KEATON ROSS, OKLAHOMA WATCH

TULSA — Before they start honing their writing skills, incarcerated women enrolled in Liz Kollaja’s therapeutic poetry class are asked to take an Adverse Childhood Experience quiz.

The brief survey is designed to gauge how rough a person’s childhood was. Nationally, 45% of children have experienced at least one of 10 ACEs, ranging from having a parent incarcerated to being physically and emotionally abused. Those with a score of three or higher face an elevated risk of psychological and medical problems.

The average ACE score among incarcerated Oklahoma women is 5.75, according to Kollaja, who manages curriculum for the OU-TU School of Community Medicine and volunteers with Poetic Justice. Nearly 400 women incarcerated at the Mabel Bassett and Eddie Warrior Correctional Centers have taken the assessment over the past three years.

“Looking at these numbers, it’s heartbreaking to see what they have gone through and what they have experienced,” Kollaja said. “It makes you realize that where they ended up, you can’t really blame them, because it’s often a normal reaction to that level of trauma to live the life they’ve lived.”

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The 2020 & 2021 Oklahoma Certified Family Positive Workplace Awards Ceremony is going VIRTUAL

For health and safety precautions, we will be hosting the 2020 & 2021 Family Positive Certificate Awards Ceremony virtually instead of in-person on October 28th from 10:00 a.m. - Noon.  The virtual option makes it possible for everyone to be invited! 

Here’s how you can join:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OKFamilyPositive

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXoJFkVGj-KlRGKyacXOl9A

For more information, contact Linda Turner at lturner@pottsfamilyfoundation.org, 405.208.1340.

CARLA HINTON, THE OKLAHOMAN

NORMAN — A mother and her two sons lived in a car for about two months until someone told her about a local nonprofit that might put the family up in a hotel for a few weeks.

Kristen Bohannan said she contacted Food & Shelter Inc. and the organization got her a hotel room that very day.

However, the hotel room wasn't the only thing the beleaguered mom received. Two weeks later, she was given the keys to one of the tiny homes in the Gene and Judy McKown Village at Food & Shelter Inc.

Bohannan and her sons, ages 2 and 3, consider their cottage on the nonprofit's property, 201 Reed Ave., their much-needed home. She said she recently earned her administration assistant certification from a local college and recently got a job.

'They were a godsend'

"I don't know where I would be without Food & Shelter," she said. "In all honesty, they were a godsend."

Food & Shelter was started in 1983 by a group of people from McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church who were led to begin feeding hungry community members from their church basement. The meal ministry evolved into the current organization, which is continuing the mission that began 38 years ago.

The tiny home village where Bohannan's family resides is a successful example of how a community can solve temporary housing needs. The Rev. Bo Ireland, senior minister at Clark Memorial United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City is launching a similar project, with different types of housing structures but the same compassionate foundation as its Norman counterpart.

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NADINE EL-BAWAB, CNBC

Angela Garcia has about a dozen open positions at her two child-care centers in New Mexico. She’s tried job fairs, sign-on bonuses, retention incentives and working with recruiters to fill the openings, but nothing has worked.

By her count, between five and eight of those jobs have been open for more than six months. One week, Garcia had 12 job interviews scheduled, but only three of the applicants showed up. When she offered positions to two of them, they both turned her down.

“I’ll be completely honest, we are at a loss,” said Garcia. “We are not having any luck finding anyone that wants to return to the workforce at this point. If we don’t begin to get staff into our centers, I’m potentially looking at closing classrooms, which is only going to decrease access to my families, and I’m not really sure how that’s going to help our community recover.”

Garcia’s child-care center isn’t alone in facing this problem. Around the country, day-care centers and summer camps are struggling to operate at full capacity due to widespread worker shortages. The problem has resulted in waiting lists for parents looking for child care. With many companies aiming to bring staff who worked from home during the Covid pandemic back into the office this fall, the problem could worsen because the demand for care will grow. And without child care, other parents may have to step out of the workforce, slowing the economic recovery.

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JOSH BOAK, ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government has collaborated on a new internet site to help more Americans apply for and receive the expanded child tax credit, a monthly payment of as much as $300 per child that was part of the coronavirus relief package.

GetCTC.org was developed by Code for America in partnership with the White House and Treasury Department, according to a statement Wednesday. The goal is to provide a straight-forward, online form that can be accessible via mobile phones for people who are not legally obligated to file taxes to apply for the tax credit because they don't earn enough money.

