March is Women's History Month. ARCHS encourages its educational partners to promote the important role women have played throughout St. Louis' 250 year history.
Use this event to discuss the important contribution females have made in advancing the arts, business, education, entertainment, publishing, sports, and many other fields of endeavor.
The Crisis Within, a February 21, 2016 special report of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, describes how toxic stress and trauma endanger our children and families, particularly in communities plagued by crime and poverty. And the story offers local resources and strategies for tackling stress.
ARCHS implements 18 education and social services programs lessening the burden that adverse events and stress place on reaching our full potential in St. Louis. Whether as an individual, or part of a family or community, none of us escapes stress. Yet too many St. Louis residents encounter more than their fair share.
That's why ARCHS focuses its programming for St. Louis' most vulnerable. From before birth continuing through career, ARCHS provides trauma-informed solutions to cope with (and even prevent) toxic stress in the St. Louis area.
ARCHS convenes partnership programs that annually remediates stress for more than 90,000 people, such as:
• home visits to strengthen families with young children
• parent coaching
• support services for families with special needs children
• early childhood and after school programs
• school-based medical and mental health services
• youth mentoring/development programs
• summer food benefits
• job training programs
• prisoner reentry programs
• health literacy/health insurance
• financial literacy/retirement savings
• reliable data and research on behalf of children
ARCHS continually explores new ways to improve the lives of the children and families we serve. Let us know if you have ideas or new program opportunities.
Graphic courtesy St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ARCHS participated in a January 27, 2016 White House Conversation on Child Hunger. ARCHS' Wendell E. Kimbrough and Les Johnson provided an overview of Missouri's highly successful "Summer EBT for Children" program in partnership with the state of Missouri, Missouri Family and Community Trust (FACT), Local Investment Commission (LINC), and school districts in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Mississippi County.
Since 2012, ARCHS' program has provided more than 14,400 area students with enhanced summer food benefits. At the event, the White House announced a series of new federal investments in preventing child hunger.
ARCHS' White House presentation (23:40 and 43:30)
ARCHS' youth mentoring program was featured on KPLR-TV (Channel 11) on January 25, 2016. ARCHS' Kristy Kight provided an overview of ARCHS' mentoring activities in partnership with Missouri's Division of Youth Services and Fathers' Support Center. Since 2010, more than 440 youth have been provided mentoring services - with a majority working on completing their high school degrees and not returning to the juvenile corrections system.
ARCHS has partnered with area school nurses over the years to promote a variety of healthcare programs. Currently, the Kids Vision for Life-St. Louis program works with school nurses to provide vision screenings that benefit thousands of area students. Missouri KIDS COUNT®, has authored a series of feature stories that recognize the hard work and dedication of school nurses and their efforts to keep our children, schools, and communities healthy. ARCHS serves as St. Louis' KIDS COUNT® partner.
These articles address the chronicity of the conditions that school nurses address in the school setting. Where many nurses work in settings such as hospitals, clinics, or nursing homes, and among colleagues providing peer support and consultation, the school nurse is often the only health professional in the school setting.
School nurses represent a unique nursing discipline requiring care and support for a wide range of children - from those with medically complex and chronic diseases to fully healthy children - all set in a non-healthcare environment.