NYSPEP MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: ANGELINA M. HART

Membership in NYSPEP is open to the public and there's room for everyone. To support NYSPEP's vision - that all children will grow up in nurturing families through enhancing parenting skills, knowledge and behavior - behind-the-scenes work plays an important role.  

NYSPEP Member Spotlight: Angelina M. Hart 

Angelina M. Hart serves as the NYSPEP Coordinator for Prevent Child Abuse NY. She manages marketing and communications, coordinates events, and administers NYSPEP's day-to-day operations. A member of the Executive Committee, she is involved with both the Marketing & Communications and Professional Development Workgroups.

Angelina co-created and implemented a direct marketing program for Oracle Corporation as an independent contractor. Her campaign was ranked number-one nationwide by Oracle Channels Marketing in 2003. Angelina joined ESFPA and produced end-to-end publications; from layout and copywriting to display ad creation and operating the press. She accepted a position with NEREIA and was promoted to Communications Director within six months. She strategized with the Founding Executive Director and successfully positioned the Association to expand territory; it was acquired soon thereafter.

Angelina sought purposeful work after processing registrations and greeting annual conference attendees for Families Together in New York State (FTNYS) in 2007. In 2011 and 2012, she served as an event marshall for the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS) during its annual legislative awareness day. She previously studied Drug and Alcohol Recovery Counseling (DARC) at MCC and served as President for the DARC Club. She is a member of Phi Theta Kappa, Alpha Upsilon Alpha chapter and the National Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC). 

Angelina freelances as an award-winning fine artist and professional musician. She has overcome multiple traumas stemming from adverse childhood experiences and strongly supports parenting education to empower parents. She retains contact with biological family and is a member of an intentional family, forged through consciousness-based communities.

Cops and Tots Event - Capital District

Fight Crime: Invest In Kids New York

Cops and Tots Event

Thursday, March 28, 2013 

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Howe Early Childhood Center - Schenectady, NY

SPEAKERS:

• Schenectady County District Attorney - Robert Carney
• Schenectady Police Chief - Brian Kilcullen
• Parents of Murdered Children - Patricia Gioia
• SCSD Superintendent - Larry Spring
• Congressman (Invited) - Paul Tonko

Please join for remarks in support of high-quality early learning from the prenatal period to age eight and story time with the children!

RSVP EXTENDED THROUGH WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27th!!!

RSVP by Monday, March 25th (essential)
joconnor@CouncilForAStrongAmerica.org

Jenn O'Connor, NYS Director - Council For A Strong America

What You Don't Know Can Hurt You(r Children)

What You Don't Know Can Hurt You(r Children)

by Meg Akabas

Author of 52 Weeks of Parenting Wisdom: Effective Strategies for Raising Happy, Responsible Kids

Armed with the knowledge that a baby traveling in a car without an infant car seat is 71% more likely to die in a car accident than a baby who is secured in a proper car seat, most parents readily comply with government regulations to keep their infants safe. When advised by their pediatrician to put their babies to sleep on their backs to reduce the chance of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, most parents, again, heed this advice.

We are all afraid of instantaneous tragedies, and therefore strict governmental regulation and public service announcements work to prevent them, but we tend to ignore long-term, though more frequent, risks. We now know that a baby's environment and the parenting practices under which it matures affect that baby's future social and emotional well-being, physical health even through adulthood, likelihood of finishing high school, and chances of becoming a criminal or addicted to alcohol or drugs. Nonetheless, relatively very little attention is given to informing parents about how parenting practices and the child's environment affect a child's social, emotional and cognitive development.

Recently, I was meeting with a group of moms, and the discussion turned to the topic of the strife they were each experiencing with the fathers of their children (nearly all of the moms were victims of domestic violence). I quoted for them a recent article I had read about the latest brain findings on infants and discord: "Kids' brains are exquisitely sensitive. Even sleeping infants are affected by family arguments..." ("Troubled Family Life Changes Kids' Brains", Scientific American, Feb. 4, 2013). This piece of information made an impression on the women and led to a dialoge about the importance of dealing with conflicts in a non-destructive way and about strategies to diffuse escalating arguments.

This is just one example of critical material that most parents never learn. Naysayers might argue that all these studies and information just cause undue stress and worry among parents who are already stressed. But why should information about safety and health preclude information about child rearing decisions that can have a tremendous impact on out children's future and the whole of society as a well?

The answer may be that the effects of parenting practices are not seen as critical because the effects are not as directly and quickly seen. But, for whatever reason, we must work to broaden the scope of what is considered to be essential information. Parenting education is the logical means to provide parents with knowledge and strategies about the sorely neglected realms of social, emotional and cognitive development that will be likely predictors of their children's health and happiness into adulthood.

The work of NYSPEP (and every program that promotes parenting education, trains parenting educators and provides educational programs to parents) is critical to fostering strong families and happy and healthy kids and adults. Our responsibility is to share our knowledge with parents, to help them to understand it, and to help them use it to make informed decisions, given their own circumstances and understanding of their children. Let us approach our work with the goal of helping mothers and fathers parent with intention and knowledge.

NYSPEP MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: ANN-MARGRET FOLEY

NYSPEP serves parenting educators and the organizations that employ, fund, and support those educators. NYSPEP recognizes that effective programs and reliable resources are essential elements for parents and is involved in the development of a New Parent Kit.

NYSPEP Member Spotlight: Ann-Margret Foley

Ann-Margret Foley, MSW, is committed to improving the overall physical and social-emotional well-being of children in New York State. She has been actively involved in NYSPEP's initiatives for two years and serves as co-chair of the New Parent Kit Workgroup. To help inform the development of the Kit's contents, she has been conducting focus groups throughout New York State with pregnant and parenting families.

Ann-Margret Foley works for the New York State Department of Health/Health Research Inc. in the Community Perinatal Health unit. She is Project Coordinator for the First-Time Motherhood/New Parents Initiative, which promotes preconception health (healthy lifestyle prior to pregnancy), interconception health (healthy lifestyle between pregnancy) and to provide resources and information to newly parenting families to assist them with the transition to parenthood by providing supports and resources to successfully care for their children.

Previously, Ann-Margret Foley worked as Project Director for the Northeast Comprehensive Eating Disorder Center, a "Center of Excellence" in New York State for the treatment of individuals with eating disorders. She also worked for SUNY Research Foundation at the Center for Human Services Research through the School of Social Welfare at the University of Albany. She was the Survey Manager for the Healthy Families New York Randomized Trial -- Year 7.

Anne-Margret Foley has also provided direct services for various health and human service agencies, including child protective, foster care, and substance abuse in the Capital Region. She currently serves as a board member for CARES, Inc., a not-for-profit agency founded in 1990 which works in partnership with other agencies to assist individuals who are homeless or living with HIV/AIDS.

Ann-Margret lives in Delmar, New York with her husband, two teenage children, and 85 year old mother.