October 7, 2010

WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, co-chairs of the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth, today released a "Call to Action" set of policy options to build on successful policy improving the lives of youth in foster care.

The Call to Action release occurs on the second anniversary of the enactment of the bipartisan Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoption Act of 2008, the most significant child welfare bill to be enacted in more than a decade.

"One of the goals of the Caucus on Foster Youth is to hear directly from the youth in foster care about the policies that affect them," Grassley said.  "They're telling us that some key improvements have been very helpful, but there are still gaps in services and persistent problems that a combination of policy changes and citizen involvement can ease.  The Call to Action kicks off the next step in the discussion of how to improve the quality of life for foster youth."

"We see the Call to Action as a way to help lawmakers implement polices to improve our broken foster care system," Landrieu said. "With more than 25,000 young adults aging out of care each year, we cannot fail these youth. Yet, we cannot expect them to succeed when less than half of aged-out youth graduate from high school and so few are provided sufficient support. As Members of Congress we rely on these youths to tell us what issues are important to them.  Their input is critical to translate those issues and concerns into meaningful legislation. They need to know that we are dedicated to looking out for their best interests and working to help connect them with loving, caring families."

The Call to Action addresses issues associated with group homes, congregate care, an over-reliance on psychotropic medications, sibling connection, youth engagement, mentoring, pregnant and parenting teens, family preservation activities and child welfare financing.

The document builds on improvements in the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, which provided additional federal incentives for states to move children from foster care to adoptive homes, expanded adoption assistance to all special needs foster youth, allowed states to extend care to youth up to age 21, allowed for federal reimbursement for kinship care, and made health and education improvements for youth in foster care.  Grassley helped lead the effort to enact the legislation.

In 2009, building on the success of the 2008 act, Grassley, along with Landrieu, established the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth.  The caucus has sponsored a series of working sessions with the goal of assembling options for the next steps in child welfare reform. To an unprecedented degree, the caucus has engaged current and former foster youth in these working sessions.

Expert Reveals How to Choose The Best Shelter Dog For Your Family

Dr. Diane Pomerance wants to show everyone how to make your family happier -- and save a life at the same time -- in October.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) sponsors October as Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog Month to encourage Americans to turn their houses into homes by adopting a shelter dog. Each year, millions of dogs enter our nation's shelters, yet of the almost 59 million owned dogs in this country, fewer than 20 percent are shelter adoptees.

Pomerance, an activist who has owned more than 40 shelter dogs in her lifetime, thinks it's a shame that more people don't adopt from a shelter, because the most faithful, healthy and loving dogs are waiting there for new homes.

"People sometimes don't go to animal shelters to adopt a dog, because they have a lot of misinformation about these animals," said Pomerance, author of seven books about pets, including Our Rescue Dog Family Album (www.animalcompanionsandtheirpeople.com). "They think, 'I don't want to inherit someone else's problem,' or they simply think all the dogs there are abused or hard to train, or that they won't be able to find the breed that they want. All of those notions couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, up to nearly 60 percent of dogs in shelters are not strays, but pets whose families had to give them up because of a loss of income or a change in location. These are faithful, loving dogs who just need a home and some love."

The key is to know how to choose the right pet for your family, and Dr. Pomerance offered these tips to help families do just that:

• Breed - Check online about the different breeds, their temperament, health & physical characteristics. Find out all you can about the specific animal from shelter workers and volunteers.

• Lifestyle -- Think about your lifestyle and personality in terms of the kind of dog that would be more compatible with your home and your living situation.

• Activity level -- Assess the activity level and exercise requirements of the dog you are considering. Are you able to walk your dog several times a day and play with him?

• Age -- Figure out what age of the animal is best suited to you and your family. Which is more compatible with your age and lifestyle? Do you want an active puppy that needs attention and training, a middle-aged dog with established behaviors, or an older, less active dog?

• Time - Do you have enough time for a quality relationship with a dog? Like children, they require attention, companionship, patience and interaction. They also require socialization and obedience training.

• Budget - Research the costs of not only adopting a pet (adoption fee), but veterinary care, including spay/neuter, vaccinations, potential injuries or illness, regular checkups, toys, accessories, etc. Factor in costs of food, pet sitters or boarding while you're away. Keep in mind many pet shelters offer these services as part of the adoption fee, or at a discounted rate because many are not-for-profit organizations supported by private donations.

• Space - Do you have sufficient room for a dog to move, eat and sleep comfortably? Further, are you legally allowed to have a dog on the premises/in your community? If you rent, make sure you are legally allowed to have a pet.

• Shelter -- Find out as much about the shelter from which you are adopting your pet as possible - what is its reputation?  Is it a kill or no-kill shelter? What is the track record of the successful adoption of its dogs?

