per 1,000 births.

 

With more than 150,000 births every year in L.A. County, according to kidsdata.org, there is potentially a huge audience for text4baby's messages. By just entering a zip code and a due date (or a child's birth date), the messages about everything from breastfeeding and prenatal care to developmental milestones and safe sleeping arrive about three times a week.

 

I support text4baby's efforts for healthy births and lives for children, two of the four goals outlined in First 5 LA's Strategic Plan. I hope that you help spread the word about this innovative service by visiting the text4baby website here.

 

Evelyn V. Martinez

 

Chief Executive Officer
First 5 LA

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"Evie's Desk" is a regular feature of our weekly newsletter, "Monday Morning Report."  Subscribe now or view past issues.

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