In the South Bay, no one should be surprised that Bill
Wilson Center CEO Sparky Harlan was honored on July 11 as a
White House Champion of Change. Ever since she took the
reins at the iconic Santa Clara-based youth social services
agency nearly 30 years ago, Harlan has a consistent track
record of changing "can’t" to "done" - regardless of the
size or nature of the challenge.
Harlan was one of 13 people the President recognized for
leading significant changes in the ways their communities
address homelessness among children and youth.
Part of President Obama’s Winning the Future Initiative,
Champions of Change weekly recognizes a different public
service sector, honoring a broad spectrum of community
leaders for the work they are doing to serve and strengthen
their communities.
Under Harlan’s leadership, the Bill Wilson Center has been a
pioneer in building structural social change rather than
"band-aid" fixes. The non-profit offers 360-degree family
support that ranges from crisis intervention to long-term
counseling, permanent housing, and coordination with
schools, colleges and social services agencies. Harlan
recently recruited Santa Clara County nonprofits, community
groups, and corporate leaders for a county-wide initiative
to end youth and family homelessness.
One profound policy change in which Harlan played a key role
was increasing the federal government’s definition of
"youth" to those as old as 21. This simple change expanded
the services umbrella to young people aging out of foster
care - something Harlan has been advocating for many years.
"It expands the full spectrum of services that champions
like...Sparky Harlan have proven we need," explained
Donovan. "In the next few days we’ll be posting the new
Continuum of Care program on HUD’s website. Combined with
our new emergency grant program, this will bring that
holisitic approach to the federal level...Collectively,
these efforts will provide communities with the tools they
need for change."
santaclaraweekly.com/2012/Issue-29/bill_wilson_centers_sparky_harlan_honored_as_a_white_house_champion_of_change.html
STATE AND FATE OF CHILDREN
Walt Disney said,
"If you can dream it, you can do it."
BELOW IS SOME PAST ENERGY TO HELP
KIDS AT THE PASO DIGITAL FILM
FEST...
THE RESEARCH AT THE BOTTOM OF THE
PAGE AND MORE ON THIS RED BUTTON
WILL TELL YOU MORE WHY THE CAUSE
IS SO VERY VERY GREAT...If we are
so
into the "future" with all this
technology
let's remember our children are
our
FUTURE
DIRECTOR MICK JACKSON
ATTENDS THE SCREENING OF THE
AWARD WINNING TEMPLE GRANDIN
HUMANITARIAN AWARD
Festival Producer Benford Standley
gives the Humanitarian Award to
Mick Jackson, who just won
Emmy for "Temple Grandin"
ALL THE MISSING CHILDREN
Some years back, after reading
producer Benford Standley's
book on the state and
fate of children Some Ran East and
Some Ran West,
Native American performer Robby
Romero wrote the song "All
the Missing Children"...later
Benford and Robby,
working with other Hollywood entities,
produced the video that you will see to the right. The
kids
that you see in the video, were found living in the streets of
Hollywood by Robby & Benford and brought to the set
for
the making of this video. This festival is
dedicated to this
type of energy and creation to help children and
youth in
need...do what you can..."We were the
Children..."
If you are interested, and have
time, we would like to send
you to a very sad story, that will
reconfirm why we dedicate
this festival in some way to helping
children and youth that
are left behind...that suffer in the
streets, homes and
institutions of these United States
of America...
We were the Children...
Benford Standley
Festival Creator/Producer/Director
Festival Producer Benford
Standley
AUTISM SPEAKS
I READ THE
NEWS TODAY...OH BOY!!!
1. Number one killer of
children in America is Child Abuse...Parents and people that "care" for
them
2. Number one killer of
adolescents is auto accidents, two and three have changed back and forth for
years,
and they are suicide and homicide...
3.
One of every 50 American children experiences homelessness...
4. In 1980 Autism struck
ever one in 10,000 children, today is it 1 in 94. omg
5. There are millions of
homeless, runaway and missing children in the streets.
6. Pedophiles, Predators,
Sex Offenders, Perverts, Rapist...you see the news!
7. Millions of children and
youth are in detention centers, juvenile halls, foster homes and adult jails tonight...
8. Millions and millions of
children live with a single parent...
9. Approximatelyone
in seven youthonline
(10 to 17-years-old) received a sexual solicitation or approach over the Internet
10. 2.9 million children live with their grandparents
11. 24 million kids grow up without a dad
12.
AND READ BELOW FOR MORE OF THE STATE AND FATE OF CHILDREN...
New Findings Reinforce the Urgency of Autism as a Major Public Health
Crisis, Requiring Intensified Action from the Public and Private Sectors
NEW YORK, NY ... Autism Speaks, the nation's largest
autism science and advocacy organization, today responded to a new study
published in the American Academy of
Pediatrics' journal Pediatrics that
found a parent-reported autism prevalence rate of one in every 91
American children, including one in 58 boys. The most recent ASD
prevalence estimate reported by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in
2007 was approximately one
in 150 (including one in 94 boys), making
autism the most prevalent childhood developmental disorder. Autism
Speaks said the new findings reinforced the fact that autism is an
urgent
and growing public health crisis that affects most individuals
across their lifespan
and demands a commensurate level of action from
both the public and private sectors.
1.1 million
incarcerated persons are parents to an estimated 2.3 million children.
(U.S. Bureau of Justice stats)
160,000 kids and teens a day stay home from school because of
bullying.