"Adopting a shelter dog is a lifetime choice, as these pets will likely spend the rest of their lives with you, and it is not something that should be taken lightly," Pomerance added. "That being said, it is a positive choice, and one that will bring joy and love into your home and provide your family a loyal, caring companion."

About Diane Pomerance

Diane Pomerance has a Ph.D. in Communications from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and is widely regarded as a pet expert. She has written seven books about animals including the Animal Companions Series and her new book Our Rescue Dog Family Album (www.animalcompanionsandtheirpeople.com).  She created, established and currently directs the pioneering and flagship Pet Grief Counseling Program for the SPCA of Texas in Dallas.

Come please and join our 10th anniversary celebration of chamber music from the Renaissance through the mid 19th century: three concerts at Trinity Cathedral in Davenport, all on period instruments this year, which bring to the Quad Cities a number of well-known artists, including soprano Terri Richter from Nashville who appears fresh from a 12-concert tour around the country, Oleg Timofeyev on lute, guitar and viola da gamba, festival director Jeffrey Cohan on flutes from the 16th through the 19th centuries, and three University of Iowa professors who specialize in the performance of early music on period instruments: harpsichordist and organist Gregory Hand, violist Christine Rutledge, and Kristin Thelander on natural horn. Please alert your Iowa City friends, as we'll be performing there as well.

The 10th anniversary festival is dedicated to conductor, pianist, harpsichordist and frequent Black Hawk Chamber Music Festival artist George Shangrow, who died on July 31 when another car entered his lane in a storm in Eastern Washington. As a conductor, keyboardist and radio host he had immense influence in shaping the classical music scene in the Pacific Northwest over the past 40 years, and he touched the lives of many in the Quad Cities and Iowa City through concerts in the Quad Cities beginning in 1988. He was to perform in this year's festival. Please see www.osscs.org for more information about George.

~ The Artists ~

www.terririchter.com ·  Oleg Timofeyev ·  Gregory Hand

www.jeffreycohan.com ·  Kristin Thelander ·  www.christinerutledge.com

www.johnschneiderman.com ·  www.hidekiyamaha.com

Thursday, October 21 at 7:30 PM at Trinity Cathedral in Davenport:

·  The INTIMATE LUTE & FLUTE:

Irish, Scottish and Continental Renaissance and Baroque

? October 20 (Wednesday) at 7:30 PM in Iowa City

Jeffrey Cohan ~ baroque and renaissance flutes

Oleg Timofeyev ~ lute

- From Ukraine to Iowa! Jeffrey Cohan and Oleg Timofeyev toured all over Ukraine earlier this year with a similar program, including Irish music from around 1700 by the blind Irish harper Turlough Carolan and Scottish favorites arranged for solo lute. In the early 1600's, Lutenist Nicolas Vallet and flutist Jacob Van Eyck wrote beautiful settings of Psalm tunes, and Oleg and Jeffrey recreate what a collaboration between the two might have been like. When Italian music was all the rage in France in the 1730's, a sneaky Frenchman named Esprit Philippe Chedeville faked a collection of flute sonatas entitled Il Pastor Fido ("The Faithful Pastor") that everyone thought was by Antonio Vivaldi until recently. You'll hear one of these.

Friday, October 22 at 7:30 PM at Trinity Cathedral in Davenport:

· The 19TH-CENTURY RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE:

Chamber Music for Flute, Viola And Horn with the Russian Guitar

? October 15 (Friday) at 7:00 PM in Iowa City (7:30 in Davenport on the 22nd)

Kristen Thelander ~ natural horn

Christine Rutledge ~ viola

Jeffrey Cohan ~ eight-keyed flute

Oleg Timofeyev ~ Russian 7-string guitar

- Hear most unusual and exciting trios for horn, flute and guitar by German composer C. Dickhut, and for flute, viola and guitar by the Bohemian composer Wenzel Thomas Matiegka, with duos and solo by Italian guitar virtuoso Mauro Giuliani and Russian composers. We'll recreate an 1820 performance of hot-off-the-press chamber music from Europe and Russia, as it would have been performed on the relatively new (in 1800) Russian 7-string guitar, with Oleg Timofeyev along with two specialists on period instruments and University of Iowa professors: Kristen Thelander on the natural horn and Christine Rutledge on viola, with Jeffrey Cohan playing an 8-keyed flute made in 1820 in London.

