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Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth Issues Kids Count State of the Child Report

Tennessee Commission on Children and YouthNashville, TN – Tennesseans remember recent challenges like the historic flooding and tornados as occasions when families and communities pulled together.  Now, many of the challenges we face impact Tennessee children. A report released today by the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth (TCCY), KIDS COUNT: The State of the Child in Tennessee 2010, looks at how the state’s children are faring and what Tennesseans can do together to help them overcome future challenges.

The book highlights programs with a proven record of success. Profiled in the report are home visitation, pre-K, coordinated school health and suicide and obesity prevention programs. These programs all improve outcomes for children, but home visitation services and pre-K are not available for all children and families who need them. There are also other successful programs that don’t have the resources statewide to meet all needs.  All Tennessee children deserve the opportunity to participate in quality, effective programs like these and others that improve their prospects for success.

The report is released at a critical time when draconian cuts to programs serving children are being proposed at the federal level. Tennessee’s leaders were confronted with difficult choices during the past legislative session, but largely succeeded in maintaining the infrastructure essential for continuing critical services for the children and families of our state. As our national leaders consider cuts to the federal budget, TCCY hopes they too will support policies and programs that prepare our children for success in school and in life.

The book also lists county-by-county health, education, child welfare, demographic, economic and other data on Tennessee’s children.

The information in the book is also available online at http://datacenter.kidscount.org. Users can create their own graphs, maps and comparisons of the indicators at the state and county level.

The Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth is an independent state agency created by the Tennessee General Assembly. Its primary mission is to advocate for improvements in the quality of life for Tennessee children and families. Partial funding for TCCY’s KIDS COUNT program is provided through a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to disadvantaged children.

The KIDS COUNT National Data Book, with its ranking of states on child well-being, will be released August 17th, 2011.

For more information, contact 615.741.2633 or a TCCY regional coordinator.  Kids Count: The State of the Child 2010 is available on TCCY’s website at www.tn.gov/tccy/kc-soc10.shtml.

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