A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Achieving the Goals: Goal 1--All Children in America Will Start School Ready to Learn

U.S. Department of Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) addresses Goal One by ensuring that young children, particularly those in need, are properly nourished. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) currently serves more than 3 million children monthly who are between the ages of 1 and 5. The Food Stamp Program reaches about 14 million children each month, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program serves about 1.8 million children a year.

The Department also contributes to Goal One by providing parents and other care givers with information on how to ensure that children are physically, emotionally, and mentally prepared for life and school. In addition, USDA sparks young children's interest in science, the environment, food, and related topics through several programs, including Woodsy Owl and Smokey Bear.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

The WIC Program improves the nutritional health of low-income women, infants, and children by providing nutritious, supplemental foods and nutrition information. Participants receive vouchers that can be redeemed at retail food stores for specific foods that are rich sources of the nutrients frequently lacking in the diet of low-income mothers and children. In addition, the WIC Program is a gateway to a variety of health and social services. Because WIC has been shown to be effective in improving the health of pregnant women, new mothers and their infants, full funding has been requested for WIC by 1996, allowing the program to serve all who are eligible (an estimated 7.5 million). Children have always been the largest category of WIC participants. And, today WIC serves more than 3 million children between the ages of 1 and 5 each month. In addition, WIC works closely with Head Start and Even Start to ensure that preschool children have access to all programs for which they may be eligible.

Director Stan Garnett
USDA Food and Consumer Service
Special Nutrition Programs
Supplemental Food Programs Division
3101 Park Center Drive
Room 540
Alexandria, Virginia 22302

(703) 305-2746

The Food Stamp Program

The Food Stamp Program is the cornerstone of USDA's food assistance efforts, helping put food on the table for nearly 27 million Americans each month in FY 1993. More than half of all food stamp participants are children. This Fall, FCS implemented provisions of the Mickey Leland Childhood Hunger Relief Act that increase program benefits-- especially for households with children. Households with children make up 62.1% of all Food Stamp households.

Director Jordan Benderly
USDA Food and Consumer Service
Food Stamp Program
Benefit Redemption Division
3101 Park Center Drive, Room 706
Alexandria, Virginia 22302

(703) 305-2756

The Child and Adult Care Food Program

The Child and Adult Care Food Program provides cash reimbursements and commodity foods for meals served in child and adult day care centers, and family and group day care homes for children. Some 1.8 million children participated in the program in FY 1993. Nearly 60 percent of participating children are between the ages of 3 and 5.

Director Alberta Frost
Child Nutrition Division
Special Nutrition Programs
3101 Park Center Drive, Room 1007
Alexandria, VA 22302

(703) 305-2590

Sheltering Arms, Inc. -- Atlanta, GA

Sheltering Arms manages eleven child care centers that provide eleven-hour-per-day, year-round care for 833 children from birth to age 5. Sheltering Arms has focused on assisting families with multiple challenges of parenting, employment, and limited resources. Each Sheltering Arms center provides affordable high-quality, child care and offers family support services for parents. The agency is a good example of an innovative venture that melds funding from public, corporate, voluntary agencies and parent fees.

Funding

Sheltering Arms' annual budget of $4.3 million includes public funding from child care vouchers, a Department of Education prekindergarten initiative and the Child Care Food Program; private sector funds from the United Way, 64 local businesses and 26 foundations and parent fees for child care services. More than 1,000 parents and community residents contribute volunteer time each year. Sheltering Arms also initiated a partnership that raised $150,000 from businesses to increase the state's capacity to obtain federal matching funds for child care, leading to $400,000 in additional services.

