For the second year, 100 people served through ARCHS' programming will enjoy a night at The Muny. The historic outdoor musical theatre is donating tickets to ARCHS and other area not-for-profits for their 2016 summer performances that kicked-off with The Wizard of Oz in June.

Through this effort, the Muny is assuring that many children and their family members will enjoy their first theatrical performance. ARCHS applauds the Muny for their generosity and community outreach efforts.

The teenagers of Generation Z – the rising cohort born after 1995 that follows the Millennials – experienced improved education and health indicators despite growing up in the midst of the economic downturn, according to the 2016 KIDS COUNT® Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The 2016 Data Book, which focuses on key trends in child well-being in the post-recession years, measures child well-being in four domains: economic well-being, education, health, and family and community.

The 2016 KIDS COUNT® Data Book shows improvement since 2008 for Missouri in many key areas as it relates to child wellbeing, including:

• Teen birth rate decreased by nearly 40%
• High school students not graduating on time declined from 20% to 13%
• Child and teen death rate declined from 36 per 100,000 to 28 per 100,000

“We’ve seen improvements in several areas of interest over the past eight years,” said Bill Dent, Executive Director of Missouri Family and Community Trust (FACT). “However, many Missouri children are being raised in poverty, or without health care, and this is something that needs to be addressed.”

While advancements have been made, there are still opportunities for improvement in Missouri in the following areas as highlighted by the 2016 KIDS COUNT® Data Book:

• One in five children live in poverty
• One in ten children live in neighborhoods where 30% or more of all households are low income
• As recently as 2014, approximately 100,000 children lack health insurance

On Sunday May 15, 2016, ARCHS partnered with Child Care Aware of Eastern Missouri, Grace Hill, PNC Bank, Project LAUNCH, The Magic House, Ready Readers, T.E.A.C.H. MISSOURI Scholarship, United 4 Children, and Youth In Need to sponsor and host the second annual St. Louis Early Educator Appreciation Event. More than 300 early childhood educators attended the event at The Magic House to celebrate leaders and acknowledge the outstanding work that serves area children through home-based and center programs. This year's event recognized six educators for their exceptional leadership in the child care field:

-Lavera Winston, Outstanding Home Care Provider
-Sandra Moore, Early Educator of Excellence
-Tatiana Sheffer, Early Childhood Field Leader
-Veronica Blockton, Early Childhood Trailblazer
-Abresha Lucious, Educator Going Above & Beyond
-Ellicia Qualls, Community Leader & Child Advocate

Each year the field of early educators grows in St. Louis, and ARCHS is proud to provide training and technical assistance to the outstanding individuals and organizations that provide these much needed services.

View Photo Gallery Below

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ARCHS' IT and Data Director Eric Monroe represented Missouri at the national Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT® Data Institute held in St. Louis in May. The training covered the use of data animation, geographical information systems (GIS), infographics, dashboards, and other tools to best communicate national and state-level KIDS COUNT® data and stories. More than 100 KIDS COUNT® state grantees from across the nation participated in the event.

Eric provides strategic technical support for ARCHS' information technology and database management systems, tracking 18 education and social service programs that annually serve more than 90,000 children and their family members. The Missouri Family and Community Trust (FACT), is the official Annie E. Casey KIDS COUNT® partner in Missouri. As one of FACT's 20 "community partnerships," ARCHS  serves as the St. Louis region's KIDS COUNT® representative.