Vision for Children at Risk and the St. Louis Metropolitan Children's Agenda

For two decades, Vision for Children at Risk has published and disseminated the Children of Metropolitan St. Louis report that provides data at the ZIP code level on some 30 demographic measures and key indicators of child well-being.  Similar assessments of the status of children at the state level are available in the KIDS COUNT data books for Illinois and Missouri.

In conjunction with a variety of community partners, VCR has developed an extensive inventory of community resources—programs and services—that are in place in the St. Louis region to address the needs of children, youth, and families.  The intent of that inventory is to enable the St. Louis community to assess the relationship between community risks and resources, so that both service gaps and overlap in service provision can be identified.  The inventory will also allow community organizations, policymakers, and funders to roughly gauge the amount of community investment that is being made to address particular problems and issues.

A primary goal of Vision for Children at Risk and the St. Louis Metropolitan Children's Agenda is to connect the St. Louis community to the best available data and policy information related to promoting the well-being of children, youth, and families.  Beyond making that information available, the goal is to ensure that it is employed in formulating policy positions, developing programs, and advocating for needed systems change.  Strategies to promote effective use of data and policy information include:

• Disseminating information broadly to increase public awareness.
• Targeting provision of data and policy information to ensure that it is in the hands of policymakers when key decisions are to be made.
• Strategically making information available to coalitions and community groups to inform and enlighten the dialogue around issues they are addressing.

Vision for Children at Risk and the St. Louis Metropolitan Children’s Agenda are intentionally structured to link the research functions of VCR with the collaborative efforts of the Children’s Agenda.  The intent is to produce data-driven, research-based community action.  VCR and the Children’s Agenda also work with partner agencies to coordinate local, state, and national child advocacy efforts, so that an advocacy agenda for children, youth, and families can be built from the bottom up.

Vision for Children at Risk and the St. Louis Children’s Agenda also host an ongoing series of webcasts and webinars on children, youth, and family issues that are presented by national organizations.  At the core of those presentations are the following series:

• Thursday’s Child, presented by the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago and the Urban Institute.

• Institute for Youth, Education, & Families Audioconference Series, presented by the National League of Cities.

• Governing for Children and Families, presented by the Urban Institute and the National Governor’s Association.

These webcasts are conducted in a group setting to allow an opportunity for an interchange of ideas among community members concerned with the issues addressed, as well as to generate some synergy in the efforts to understand issues and develop solutions.

Children’s Policy Forum Website

This Children’s Policy Forum website has been established by Vision for Children at Risk and the St. Louis Children’s Agenda in conjunction with other community partners in order to provide a new and more dynamic tool for making useful data and policy information easily available to stakeholders, educating the community about critical issues related to children, and providing a forum for the interchange of ideas.  It is offered as something of a “one stop shop” for information and the exchange of information related to promoting the well-being of children, youth and families in the St. Louis region.  The site will be updated regularly and maintained on a real time basis.  It also is intended to provide a forum and “virtual community” in which continuous dialogue directed to improving the status and well-being of children in the St. Louis region can take place.  Want to learn more about the Children's Policy forum?  Learn more...

KIDS COUNT in Missouri & Illinois

KIDS COUNT in Missouri and Illinois is supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, America’s largest philanthropic endeavor addressing the needs of at-risk children.  The foundation supports KIDS COUNT initiatives in all 50 states.  The Missouri Children’s Trust Fund also provides financial support to Missouri KIDS COUNT.

KIDS COUNT in Missouri and in Illinois each publish an annual report that addresses the status of children at the county level for all the counties in the state.  Voices for Illinois Children is the KIDS COUNT agency in Illinois.  The Partnership for Children in Kansas City was recently designated as the Missouri KIDS COUNT agency, following the closure of Citizens for Missouri’s Children which served in this capacity for many years.  The goal of KIDS COUNT is to use the foundation provided by the annual Data Book to improve the well-being of Missouri and Illinois children by engaging in education and advocacy directed to achieving needed policy and program changes.

There are several online resources for accessing KIDS COUNT data.

• Illinois KIDS COUNT Data.  Voices for Illinois Children posts PDF documents of their printed publication.
• Missouri KIDS COUNT Data.  The Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis (OSEDA) at the University of Missouri compiles data for the Missouri report.  OSEDA provides an online searchable database and PDF documents of the printed work on their website.
• KIDS COUNT Data Center.  The national data center provides data from all fifty states and allows state-to-state comparisons.

Center for Family Policy & Research, University of Missouri - Columbia

The Center for Family Policy & Research at the University of Missouri was established in 1997 to serve as a resource for the development of effective public policies relating to children, youth, and families.  The Center is an excellent source for data and policy information related to a wide range of issues affecting Missouri children and families.

With a focus on the integration of research, policy and practice, the mission of the Center for Family Policy & Research is to:

• Conduct research and disseminate evidence-based findings to inform policymakers and to enhance program development,
• Facilitate collaboration and provide leadership for systems-building efforts at the local, state, and national levels, and
• Work in communities to provide education and support services to programs that serve children, youth, and families.

There are links to many of the policy briefs and publications produced by the Center for Family Policy & Research in the Fundamental Needs section of this website under headings related to the specific issues that are addressed.