“Our research really shows the simpler you make the process, the more likely people are going to actually successfully make it through,” David Newville, senior program director for tax benefits at Code for America, said in an interview.

Based on a demonstration provided to The Associated Press, it's possible for a parent to complete the form over the course of just 20 or 25 slides. The online form is also available in Spanish, not just English.

Code for America has in the past worked with more than 100 partner organizations to help people prepare tax returns and the intention is get more people signed up for the child tax credit. The government previously estimated that at least 88% of children were already able to receive the tax credit when payments began in July.

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CHELSEA KIENE, GROUNDWORK OHIO

COLUMBUS, OH -  As child care professionals, families, business leaders, and early childhood advocates continue to urge Ohio legislators to expand access to quality child care, a new analysis conducted by the University of Cincinnati Economics Center and commissioned by Groundwork Ohio finds the following:

• Increasing eligibility to publicly funded child care from 130% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) to 150% of the FPL in Ohio would generate a 404% return on public investment over a 40-year period, or more than 10% annually.
• Public investment in quality child care and early education produces substantial economic, health, and educational benefits, as well as considerable cost savings for taxpayers by reducing the need for public health, criminal justice, and other interventions. For example, the cost savings of reduced involvement in the criminal justice system alone pays for the cost of expanding access to quality child care more than 2.5 times over.

The analysis reinforces decades of evidence demonstrating the short- and long-term benefits of quality child care and early learning programs. Two recent independent studies in 2017 and 2020 have also validated the effectiveness of Step Up to Quality, Ohio’s 5-star child care quality rating and improvement system. The validation studies show that Star Rated programs are in fact higher quality and improve kindergarten readiness.

“Quality child care is foundational to any workforce policy—it is the smart strategy for the workforce of today and the workforce of tomorrow. At a time when child care has become one of the top barriers to families returning to work and Ohio’s most vulnerable young children have returned to school more behind than ever, the time is now to increase access to quality rated child care programs,” said Lynanne Gutierrez, Assistant Director at Groundwork Ohio. “We know the research, we hear the demands of working families, and we see the impact quality programs have on our children. We have the incredible opportunity to match the need for quality care with resources coming to Ohio through the American Rescue Plan specifically for this purpose—now is the time for action.”

ALLISON SEIGARS, NWOSU, ALVA, OK

The Rural Health Association of Oklahoma recognized Kevin Evans last week for his work in rural medicine. Mr. Evans received “Rural Health Leader of the Year” at the Awards Luncheon during the 2021 Rural Health Conference in Edmond, OK.

Kevin Evans is Executive Director of Western Plains Youth and Family Services, (WPYFS) Woodward, where he has served thousands of young people with behavioral and mental health problems and their families in NW Oklahoma and the Panhandle for the past 29 years.

Corie Kaiser, Director of the Oklahoma Office of Rural Health and the President of the Rural Health Association of Oklahoma presented Evans with the award. Kaiser, quoting the nomination for the award, submitted by Dr. Tom M. Lucas, said, “Mr. Evans’ passion for children in need and his leadership has led to WPYFS becoming the primary mental health service provider in the region.”

WPYFS now has over 65 employees, offices in Woodward, Guymon, Laverne, and operates a juvenile detention center in Woodward. WPYFS also operates a temporary emergency youth shelter, and Mr. Evans recently established a Mobile Crisis Unit to respond to emergencies at all hours. He has undertaken the first real rehabilitation program in Oklahoma at the juvenile center, aimed at helping children change their lives and have a productive life. He tells them "we are investing in you to never come back."

“The words ‘give up’ are not in Kevin Evans’ vocabulary,” said Kaiser.

During his acceptance speech, Evans said, “I appreciate this association and I look forward to working toward their efforts in the future.”

Other Rural Health Association of Oklahoma award recipients this year are: “Rural Health Advocate of the Year,” Lucy Muller, Executive Director of Human Resources, Education, and Volunteer Services at McAlester Regional Health Center, McAlester; “Rural Health Physician of the Year,” Dr. Matthew Cameron Rumsey, Medical Director at the Indian Health service in Pawhuska and Medical Director of the Cohesive Healthcare Management & Consulting; “Rural Health Educator of the Year,” Michele Horn, Clinical Educator and Northeast Area Health Education (NeAHEC) Director, Tahlequah; and “Rural Health Lifetime Achievement,” Shelly Dunham, Okeene Municipal Hospital, retired.

The Rural Health Association of Oklahoma’s mission is “serving as a united voice for rural health in Oklahoma.”