RICHMOND —
People in Madison County will get a chance Thursday to see the data behind health and safety problems affecting local children.
Phyllis Adams, president of Children’s Champions of Madison County, said the community needs to be fully informed about issues children are facing in order to work toward fixing the problems.
Adams invited Amy Swann, coordinator of Kentucky Youth Advocates' Kids Count program, to present data about children’s health and education at the Madison County Community Conversation.
“These are things the community needs to be aware of,” Adams said.
With check-in starting at 12:30 p.m., the Madison County Community Conversation will start at 1 p.m. at the Madison County Extension Office, 230 Duncannon Lane. The program will last until 3 p.m., and lunch will not be provided.
Attendees can register at www.madisoncountycommunityconversation.eventbrite.com.
A group of three local panelists also will be at the program to talk about the issues, including Richmond Police Department Chief Larry Brock, Teresa Stewart with the state Department of Community-Based Services and Ruth Hawkins, health education director for the Madison County Health Department.
Swann said Kids Count is a national initiative that uses certain data indicators to track the well-being of children state-by-state. For her presentation, she will be focusing on health and education issues in Madison County.
The data indicators she will be highlighting include birth outcomes like low birthweight, which can be affected by factors like prenatal care and exposure to cigarette smoke
Other health data Swann will be presenting include information on health insurance coverage for children, and also oral health, teen pregnancy and obesity.
On the education data, Swann said one important indicator of academic issues is how many children in Madison County have reached reading proficiency by the third grade.
“It’s a real indicator of academic success,” Swann said, explaining that children spend their time up to third grade learning to read, but after, they must read to learn in school.
Swann also will present information about local school districts, such as the proportion of children receiving free or reduced lunches and high school graduation rates.
After Swann’s presentation, the other panelists will share “what data resonated with them,” she said. Brock, Stewart and Hawkins will share what they believe may be the contributing factors behind the data that they have seen in their respective professional fields.
Swann said there would be plenty of opportunities for people to ask questions of the panelists.
“We hope it’s a very interactive event,” Swann said.
Adams said she was aware that the time of the event ― 1 to 3 p.m. on a weekday ― may prohibit some interested community members from being able to attend. However, she said the program’s schedule was arranged so that local resource providers could attend as part of their work day.
Every attendee at the program will receive a complimentary copy of the 2011 Kids Count County Data Book and also will receive a copy of the 2012 Kids County County Data Book as soon as it is released by Kentucky Youth Advocates.
Sarah Hogsed can be reached at shogsed@richmondregister.com or 624-6694.
Local News
Community Conversation program to focus on kids’ health and safety
Local data to be presented Thursday
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