Children First 2005 Conference Summary

Businesses/Employers

Assets for Youth

            ▪ Collaborate with the school system to create internship opportunities for high   school students.

            ▪ Provide summer employment for youth that can be used towards school credit.

            ▪ Create job-shadowing programs for students.

            ▪ Offer more flexible time and job sharing with benefits to allow adults to be at home with their children.

            ▪ Offer incentives or time off for employees that have children to participate in school/community events, volunteer work, mentoring etc.

Child Welfare

    ▪ Implement a living wage for appropriate jobs.

            ▪ Make child care more accessible by providing subsidized or onsite child care.

            ▪ Encourage and support families with children by creating schedule flexibility to make it more possible for parents to be present in their child's life.

            ▪ Recruit foster families by creating community incentives such as business discounts for families providing foster care and provide information on the foster care system to employees to encourage foster parenting.

            ▪ Offer health insurance at reduced rates for families.

 Early Childhood Development

    ▪ Look into 'adopting' a day care center where the business could provide volunteers and/or financial support.

            ▪ Provide on-site, subsidized childcare.

            ▪ Create flexibility in scheduling to allow employees who are parents to be more involved in their child's development.

            ▪ ADVOCATE!!

            ▪ Promote community services and provide time for employees to participate.

Physical Health

    ▪ Encourage physical activity by allowing stretch/walk breaks.

            ▪ Provide free bottled water for employees to drink.  Make water more accessible than it's not so healthy alternatives (soda, juice, coffee etc.)

            ▪ Provide incentives for help.  Offer reduced health insurance cost for families who meet certain criteria reflecting health and exercise.

            ▪ Support a healthy community by contributing to healthy causes, market health and work site wellness and/or advertise in order to raise community awareness.

            ▪ Create more family sensitive schedules to allow more parents to be home during meal time.

Mental Health

     ▪ Increase Employee Assistance Programs to include mental health and family coverage.

            ▪ Mental Health Hospitals should provide short-term crisis day beds to all children within the community.

            ▪ Collaborate with other community stakeholders in supporting youth through donating time, resources, etc. to the cause.

            ▪ Provide benefits including health insurance, on-site child care, allowed time off and schedule flexibility that will enable employees with children more time and ability to put towards the health of their children.

            ▪ Campaign for mental health issues in order to raise community awareness and acceptance.

School Success

▪ Offer more flexibility in scheduling to allow parent to be more involved in their child's education.  Allow more time for parents to be parents.

▪ Mentor. 

▪ Create opportunities for high school students to intern in work sites.

▪ Work with schools in developing vocational programs and work as part of a curriculum.

▪ Provide more funding for education based programs