Stories

Broad Partnerships to Promote Family-Friendly Workplaces in Rhode Island

The Rhode Island Parental and Family Medical Leave Act was accomplished through a broad partnership that chose to frame the need for paid family leave as an economic issue (i.e., excess costs to businesses when they lose valued employees and have to recruit and retrain new ones, and lost revenue for the state due to women being out of the workforce). The partnership also focuses on paid family leave as a caregiver issue (i.e., not a women’s issue), which affects caregivers of newborns through the elderly.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/child-abuse-neglect/communication-resources/efc-BoostYourCompetitiveEdge-508.pdf

Building a Prevention Coalition in Rural Oregon

More than 30 local agencies, organizations, and businesses make up the UP2USNow Child Abuse Prevention Coalition in rural Oregon. Coalition members and partners are influential in the community, and represent the residents of Douglas County. UP2USNow has also made a point to regularly partner with youth to advance its cause. For example, the coalition sponsors the Youth Media Project, which trains students on prevention, messaging, and video production. To raise awareness about preventing child abuse, the young people interview coalition partners and community members about their work, and create public service announcements and videos that are shared online and aired on local television.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/child-abuse-neglect/communication-resources/efc-building-community-commitment.pdf

Building Communication Capacity in North Carolina

As members of the North Carolina Task Force on Child Abuse Prevention, the Division of Public Health within the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Prevent Child Abuse (PCA) North Carolina opted to develop a public education campaign that promotes community responsibility for child well-being. After analyzing commissioned research on the pitfalls of traditional messaging, however, this pair realized it needed to first build communication capacity. PCA North Carolina and DHHS shifted gears and instead developed communication toolkits and formed a learning community. They also offered train-the-trainer workshops on effective framing and on working with the media to raise the profile of this issue with sights on social change. This way, state organizations were equipped to make the case for safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments and healthy child development; convey consistent messages across departments; and impart these valuable skills to their grassroots networks. ​

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/child-abuse-neglect/communication-resources/efc-building-community-commitment.pdf

Making the Case for Early Childhood Education in San Antonio, TX

Describing the problem and its solutions in creative, compelling ways can help educate different types of people in creating safe, stable and nurturing relationships and environments. When San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro launched the Brainpower Initiative, he described early education as critically important to the city’s quality of life and economic development. For San Antonio to be globally competitive in the 21st century, Mayor Castro argued, it needed to invest in pre-kindergarten, so that toddlers of today would grow up to be an educated, capable workforce. He made the case that the Brainpower Initiative would promote academic achievement and improve graduation rates, and he presented evidence that the city would gain $7 for every dollar invested in high-quality pre-kindergarten. With support from local business and education leaders and seven former mayors, San Antonio voters approved a funding measure to support full-day pre-K for 4,000 four-year-olds every year through 2020.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/child-abuse-neglect/communication-resources/efc-building-community-commitment.pdf

Stakeholder Engagement in Laurel County, KY

The Sheriff of Laurel County, Kentucky, was committed to reducing methamphetamine abuse and raising awareness about the connection between child abuse and drug addiction. He hosted community meetings at unlikely venues, such as fire stations and Elks Lodges, and invited health educators and children’s advocates to travel with him throughout the county. These discussions emphasized that preventing child abuse was a community responsibility, not just the purview of law enforcement, and highlighted the role of neighborhood organizations and the regional medical center in promoting safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/child-abuse-neglect/communication-resources/efc-building-community-commitment.pdf