Newsletter
November 21, 2007

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PLTI ready for its close-up
The Parent Leadership Training Institute^SM is the subject of a new, eight-minute video and two public service announcements. In all three, parents talk about the leadership skills and confidence they gained in PLTI.
Watch them here

Connecticut ranks No. 2 in the nation for immunization
The 2006 data from the National Immunization Survey, widely regarded as the most reliable source for information on vaccination rates nationwide, puts Connecticut second in the nation for the highest percentage of children aged 19 to 35 months who received their recommended series of childhood vaccines. Connecticut's level was 82 percent; the national level was 77 percent.

• U.S. Centers for Disease Control news release on national results
   
• State-by-state results, contained in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (PDF)
   
• The Immunization Registry and Tracking System (CIRTS) of the Connecticut Department of Public Health

Childhood Obesity Council to meet on November 28
The Connecticut Childhood Obesity Council will meet from 9 to 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 28, in Room 1-B of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. For more information, contact Thomas Brooks of the Commission on Children at (860) 240-0075 or Christine Parker of the state Department of Public Health at (860) 509-7817. Directions to the LOB

'Child Poverty in Connecticut'
This new fact sheet from the Commission contains the latest data on child poverty in Connecticut, and much of it is disturbing. For instance, Hartford has the sixth-highest child poverty rate in the nation among cities with populations exceeding 100,000. It's joined by three other Connecticut cities -- Waterbury, Bridgeport and New Haven -- among the 75 cities with the highest child poverty rates in the nation. Download the PDF (4 pages) | Visit the Poverty section of our website

Commission on Children in the news
Note: Most newspapers make their online articles available for only a short period before charging access fees.

• Commission Executive Director Zimmerman appeared on Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) on October 25, as part of an expert panel discussing the status of children's literacy in the state.
  CPTV website | Learn more about reading | Learn more about early childhood development
   
• Heather Greene, a graduate of the Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI), was quoted in a November 18 Hartford Courant article after her complaints led to state investigations of Health Net of Connecticut. Read the article | Learn more about PLTI
   
• The 'Stand Up to Bullying!' forum (see above) was the subject of a next-day article in the Hartford Courant. Referring to students who spoke about being bullied, the Courant reported, that advocates "hope such testimonials will help strengthen the state's four-year-old anti-bullying statute."
  Access the article via iConn.org

Created in 1985 by the Connecticut General Assembly, the 25-member Commission on Children brings together the three branches of government--legislative, executive, and judicial--as well as the private sector to promote public policies in the best interests of children. More
 

The Connecticut Commission on Children 18-20 Trinity Street Hartford, CT  06106-1591

Phone: (860) 240-0290   Fax: (860) 240-0248 Website: www.cga.ct.gov/coc

Commission staff: Elaine Zimmerman, executive director; Elizabeth C. Brown, legislative director; Thomas R. Brooks, director of policy and research analysis; Patricia Estill, special projects director; Dawn Homer-Bouthiette, Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI) director; Kevin Flood, public information officer and webmaster; Rachel Levy, executive secretary; Edie Luciano, legislative secretary. Contact information    

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