Children’s services hardest hit by public health cuts

5 July, 2016By Dave West

Services aimed at children and young people are bearing the brunt of cuts to public health spending by local authorities, an investigation has revealed.

Overall, the analysis identified planned spending reductions worth 50.5m in 2016-17, across 77 local authorities which provided information.

Of the 50.5m cuts in 2016-17, the biggest single area was a 7m reduction to services directly aimed at improving the health of children and young people, such as health visiting, school nursing and childhood obesity programmes.

Dominic Harrison, director of public health for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, said the reductions were driven by government spending cuts, and were “raising the risks for children and young people”, which would lead to rising costs for adult services further down the line.

He said councils were often redesigning children’s public health services carefully, but added: “It’s not realistic to believe that we can take out money from a service where we have rising demand for example children’s mental health and meet that rising demand, however well we design the service.”

Association for Directors of Public Health president Andrew Furber, who is public health director for Wakefield, said he was aware of “a number of examples” of services’ funding being transferred to NHS commissioners.

“PHE is working closely with local authorities to ensure that the reduction in the grant is conducted in a way that is consistent with the conditions of the public health grant, keeping its primary purpose focused on improving the public’s health.”

The Local Government Association’s community wellbeing spokeswoman, Izzi Seccombe, said: “Given that much of councils’ public health budget goes to pay for NHS services like sexual health, public health nursing, drug and alcohol treatment and health checks, these are cuts to the NHS in all but name.”

Journalists from Nursing Times will be reporting live from Glasgow throughout the conference

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23 May 2016

Expert children’s nurses have highlighted wide variations in services and standards for children with complex health needs as the ground-breaking charity nursing scheme celebrates its 10 th anniversary.

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3 May 2016

Council cuts to budgets for health visiting and school nursing services that are putting jobs at risk threaten to “unravel” recent national efforts to boost the workforce, it has been warned.

Graduation and grants were the focus June 24 at Club Rio Rancho, site of the the 23rd annual Leadership Sandoval County commencement.

Sponsored by the Rio Rancho Regional Chamber of Commerce, LSC consists of people committed to enhancing the quality of life in the county by improving their knowledge of the community and their leadership effectiveness.

Associates develop and refine their leadership skills through an intense, nine-month educational experience.

Nineteen new aleadersa were recognized, after going through classes and performing three community projects recently.

The 19 new SLC members are Chris Carpenter, David Cruz, Michelle Franks, Amanda Glennon, Phillicia Green, Angela Guimond, Yvette Gurule, Jennifer Herrera, Danielle Lawrence, Yolanda Lucero, Anthony Lujan, Chris Malneritch, Patricia Martinez, Stephanie MontaA o, Chandler Morgan, Beth Pendergrass, Michele Rael, Melissa Romine, Celestine Salazar and Jeff Sanchez.

Three groups of graduates talked about their community projects, with a slide presentation for the gathering of more than 100 to see: Team Alphaas community project entailed building a brick pathway at Watermelon Mountain Ranch; the Sandoval Seven rebuilt bathrooms at VFW Post 5890 on Unser Boulevard; and the Sandoval County Trail Blazers upgraded the playground at Haven House.

Recipients of grants, announced by Rio Rancho City Councilor Marlene Feuer, a member of the Rio Rancho Community Foundation Board, (with amounts in parentheses), went to: Abrazos Family Services ($3,000), ARCA ($2,000), Boys & Girls Club of Central New Mexico ($3,000), Childrenas Grief Center of New Mexico ($5,000), Dr.

Grants improve quality of life in the OzarksGrants improve quality of life in the Ozarks

Community Foundation of the Ozarks(Photo: File Photo)

One of the primary tools the Community Foundation of the Ozarks uses to improve the quality of life in the areas we serve is our grantmaking programs.

An image of Warrenpoint Municipal Park from 1918, which is set to be restored following lottery funding An image of Warrenpoint Municipal Park from 1918, which is set to be restored following lottery funding

Warrenpoint Municipal Park has been awarded a 850,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant, which will be used to regenerate the venue and restore many of the park’s Edwardian features.

“Key to the success of this project has been the strong relationships that have been built between the council and local community as the plans have been developed, and we are delighted to use National Lottery players’ money to return the park to its former glory and increase enjoyment of this wonderful space.”

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That has led at least one prominent Boston charity, the Lynch Family Foundation, to decline to fund OneGoal even though it has the backing of several other prominent, wealthy Bostonians because “we found the market to be pretty saturated,” said its executive director, Katie Everett.

“I’m just not sure it’s what we need for our Boston kids at the time,” Everett said, adding that “there’s frustration” among some local nonprofits that OneGoal is being added to the mix.

The situation reflects a broader question often asked usuallyin hushed tones in the nonprofit sector: Are too many nonprofits doing essentially the same thing while competing for donors and struggling to survive? The percentage of active nonprofits in Massachusetts is higher than in many other states with comparable populations, MNN says.

In the case of Chicago-based OneGoal, numerous nonprofit executives said their concern is it may clone the work of similar Boston nonprofits while siphoning away precious philanthropic dollars. She added that “we really do strongly value candid conversations and feedback.”

As for whether, as some critics contend, it would be better to expand or combine existing nonprofits than import new ones, Jacobson said, “I think it is poor judgment for philanthropy to tell nonprofits the work they should engage in.”

Beginning this fall, OneGoal will be based in four high schools in Boston and two in Lawrence, working with between 25 and 30 students per school.

