First Reading--Participatory Leadership Project

[Jennie Dennison-Budak]

To the members of the Participatory Leadership Project-- There are
two links in the following email-- just copy and paste them into your
web browser to follow them. We will propose a couple of dates to get
together to discuss these resources, your reponse to the websites,
questions and comments. The questions below are just meant as sparks--
as you read on, please ask this discussion groups the questions which
this reading prompts. Post to this discussion group any comments you
have as you go through this material, and thank you for your continued
interest is this project.

Brian and Jennie

The link to the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Kid Count 2007 Data Book
Online is the starting point for the Participatory Leadership
Project. This link http://www.kidscount.org/sld/databook.jsp
connects you to a variety of online resources and statistics.

You will be able to customize data, graphs and charts by State and by
area. There are also links to census data by county and cities. You
can view specialized searches by topic, create comparisons or do you
own independent evaluation.

The information you gather can be saved, and we hope that you will
share your findings with the group as a starting point for our
discussion about strategies to fight poverty.

As you look at the data, you may want to consider some of the
following questions:

How does Ohio compare to other states in terms of school readiness?
High school graduation rates? College graduation rates? What affects
the graduation rates here in the valley? You may find it helpful to
look at the Ohio Department of Education's Local Report Card website:
http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEPrimary.aspx?page=2&TopicRelationID=1266

Kid's Count provides specific information about the children's health
and health insurance. Which numbers surprised you? Which did not?
How many of Ohio's children have health insurance? How many children
in the Youngstown Warren Area have health insurance? How does Ohio
stack up against other states?

What are the Youth Risk Factors which you see most often? What
experiences have you had, or heard of, which have successfully
addressed one or more of these factors?

In general, how helpful are the statistics? Do they tell us
anything? Too much? Too little?

In the work you do here in the valley as a volunteer, paid staff,
parent, community member or any other role, how are statistics like
those offered by the Annie E. Casey Foundation used.