Services for Children

Classroom programs for 6 week-olds to 5-year-olds are theme-oriented and activity-based. Each staff member works with a "primary bonding group" of children throughout the year, to increase individual attention and nurturing and to provide a focal point for ongoing assessment and communication with parents. The quality of Sheltering Arms classes has been documented by the National Association for the Education of Young Children's Center for Accreditation Program.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)

This service addresses Goal One by helping protect the health of young children, an important factory in ensuring that a child comes to school ready to learn. Ensuring the safety of the meat and poultry supply through its inspection processes is one way FSIS helps protect young children from food borne illness. Educating parents about safe food handling practices is another.

Recently, FSIS distributed information about the thorough cooking of hamburger and other safe food handling practices to parents of children in day care facilities such as Kindercare and to parents of children in Head Start programs. FSIS also works to protect young children's health by requiring nutrition labeling on meat and poultry products to help parents choose healthy foods to serve.

Sharon Sachs
Associate Director
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Food Safety and Inspection Service
Information and Legislative Affairs
1175 South Building
Independence Avenue, Between 12th & 14th Streets, SW
Washington, DC 20250
(202) 720-7943

Meat and Poultry Hotline
(DC Metro Area) (202) 720-3333
(Continental US, Toll Free) (800) 535-4555

The Cooperative Extension System

The Cooperative Extension System, working within the communities and collaborating with other agencies, provides comprehensive, preventative education to limited resource individuals and families with young children, prenatal to five. As a result of coordinating nutrition and health, money management, and parent education, these individuals and families are better equipped to raise one generation of children, physically, intellectually, socially and emotionally prepared for school and life.

Parent involvement with the child is an important predictor of early school success. Children who have a strong adult orientation seem to do better in school than those with a primarily peer orientation. Extension is assisting families in ensuring their children's well-being through effective parenting and child care which affects early childhood development. Parents and child care providers have the greatest influence on the development of children. Understanding the developmental needs of children is essential to their effectiveness. Educational programs for parents and child care providers have been a major focus for Extension. Programs include: 1) teaching parents of their important role as first teachers of their children; 2) reaching single parents with helpful resources; 3) teaching parents how to communicate with professionals who deal with their children; and 4) involving paraprofessionals in teaching low-income women how to improve their diet, manage money, and handle family crises.

Judith Bowers, Co-Team Leader, Public Affairs
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension System
Room 3328 South Building
14th and Independence Avenues, SW
Washington, DC 20250

(202) 720-3029

The new National Extension Parent Education Model (NEPEM) included four parenting skills among the twenty-nine priority practices for Extension parent education: teach children about themselves, others, and the world around them; stimulate curiosity, imagination, and the search for knowledge; create beneficial learning conditions; and help children process and manage information. Parents are viewed as having critical significance for children's learning. Extension professionals throughout the United States collaborate with a variety of organizations and agencies to prepare parents for this most important role.

Chuck Smith, Extension Specialist, Human Development
Cooperative Extension Service
343 Justin Hall
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66505-1423

(913) 532-5773

The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) and the Nutrition Education Initiative conducts educational programs in every state and territory for low income families with young children. These programs focus on prenatal and early childhood nutrition education which is essential for optimal cognitive development.

(Ms.) Wells Willis
AG Box 0925
U.S. Department of Agriculture
14th and Independence Avenues, SW
Washington, DC 20250-0900

(202) 720-8855

The USDA Forest Service

The Forest Service runs the Urban Tree House, a community-based program designed to bring an understanding of forestry concepts and careers to inner-city children of all ages. In this program, professionals from government agencies, universities and industry conduct year-round lessons on forestry, ecology, and natural resources in an outdoor setting. Atlanta, Georgia, was the first site for this program and is now the pilot for a nationwide network of tree houses that link urban populations with nearby National Forests. While the programs are largely geared to elementary students, younger siblings are welcome to attend the activities.

Rita Schoeneman
Assistant Director for Urban & Community Forestry
Auditors Building, 4th Floor, SE
201 14th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20250

(202) 205-1694

The Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Program is a comprehensive informational and educational campaign that features Smokey Bear as the symbol to create and maintain a public awareness about forest fire prevention. Smokey Bear is used for a number of purposes including educational activities in classrooms and Junior Forest Rangers, as well as public service advertising. He also introduces preschool children to the concept of preservation of nature, particularly prevention of forest fires.

