Rally focuses on Florida kids' needs

Children's Movement swings through state

Grass-roots leaders and child advocates delivered a message Tuesday night as brassy and loud as the marching band and hip-hop dancers that accompanied them: Florida's kids are being short-changed and it's high time to put things right.

That can be achieved through an increased emphasis on the health, education and parenting of the state's vulnerable young ones, said organizers of the Children's Movement, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group dedicated to putting kids' issues at the top of state leaders' priority list.

Despite heavy rain, hundreds of parents, teachers and community leaders nearly packed the 1,200-person capacity Bailey Concert Hall at Broward College's main campus in Davie to hear the movement's call to action — while snacking on milk and cookies.

"It's all about the kids," said Rich Brice, a father of five from Pembroke Pines. "We need to create a bigger voice. Nobody's lobbying for our children."

The Dillard High School Marching Band, Hip Hop Kidz dance crew and jazz ensembles from Dillard and St. Thomas Aquinas High School helped fuel the crowd's enthusiasm. Sports announcers and TD, the Miami Dolphins mascot, also kept the crowd motivated.

The movement, spearheaded by retired Miami Herald publisher David Lawrence Jr., was the 15th stop on a 17-city tour throughout the state. The "Milk Parties" give advocates a chance to make a pitch for making the world better for Florida's kids — and hand out those childhood staples of milk and cookies. Rallies are scheduled for Miami and Key West on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, weather notwithstanding.

"We will frame the discussion, influence the debate, and change policy on behalf of Florida's children," said state Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston.

Movement leaders had some sobering words about the state of Florida's children: More than 18 percent of kids, some 800,000, have no health insurance — nearly double the national average. Florida ranks in the bottom half of the country when it comes to children's health. Almost 30 percent of third-graders can't read, and a quarter of the state's high schoolers don't graduate.

And there's more: Florida's pre-kindergarten programs don't meet national standards, and the state ranks 34th among 38 states in per pupil funding. The state's special-needs children lack quality programs, and a high rate of children in general die before their first birthday.

"In study after study, we show up as a state either mediocre or miserable," Lawrence said. "I find it sad. I find it sinful."

The movement's goal: generate enough public interest so that Florida's political, business and civic leaders make the well-being and education of children their highest priority. Movement leaders are concentrating on early childhood, from birth to age 5, since that's when 90 percent of human brain development occurs.

Through surveys and research, movement leaders identified five areas of concern:

• Access to quality health care;
• Screening and treatment for special-needs children;
• Improved pre-kindergarten programs;
• High-quality mentoring programs;
• Parental skills building.

In a meeting earlier Tuesday before the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Lawrence, founding chairman of The Children's Trust, said the new group was launched in August 2009 and is overseen by a 27-member, nonpartisan steering committee of many of Florida's political and business heavyweights.

The movement is privately funded and does not advocate any increase in taxes.

"We're trying to build a movement, a movement that's all about children," Lawrence said. "The right blend of health, education, nurturing and love."

One immediate goal is to sponsor a debate on children's issues between Florida's gubernatorial candidates, Democrat Alex Sink and Republican Rick Scott. Sink has agreed to the Oct. 16 event at the University of Miami. Scott remains uncommitted.

"This ought to be a fundamental conversation," Lawrence said of the upcoming debate. "I can't think of a more important subject to talk about than the future of the children of Florida."

Robert Nolin can be reached at rnolin@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4525.

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