About Stand for Children
Stand for Children (SFC) is a national grass-roots citizens
organization, working to build a strong voice for children and families in
local communities, states, and nationally to ensure all children grow up
healthy, educated, and safe.
History
Stand for Children began in Washington DC in 1996. At that
time, the Children’s Defense Fund held a mass demonstration at the Lincoln
Memorial Center to bring to the nations awareness the needs of children. There
were 300,000 people who attended that rally and there was such an outpouring of
concern about the welfare of our nations children that the two rally
organizers, Jonah Edelman and Eliza Leighton, went on to establish an
organization that would continue to stand up for the needs of children.
Stand for Children has conducted rallies across the nation,
distributed books, shared information about health care coverage, created and
renovated playgrounds, conducted workshops about child safety, and established
funds for children’s programs. The organization eventually decided to narrow
their focus to 3 states - Oregon, Maryland, and Tennessee - to hone the
effectiveness of their political efforts for children’s causes.
For more information about Stand for Children, go to (http://www.stand.org/)
Local Efforts
On November of 2002, the Washington County Chapter of Stand for Children
was successful with their political campaign to pass a preference poll to
fluoridate the public water supply in the City of Beaverton in Oregon. Children
of all socio-economic levels will benefit with an 18 - 40 % reduction in decay.
The Washington County Chapter (formerly the Beaverton and Hillsboro
Chapters) continues to move forward in their campaign to advocate for children.
Their efforts are focused currently on establishing adequate school funding.
Following through with our dental campaign, we continue to endorse
public water fluoridation efforts and are working with the Washington County
Administration to procure a Dental Health Educator and to further develop the
Neighborhood Dentist Program. The history of these efforts is detailed below.
Local Efforts History
The Hillsboro and Beaverton Chapters of Stand for Children
have over 200 members organized in family childcare settings, preschools,
elementary schools, health care settings, and churches throughout the county.
As we listened to our members concerns this past fall, we heard a strong desire
to address the lack of access to dental care and the need for prevention
education to reduce decay among children in our community.
This concern was heard from Head Start and Healthy Start
teachers, Virginia Garcia staff, and family childcare providers. It was heard
from Peter Bosco, WL Henry, and Vose Elementary staff, Valley Christian
Preschool parents, and other individual parents with whom we met.
Our members have met with various social service and health
agencies including the Commission on Children and Families, the Washington
County Department of Human Services, Vision West, and Northwest Medical Teams
to discuss these needs and possible solutions. Based on the concerns that we
have heard and the information we have gathered, we have developed three
strategies for improving dental health in Washington County. This approach
requires the collaboration of the county, cities, and citizens in our community
to be successful.
Solutions
- Dental
Health Educator - We are asking Washington County for $28,000 to fund
a Dental Health Educator that will teach children, parents, teachers, and
home visitors in the Head Start, Healthy Start, and WIC programs to
prevent dental decay.
2.
Community Water Fluoridation - To reduce dental decay
from 18 - 40% for
130,000 citizens in our community
(young children through seniors), we are asking the City Councils of Hillsboro
and Beaverton to allow the Joint Water District Plant to be fluoridated at
optimal levels for dental health.
3.
Neighborhood Dentist Program - To improve access to
dental care for our
elementary
school children, we will ask our own dentists to adopt neighborhood
schools and
provide emergency care to children in pain.
SFC has met and spoken with the Beaverton and Hillsboro City
Council members, has gained community support from the Hillsboro Community
Action Organization, Tuality Healthcare & Health Alliance, Tuality
Community Hospital, Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Clinic, WL Henry Elementary
School PTO, Beaverton Kiwanis, Forest Grove Family Resource Center,
Doernbecher's Children's Hospital, Oregon Nurses Association -Tuality Branch,
Centro Cultural, Hillsboro PRO Family Child Care Providers, Avonmere Health
Services, Washington County Dental Society, Washington County Dental Hygienists
Component, neighborhood associations, and community members. We also presented
a proposal to the Joint Water Commission regarding community water
fluoridation.
We agree with the statements made by the U.S. Surgeon
General, the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC), and the American Dental Association (ADA) that community water
fluoridation benefits people of all ages and all socio-economic levels.
