What is the Child Watch Visitation Program?

--PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDRENFebruary 1, 19931055 Broadway. SUite 130Kansas City. Missouri 64105(81.6) 842-0944FAX· (81.6) 842-8079Ms. Sharon LadinThe Children's Defense Fund25 E. Street, N.W.Washington, DC 20001Dear~:~Please join other community leaders for a Child Watch visit to the School of the 21 stCentury in Independence on Thursday, February 25th from 8:00 to 11 :00 a.m. This visitwill bring to life a key issue in our country and community-early childhood care andeducation.Child Watch is a community awareness program. It will introduce you to the realchildren and families behind the alarming numbers in the Partnership for Children'sReport Card '92 that assigned an overall grade of 0+ to the status of our city's 400,000children. Briefings by policy experts will provide in-depth information about strategiesthat work for children and barriers that impede their implementation. You will travel toa site to see first hand a successful program that meets children's needs.Some of what Report Card '92 learned is that 63 percent of our children under the ageof six lived in families where both parents worked in 199Q--an increase of 22 percentsince 1980. One out of every six of our young children lives in poverty. Affordable, highquality early childhood care and education are a necessity to working parents andcritical to children's development and ability to enter school ready to learn.By visiting the School of the 21st Century in Independence, you will learn much more.You will find out ways that you can help every child in Greater Kansas City get a headstart in life.For your convenience, a RSVP postcard is enclosed along with a Child Watch FactSheet, newspaper article and a preliminary program schedule. Please return thepostcard by February 12th to assure adequate arrangements. Background informationwill be sent to attendees one week prior to their site visit. If you have any questionsregarding the program, feel free to contact Jane McKim with the Partnership for Children(842-7643) or Mark Kenney at the Kauffman Foundation (932-1055), the Child Watchcoordinators..:.. JOINT PROJECT OF HEART OF AMERICA UNITED WA). INC Al';D THE GR-:'~5l KA.NSAS CITY COMMUJltITY FOL:t>.OATlON AND AFFILIATED TRUS1S