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The 11th annual Congress on
Children was held October 9th at the El Tropicano
Hotel. Three-hundred child advocate stakeholders were
in attendance.
Highlights of the day included
opening remarks by Mayor Julian Castro, a morning and
afternoon session on Results Based Accountability by
Mark Friedman along with the distribution of his boo,
"Trying Hard Is Not Good Enough", and the distribution
of the 2009 Data Report of the status of children in
San Antonio.
The intent of Mark Friedman's
message was to provide training on how to use data to
focus community dialogue on issues, develop strategies
and monitor progress over time through meaningful
program performance measures and population level
indicators. Between sessions, participants engaged in
a "Turn the Curve" exercise utilizing information from
the 2009 Children's Data Report.
Included in the afternoon agenda
was a mini town hall meeting that allowed stakeholders
to formulate questions or concerns for presentation to
a panel composed of Dennis Campa, Director of the City
of San Antonio's Department of Community Initiatives'
Aurora Sanchez, Executive Director of the Bexar County
Department of Community Resources; Senator Jeff
Wentworth, Senator Carlos Uresti, and Jennifer Deegan,
Senior Health and Human Services Advisor to Speaker
Joe Strauss.
Voices for Children of San
Antonio Board Chair, George Block concluded the day by
announcing our long term goals of a City Charter
amendment in 2012 acknowledging young children as a
human infrastructure whose development is crucial to
the city's well being, as crucial as the physical
infrastructure of streets, police and fire protection
and parks.
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