community programs

Marilyn Parker and Valerie Kouvenin, retired high school teachers who are making a difference for kids in the Mat-Su area

FOR THIS NEW 'Power of One' profile, our producer Sarah Gonzales was browsing at a recent holiday bazaar where she met two women selling pillows. Once she learned their story we knew we had to tell you about the Pillows for Kids Foundation. Started by Valerie Kouvinen and Marilyn Parker, two retired school teachers, who know that after-school activities help children do better in the classroom, while also helping them to feel engaged with their community. But not all families can afford them - so they got to work.

Visit the Pillows for Kids Facebook page to connect with the foundation, or to learn about becoming a mentor 

The two longtime friends sew and sell pillows to fund "mini-scholarships" that allow kids to participate in these after-school "brain-training" activities like skating, bowling, swimming and horsemanship with mentors like Debra Moore, owner of EZ Walking Stables in Palmer. 

Producer Sarah Gonzales spoke with the two women in Wasilla.

Building a "cardboard city" at the Solidarity Sleep Out in Anchorage, September 23-24

HOMELESSNESS IS SOMETHING that everyone knows about, but perhaps only few people truly understand. In order to combat an issue so intensely personal but often unseen, our friends at Anchorage's Promise staged a Solidarity Sleep Out to increase awareness among youth.

Teens were voluntarily "locked in" overnight at the Alaska Club facilities to increase their knowledge - and empathy - regarding homeless youth in our state.

We sent our own young person, Alaska Teen Media Institute's Nithya Thiru to attend and report.

This story was originally featured on Show 54: Homeless Youth in Alaska

This story was originally featured on Show 54: Homeless Youth in Alaska

ON ONE DAY in January 2011, more than 900 people in the Matanuska-Susitna area met some definition of homelessness, and about half of them were children. The Mat-Su doesn’t have as many shelter options as Anchorage, but it does have Family Promise – a national program that organizes churches to provide emergency shelter for families with children.  

Contributor Jessica Cochran recently visited Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Wasilla to speak to those who are helping, and to those who need help.

Resources & dates mentioned in this story:

- Mat Su Coalition on Housing and Homelessness

- All day summit in Wasilla on addressing homelessness in the Mat-Su: December 13, 2011

- 2012 Statewide Snapshot Homelessness count: January 25, 2012

Keeping Kids Off the Street: Snapshot of Covenant House Alaska

This story was originally featured on Show 54: Homeless Youth in Alaska

LAST YEAR THE Institute for Social and Economic Research at UAA took fifteen years of data gathered by Covenant House Alaska between the years of 1993 and 2008 and organized it into a meaningful, overall picture of the young people who use the Covenant House Crisis Center services. (The resulting report, Keeping Kids Off the Street: Snapshot of Covenant House Alaska, is available as a PDF.) 

Keeping Kids Off the Street: Snapshot of Covenant House Alaska

The report showed where the homeless youth came from the night before coming to CH, their age and race, and what "additional" mental, physical or substance abuse issues these young people were dealing with besides homelessness.

Keeping Kids Off the Street: Snapshot of Covenant House Alaska

Dr. Stephanie Martin, an Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Policy was the lead analyst for this report, and she spoke with our producer, Sarah Gonzales, about what "fascinating and horrifying" trends the data reveal about homeless teens in Alaska.

 Image via: SuperSibs.org

WHEN ONE CHILD in a family is diagnosed with a serious illness it takes a toll on all of the family members. It can especially affect siblings of the sick child who will not only experience feelings of fear, anxiety, sadness, but they also tend to get less attention than their ill brother or sister.

SuperSibs! is an organization serving exactly these kids. Through referrals from all 50 states and every province in Canada they’ve ensured that no brother or sister of a sibling with cancer goes unsupported.

Kids These Days! producer Sarah Gonzales spoke with the founder of SuperSibs!, Melanie Goldish, at her office in Illinois.

Whether or not teens make the choice to engage in safe sexual relationships, there is always the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease after intercourse. Getting tested and treated for a STD can be as easy as visiting a local public health clinic, but what if you're too shy to be seen in person, live in an area not served by a local clinic or simply can't get a ride?

Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention introduced a mail-order STD test kit in 2004 on the east coast to much success among teens and young people. (Report: Free Web-based Ordering of Home Test Kits for Sexually Transmitted Infections Proves Popular and Effective with Teens and Young People)

Now this same program has come to Alaska.You can order a kit at IWantTheKit.org, and visit IKnowMine.org to learn more about sexual health, testing and resources in Alaska.

For testing in person in Anchorage: The POWER Teen Center is located in the 6th Avenue transit center in downtown Anchorage. It’s a place for teens to go just to hang out - there are snacks, movies, video games and teen educators on staff. Teens can also take advantage of a full range of reproductive care services – including free STD and pregnancy testing done by a nurse three days a week. A counselor is on staff to talk to teens who need emotional support. The center says it’s able to help about 50 teens every week.

KTD Producer Sarah Gonzales has the story.

FINDING THE RIGHT child care for any kid can be tough, but there’s added stress if you need to find someone who can keep your special needs child safe, or deal with challenging behaviors. More and more children are being expelled from child care centers, leaving their parents struggling. Contributor Jessica Cochran reports on the challenges and successes of finding childcare for special needs children in our state.

The deadline for child care centers to apply for thread’s intensive consultation program is September 23. Another great resource for families with special needs children is the Stone Soup Group.

WHEN A CHILD tests into or is placed in special education parents will have a lot of questions about navigating the system, planning an IEP (Individual Education Plan) with their child's educators, and they'll wonder what is the long term outlook for their child's schooling?

IN-STUDIO GUESTS: Joining host Shana Sheehy in the studio to answer the most frequently asked questions about special education in Alaska are two guests who are both professionals in the field, as well as parents of children who've been in special education. Teresa Holt, is the operations director of the Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education, and Julie Broyles, is a special education teacher at Service High School who serves on the Education Committee at the Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education, and she is also a parent of three children; her 11-year old child has Down syndrome.

DID YOU KNOW? Caregivers needn't wait until their children are school-aged to receive assistance with raising a special needs child. There are services available to infants and toddlers through the state-sponsored Early Intervention Infant Learning Program and through the Stone Soup Group. Listen to a recent interview with the Stone Soup Group on Line One Your Health Connection.

FEATURED STORIES:

From the Early Education Desk: Finding Childcare for Special Needs Children - Finding the right child care for any kid can be tough, but there’s added stress if you need to find someone who can keep your special needs child safe, or deal with challenging behaviors. More and more children are being expelled from child care centers, leaving their parents struggling. Contributor Jessica Cochran reports.
(Thanks to thread for their support in underwriting the Early Education Desk for this program.)

Hannah Goes to College - Contributor Ann Kaiser introduces us to an incredible young woman with cerebral palsy who is heading off to college on her own - and she and her parents wouldn't have it any other way.

Traveling With Special Needs Kids - Our regular essayist and weekly blogger, Erin Kirkland, shares an intimate perspective in this piece, recalling a family RV trip she took with her husband and two sons - one of whom is autistic.

We’re blessed in Alaska with wild fish and game, plenty of open space and fresh air so it’s easy to think of our environment as “clean”. But it may be that Alaskans are exposed to just as many or more pollutants and chemicals as our lower 48 counterparts and and they may be affecting our fertility and reproduction for generations to come.

Resources for more information on avoiding harmful toxins:

• Alaska Community Action on Toxics
• Chemicals and Reproductive Health
• The Collaborative on Health and the Environment
• Bad Plastics

As contributor Jessica Cochran reports, a slew of researchers are working to figure out just how different chemicals affect reproductive systems.