New Equity Analysis: Rhode Island School Districts
COVID-19 Impact and Recovery: An Equity Analysis of Rhode Island School Districts’ Planned Use of ESSER III Funds analyzes the ESSER III plans of the 36 traditional public school districts in Rhode Island and highlights how school districts have allocated funds to address chronic absenteeism, mental and behavioral health, lost instruction time in literacy and math, family engagement, and the needs of Multilingual Learners, students receiving special education services, Students of Color, students in foster care, and students experiencing homelessness. Please see the full publication in English and in Spanish.
New Publications on Childhood Overweight and Obesity
We released our newest publications, Childhood Overweight and Obesity: Updated Data for Rhode Island and Childhood Overweight and Obesity: Trends in Rhode Island, at a virtual policy roundtable on Tuesday, August 30, 2022. These Policy Briefs include data on childhood overweight and obesity at the state and city/town level as well as by age, gender, race/ethnicity, and insurance status and provide the first data showing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information about the release event and publications, please see the media release, data presentation, release event recording, and coverage on Health Check 10 and WPRI 12.
RIght From the Start: Candidate Guide and Forum
Rhode Island KIDS COUNT is a proud member of the RIght from the Start Campaign Steering Committee, alongside Beautiful Beginnings, Economic Progress Institute, Latino Policy Institute, Parents Leading for Educational Equity, Rhode Island Association for Infant Mental Health, Rhode Island Association for the Education of Young Children, and Rhode Island Head Start Association.

Recently, RIght From the Start developed an Early Childhood Policy Priorities Candidate Guide to help educate candidates for elected office about policy and budget priorities that will help families with young children in Rhode Island, and co-hosted a gubernatorial candidate forum focused on early childhood.
Rhode Island Ranks 25th in Child Well-Being
Rhode Island’s children are faring well in health compared to the children in other states, according to the 2022 KIDS COUNT® Data Book, a 50-state report of recent household data developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation analyzing how children and families are faring. For the first time, this annual resource focuses on youth mental health, following a recent assessment by the U.S. Surgeon General that conditions amount to a youth “mental health pandemic” and that children are struggling with anxiety and depression at unprecedented levels.

Please see the full Data Book, Rhode Island's media release, and Rhode Island's state profile in English and Spanish.
Rhode Island KIDS COUNT | www.rikidscount.org