Our 2015 board meetings

In the first half of 2015, the Commission on Children will hold regular board meetings on January 13, March 10, and May 12. Watch this page for locations, agendas, and more: http://www.cga.ct.gov/coc/meetings.htm.

Childhood obesity report

The legislature's Childhood Obesity Task Force has issued its final report (PDF), including a half-dozen recommendations to lawmakers for improving the health of Connecticut children. More on childhood obesity

This latest issue of "What We're Reading"

http://www.cga.ct.gov/coc/newsletters/reading/2014-10-02.htm

State officials, national experts gathering on Wednesday for forum on employability

HARTFORD—The Connecticut Departments of Labor and Social Services are joining with the Commission on Children to hold “Improving Pathways to Employment: A Best Practices Forum,” on Wednesday, September 24, from 9 a.m. to noon in Room 1-D of the Legislative Office Building, at 300 Capitol Avenue in Hartford.

TANF, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, was launched by the federal government in 1997 as a centerpiece of welfare reform. The forum will explore how Connecticut currently uses the program to help needy families acquire the tools they need to land jobs in today’s competitive economy and whether other state programs may offer best practices that could be adopted for Connecticut.

The forum will also provide an opportunity for Labor Commissioner Sharon M. Palmer and Social Services Commissioner Roderick L. Bremby to outline preliminary recommendations of Connecticut’s TANF Redesign Work Group. Anne Foley, undersecretary for the state Office of Policy & Management (OPM) and chair of the state’s Child Poverty and Prevention Council, will deliver opening remarks. Commission on Children Executive Director Elaine Zimmerman will moderate the event.

Six national and state experts have been invited to provide presentations on the ways TANF can connect people to jobs and employment opportunities. Presenters include:

• State Representative Toni Walker of New Haven, who co-chairs the legislature’s Appropriations Committee (“The TANF Block Grant: Implications for Low-Income Families”);
  
• LaDonna Pavetti, vice president for family income support policy at the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (“The TANF Landscape in the U.S.: Lessons Learned”);
• Brian Campbell, special assistant for the District of Columbia’s Department of Human Services (“Closing Obstacles, Opening Opportunity to Employment”);
• William Durden, policy associate for the Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges (“The I-BEST Model”);
  
• Rochelle Finzel, group director for the National Conference of State Legislatures (“Building Career Pathways”); and
  
• Charisse Hutton, director of Support Enforcement Services for Connecticut’s Judicial Branch (“Don’t Forget the Fathers: TANF & Child Support.”)

For more about the forum, including an agenda, speaker biographies and handouts, visit the Commission on Children website, at www.cga.ct.gov/coc.

Immediately following the forum, at the same location, DSS will hold a public-comment session on Connecticut’s proposed plan for allocating its TANF block grants for federal fiscal years 2015-2017. The state receives about $267 million in TANF funding annually from the federal government and is therefore required to submit an allocation plan every three years. For details, visit the DSS website at www.ct.gov/dss/tanfplan.

This week's issue of What We're Reading

News articles concerning Connecticut children: http://www.cga.ct.gov/coc/newsletters/reading/2014-09-11t.htm

This week's issue of What We're Reading

News articles concerning Connecticut children: http://www.cga.ct.gov/coc/newsletters/reading/2014-08-21.htm

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What We're Reading

Check out this week's issue:
http://www.cga.ct.gov/coc/newsletters/reading/2014-08-01.htm

Kellogg awards grant to expand PLTI nationally

The W. K. Kellogg Foundation has awarded a $500,000, two-year grant to the Commission on Children for a national expansion of its ground-breaking Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI). The funding will also allow expansion of the program to a two-generation strategy, so that it includes the children of participating parents. Read more about it in this news release.

WTIC-AM morning host Ray Dunaway interviewed Commission Executive Director Elaine Zimmerman about the grant. You can listen to it here.

What We're Reading

Here's this week's issue.

What We're Reading

Here's this week's issue of "What We're Reading," our round-up of the past week's news concerning Connecticut children.

2014 PLTI sites and contact information

The Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI) sites for 2014 are Bridgeport, Danbury, Hartford, Meriden, Middlesex County, Milford, Norwalk, Stamford, Waterbury, West Central Connecticut, and West Hartford. You'll find contact information for each here. Learn more about PLTI here.