Vision for Children at Risk works to create a better future for the area’s at-risk children by:
- Convening and facilitating the St. Louis Metropolitan Children’s Agenda, a collaborative structure involving hundreds of children’s agencies voluntarily working together on strategic initiatives and projects to address priority needs of at-risk children. The Children’s Agenda contains 30-plus strategies targeting a full range of children’s needs, including health, education, family support, economic opportunity and more. For each strategy, a work group of participating agencies meets regularly to plan and implement programs and initiatives. Vision for Children at Risk performs a critical role as convener and facilitator.
- Producing information assessing community needs of children, most notably the Children of Metropolitan St. Louis report. This report provides comprehensive data on the needs and risk factors affecting children; strategic initiatives are targeted from this data. It is widely used by community agencies. The most recent report was published in late 2007.
- Advocating for the importance of children’s needs to business, civic and political leadership, and to the community as a whole. Vision for Children at Risk has played an important role in encouraging and assisting the Mayor of the City of St. Louis to establish a Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Success. VCR holds the St. Louis Children’s Summit every three years to emphasize to the community the importance of children’s needs. “Invest in Kids” has been introduced as a theme to promote the economic benefits of children’s services for the region.
|