Several dozen nonprofits aimed at increasing college graduation rates partner with the Boston Public Schools, including Bottom Line, College Advising Corps, Steppingstone Foundation, and uAspire. All four Boston schools partnering with OneGoal Community Academy of Science and Health, Excel High School, Snowden International School, and Urban Science Academy have existing college readiness partners.

Citing state data showing that only 15 percent of low-income students graduate from college, OneGoal’s executive director in Massachusetts, Patty Diaz-Andrade, said the organization hopes to expand to Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, New Bedford, and other underserved areas.

“We’re not going to go to a community where we feel the market is saturated and there is no problem,” added OneGoal’s communications director, Monique Zurita. And Houston-based SWAG to College aims to begin working with several local schools this fall.

All the programs say they are distinct from one another in some way, but skeptics say the work they do is often substantially the same.

Still, “thinking that, ‘Oh, here’s yet another college readiness program when we have so many already in Boston’ is a very shortsighted view,” said Jonathan Spack, chief executive of Third Sector New England, a resource center for nonprofits.

“Sure, there may be some overlaps and inefficiencies,” he said, “but the problems nonprofits are trying to address are so immense, and the resources available to them are so little, that the more assets we have to address the problem, the better.”

Sacha Pfeiffer can be reached at pfeiffer@globe.com.

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Midland County CCAN helping future students with new scholarship | News | ourmidland.com Midland County CCAN helping future students with new scholarship

It may be summer, but thereas at least one group that isnat taking a break from its focus on higher education for area students.

The Midland County Career and College Access Network is in its third year of helping students, especially first generation and low-income students, work towards completion of a postsecondary education. The organization now has another tool to reach its goal: the Midland Believes scholarship to debut in 2017.

Valerie Gerhart is the Career and College Access coordinator, and said the scholarship was an idea formed by a committee as a way to assist students who fall in a gray area of financial assistance.

The Midland Believes scholarship is aimed at first-generation or economically struggling college students who have attended a Midland County high school for at least two years with a minimum GPA of 2.0. Students would submit an essay along with financial aid documents.

The scholarship is $2,000 and renewable for a second year when a student is enrolled in an accredited in-state public or private college, university or tech school.

Some individuals have already expressed interest in contributing to an endowment fund for Midland Believes, Gerhart said. The goal is to establish a $4 million endowment fund through the Midland Area Community Foundation in order to provide $200,000 to cover 50 new and 50 renewable scholarships every year, but Gerhart said it will most likely start with 10 scholarships and build from there.

At least 24 percent of Midland County high school graduates in 2015 were considered economically disadvantaged. aWeare very excited for the impact Reach Higher will have on our staff and our students.a

During a recent MCCAN update, Sharon Mortensen said a lot has happened in the past three years of the organization.

aTo really change our community, one of the most transformational agents there is education,a said Mortensen, president and chief financial officer of the Midland Area Community Foundation, before introducing the Midland Believes scholarship.

Those interested in contributing to the Midland Believes scholarship are encouraged to contact the foundation at (989) 839-9661.

A lot of thought was put into the name of the new scholarship, Gerhart said, but earlier ideas didnat have the same impact as Midland Believes.

aItas got to be something even deeper,a Gerhart said.

Kenya Secures Sh36bn Loan to Cut Youth Jobless Rate – allAfrica.com
By George Omondi

Kenya has signed a Sh36 billion financing agreement with the World Bank to facilitate youth employment, health and education amid concerns over the high level of public debt.

The money signed between Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich and World Bank country director Diarietou Gaye include loans worth Sh31.89 billion and a grant of Sh4.11 billion.

A total of Sh15 billion will be spent on the Kenya Youth Empowerment Programme (KYEP) which seeks to benefit 280,000 young people aged between 18 to 29 years.

The five-year KYEP being implemented by government in partnership with Kenya Private Sector Alliance seeks to raise employability of young people with at least Form Four certificates by training and providing internship opportunities.

Mr Rotich said beneficiaries must have experienced extended spell of unemployment or those currently working in jobs classified by as vulnerable by the International Labour Organisation

Outpacing capacity of the economy

The money which includes a Sh110m Japanese government grant will finance reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health services.

The third batch of the World Bank loan (Sh18 billion) will finance research in Moi, Egerton and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (Jooust) to boost supply of skilled workforce in Africa.

The three universities picked as Eastern and Southern African centres of excellence – are expected to produce skilled graduates and apply research to solve the continent’s challenges.

Egerton will act as centre of excellence for agribusiness as Moi University becomes the textile centre while Jooust will research on how Africa can address hunger by feeding on insects.

The Merrill Linn Conservancy has received grants totaling $10,000, according to Susan Warner-Mills, president of the conservation organization.

The Marta Heflin Foundation, which funds charitable organizations that support the arts, animal welfare, and environmental conservation, has awarded $7,500 to the conservancy, and the PPL Foundation, which contributes more than $2 million annually to a wide variety of nonprofit organizations in north and central Pennsylvania, has presented $2,500 to the organization.

aThe Linn Conservancy is honored by the confidence placed in us by the prestigious Marta Heflin Foundation and by PPL Corporation, one of our regionas corporate citizens,a Warner-Mills said.A aThese grants will support our continued efforts to expand the protection of environmentally significant areas in our region and to share our passion for doing so with our friends and neighbors.a

In announcing its grant, Ryan Hill, president of the PPL Foundation, said, aPPL is committed to improving the communities where our customers and employees live and work.

Councillors approve $450K loan to move Hamilton Health Sciences workers downtown