Demi Lovato PSA - National Bullying Prevention Week and
TeensAgainstBullying.org
According to the AFCARS Report (Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting
system Report),
there were 513,000 in the foster care system on September 30, 2005 in the United
States. The could possibly be one million now..
Between 1.6 and 2.8 million youth run away in a year, and the County
of Los Angeles is now the homeless capital of the United States.
Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS)
reported some disturbing statistics about the number of youth that
run away from their foster homes. The worst part is they admit they
have permanently lost track of the majority of teen runaways.
One of every 50 American children experiences homelessness, according to
a new report that says
most states have inadequate plans to address the
worsening and often-overlooked problem.
kids are the innocent victims, yet it seems somehow
or other they
get left out," said the center's president,
Dr. Ellen Bassuk. "Why are
they America's outcasts?"
The report analyzes data from 2005-2006.
It estimates that 1.5 million children experienced homelessness at least once that year, and says the
problem is surely worse now because of the foreclosures and job losses
of the deepening recession.
"If we could freeze-frame it now, it would be bad enough," said
Democratic Sen. Robert Casey of
Pennsylvania, who wrote a
foreword to
the report. "By end of this year, it will be that much worse."
Among the over 141,000 children served by Children’s
Advocacy Centers around the country
from January through June 2011,
some startling statistics include:
•53,932 children were ages 0 to 6 years
•51,196 children were ages 7 to 12 years
•36,131 children were ages 13 to 18 years
•95,120 children reported sexual abuse
•25,414 children reported physical abuse
•88,312 children participated in forensic
interviewing at a Children’s Advocacy Center
Among the over 116,000 alleged offenders investigated
for instances of child abuse from January through June 2011, some
startling statistics include:
•75,829 were 18+ years old
•11,973 were ages 13 to 17 years
•7,911 were under age 13 years
•45,496 were a parent or step-parent of the victim
•23,763 were related to the child victim in another
way
•36,628 were an unrelated person the victim knew
Children are our greatest gifts. We must protect them at all
costs. Since 9-Eleven, 4,500 American soldiers have been
killed in the Iraq & Afghanistan war. During that same
period, over 17,700 American children have been killed by
their caregivers - all documented. We are not even talking
about the ones left blinded, paralyzed or brain damaged,
etc. There are over 5 million children abused in the U.S.
each year. We had the bird flu, mad cow disease, tainted
spinach - national news...words of epidemic blasted on front
page newspapers....where is the outrage for the children
here? I it is not an epidemic, I don't know what is.
http://thechildrenswalloftears.org
In another recent survey in Massachusetts, almost 1 in 5 female
high-school students said they had experienced physical and/or sexual
violence in a dating relationship
It is a Chicago public school full of energy and spirit. It has about
800 girls, and 115 of them have something in common – something you
might find disturbing. THEY
ARE PREGNANT.
BELOW IS ONLY ONE OF THOUSANDS OF STORIES IN THE NEWS...ONE AT
A TIME...
(CBS/AP) A day after laying Shaniya
Davis to rest, the 5-year-old girl's aunt blasted the justice system for
providing her alleged rapist and murderer with a better quality of life
than many Americans have. "We have a lot of people … [who
have] lost their jobs, who don't have health care, even children that
are in homes don't get three square meals a day. But this man sits with
guards protecting him, he's receiving free medical, free meals," Carey
Lockhart-Davis said on CBS' "The Early Show" Monday.
Mario McNeill has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree
rape of a child. Authorities say Davis was strangled to death.
The 29-year-old McNeill was charged previously with kidnapping, with
authorities saying he took Davis from her Fayetteville home. Her body
was found Monday in thick underbrush off a rural North Carolina road
after searchers spent nearly a week looking for her. The girl's mother, Antoinette Davis, is charged with trafficking her
daughter and child abuse involving prostitution.
The figures are devastating. At any one time on the Internet it is
estimated there are around three quarters of a million predators
searching for sites featuring child pornography. The UN Special
Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography, Najat Maalla M’jid in a report to the latest session of the
Human Rights Council says, “there is more and more child pornography on
the Internet, becoming what is today a very profitable business, with a
worldwide market value estimated at billions of dollars.”
According To Coalition For The Homeless,
More Than 16,000 Children
Were In Shelters By End Of September
Mary Brosnahan, longtime executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless
used the city's own data, and says homelessness has been
increasing each of the
last five years, and currently is at an all-time high. At the end of September,
10,494 homeless families lived in shelters, including 16,615 homeless children.
"What does that mean for those children, and their future? That they will spend
a substantial amount of their childhood …
in a homeless shelter?" asked Bill de Blasio, the chairman of the City Council General Welfare Committee.
Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is widespread in U.S. cities
and constitutes "America's dirty little secret," said survivor Theresa Flores during NBC's The Today Show this morning. She will
be featured on the MSNBC special, "Sex Slaves: The Teen Trade,"
One in every 6 boys will
be sexually molested by 16 years of age, and 93% know their attackers.
Reporting from
Washington - More than a month after the FBI announced it had rescued 52
children from "sexual slavery"
in a nationwide
crackdown on child prostitution, none of the victims is receiving the help
experts say is necessary to overcome
such trauma and rejoin
society. Experts underscore that sex-trafficking victims struggle to find
the care they need once they
escape from an industry
that may involve at least 100,000 children in the U.S.