Harry Croft, Assistant Director
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
P.O. Box 96090
Washington, DC 20090-6090

(202) 205-2496

Woodsy Owl is the Forest Service Conservation Education symbol for children from preschool through third grade, promoting awareness of the importance of preserving our planet. Recently, the Forest Service entered into a cooperative agreement with Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the international leader in the field of children's programming, and the creators of Sesame Street, to develop educational materials and an outreach strategy to teach children about environmental issues which affect them and to encourage appreciation of nature. Woodsy Owl will help prepare pre-kindergarten children to explore the world around them, a critical step in being ready to learn.

Doris Nance, Assistant Program Manager
Woodsy Owl Program
Coop Forestry, 4SW
201 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20250

(202) 205-3611

Treetures represent an environmental education effort with direct focus on trees. Developed by a children's author and product designed, Treetures compose a community of characters that are dedicated to tree planting. The target audience is children ages 3 to 10. The Treetures help the National Association of State Foresters and the USDA Forest Service carry the message of tree planting and care.

Pam Speka, Treeture Coordinator
P.O. Box 25127
Lakewood, CO 8O225

(303) 275-5064

National Agricultural Library

Child Youth and Family Education and Research Network

The Youth Development Information Center is a joint project of the National Agricultural Library (NAL) and the USDA Extension Service (ES) to support the professionalism of 4-H youth development. As of 1992 the Center redirected computer and communications technology in organizational collaborations and information management a greater variety and amount of information will be made available to a larger proportion of the youth-serving community.

The Child Youth and Family Education and Research Network (CYFERNET), is a joint project of the Youth Development Information Center (YDIC) of the National Agricultural Library, ES/4-H and Youth Development, ES/Home Economics and Human Nutrition (HEHN), ES/Communications and Information Technology (CIT), and the National 4-H Council. Additional collaborations are evolving to realize fully the potential of an information service based on computer communications technology. The effort is in explicit support of NAL and CIT initiatives in information management, dissemination, and public access and services.

Information available on the CYFERNET includes: federal program descriptions that deal with child, youth, or family issues and Federal Register notes for the year that deal with the same subject, a listing of all the youth at risk sites, the full text of Family Impact Seminars for the last three years, extensive statistics from the Kids Count Data Book project, the Agricultural Research Service (on family economics), clearinghouses dealing with youth and family issues, bibliographies (based on the 4-HPRK taxonomy) from both AGRICOLA and ERIC, and from the National Clearinghouse on Alcohol and Drug Information (and information on how to get the documents referred to).

John Kane, Ph.D., Coordinator
Youth Development Center Information Center and CYFERNET
National Agricultural Library, Room 304
10301 Baltimore Boulevard
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
Phone: 301/504-6400
Internet: JKANE@NALUSDA.GOV

National Extension Children, Youth, and Family Network

The Cooperative Extension System and the National 4-H Council are establishing a national Children, Youth and Family Network consisting of four national networks focusing on Child Care, Collaborations, Science and Technology, and Family Resiliency; and a national distributed-information infrastructure. The CYF Network consolidates program and technology resources and, through the electronic infrastructure, expedites nationwide access to information and education. The CYF Network assists the Cooperative Extension System nationwide in accomplishing its mission to marshal resources of the land-grant universities and CES to collaborate with other organizations to develop and deliver educational programs that equip limited resource families and youth are at risk for not meeting basic human needs, to lead positive, productive, contributing lives.

Sherry Wright, Families, 4-H and Nutrition
National Networks and Action Program
14th and Independence Avenue, SW
Room 3444, AG Box 0925
Washington, DC 20250-0925

(202) 720-8857
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[Goal One Update] [Table of Contents] [U.S. Department of Defense]