· Sunday afternoon, October 24 at 3:00 PM at Trinity Cathedral in Davenport:

LOVE TO GEORGE! - FROM JOHANN & GEORGE:

A Bach and Handel Tribute to George Shangrow

? October 23 (Saturday) at 7:30 PM in Iowa City

Terri Richter ~ soprano

Gregory Hand ~ harpsichord

Jeffrey Cohan ~ baroque flute

Oleg Timofeyev ~ lute and viola da gamba

- Johann Sebastian Bach and George Friderick Handel, whose music our friend George Shangrow championed, will be interpreted by the fabulous soprano Terri Richter, who often worked with George and Jeffrey and is flying in from Nashville following an intensive October tour around the country. Terri will be joined by harpsichordist Gregory Hand, professor of organ and harpsichord at the University of Iowa. Oleg Timofeyev will play lute and viola da gamba, and Jeffrey Cohan will play baroque flute with Terri and Gregory in excerpts from Handel's gorgeous Nine German Arias and Sweet Bird, That Shunn'st The Noise Of Folly, and Bach arias including Ich folge dir gleichfalls from the St. John Passion and excerpts from Bach's Coffee Cantata. Terri will also sing 17th-century Italian lute songs by Mazzocchi, Monteverdi and Rossi.  For George.

· THE BAROQUE AND THE ORIGINS OF THE RUSSIAN GUITAR

? October 17 (Sunday afternoon) at 3:00 PM in Iowa City only:

John Schneiderman ~ lute, baroque guitar and Russian guitar

Hideki Yamaya ~ theorbo, baroque guitar and Russian guitar

Oleg Timofeyev ~ lute, viola da gamba and Russian guitar

Kristen Thelander ~ natural horn

Jeffrey Cohan ~ baroque flute

- This extravaganza of plucked ancestors of the Russian 7-string guitar features baroque and renaissance lutes, theorbo (a long-necked lute) and baroque guitar, with John Schneiderman (Irving, California), Hideki Yamaya (Portland, Oregon), Oleg Timofeyev and flutist Jeffrey Cohan, performing music that Louis XIV (a guitarist!) gave to the Duke of Bavaria in 1695, a lute concerto by Karl Kohaut, a trio sonata with natural horn and flute by Georg Philipp Telemann, and a trio from around 1800 for Russian guitars.

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

121 West 12th Street in Davenport

$12, and $10 for students and seniors

for TICKETS please see:

www.brownpapertickets.com

Multi-Passes available through Brown Paper Tickets

Tickets available at the door

Please see bhcmf@aol.com or call the church at (563) 323-9989 for information.

For IOWA CITY performances on October 15, 17, 20 and 23 at the

Congregational Church at 30 N. Clinton St. in Iowa City

Please see bhcmf@aol.com or call the church at (319) 337-4301 for information.

Special guest soprano Terri Richter has enthralled audiences with her captivating energy and refined artistry onstage. Acclaimed as a "rising star" by the Seattle Times, Ms. Richter regularly appears as a soloist with orchestras and early music ensembles throughout the U.S. This accomplished graduate of Seattle Opera's Young Artist Program went on to perform many roles with Seattle Opera, and to receive national acclaim for her portrayals of Despina in Cosi fan tutte and Oscar in Verdi's Masked Ball. Her guest appearances with Seattle Symphony include the nationally televised 2001 commemorative Rolling Requiem, (Mozart's Requiem), Mahler's Symphony no. 4, Handel's Messiah, and she is featured with Seattle Symphony in Taylor's Peter Ibbetson, recently released on the Naxos label. Other favorite recent roles include Adele in Die Fledermaus, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Clorinda in Monteverdi's Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda with Pacific Operaworks, and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro with Opera Idaho. Her voice also marks several movie and game soundtracks, including Steve Martin's film Novocaine and the X-box game Halo 2.

Ms. Richter's upcoming solo engagements include Handels' Messiah with Nashville Symphony, and the roles of Euridice in Seattle Opera's Orfeo ed Euridice and Sophie in Opera Cleveland's Werther. She will be a featured guest artist this season with the Odeon Quartet, ALIAS Ensemble, and the Nashville Early Music Project. Immediately prior to her Black Hawk Chamber Music Festival performances she will complete a nation-wide 12-city tour of Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers with Apollo's Fire.

As did George, the Black Hawk Chamber Music Festival aspires to uplift the spirit and provide new perspective through music. Our passion is exploring new musical territory: bringing old gems to life in the modern context, delighting in the unique characteristics of period instruments but also reveling in the capabilities of their modern relatives, and premiering new works. As one of George's fans, Jim van Zee, remarked: "We live in a shallow, noisy world, filled with screams and lies and deceptions. George knew how to keep the demons at bay, and allow our souls to briefly experience beauty and truth." We hope to do the same. These concerts are a tribute with love to George.

In a world where video games, computers, and cell phones are replacing bike rides and capture the flag, it's not surprising that our children are not reaching recommended levels of physical activity.  Nearly 10 million children and adolescents in the United States ages 6 to 19 are considered overweight, and one of the factors having a dramatic impact is physical activity - or lack thereof.  Even First Lady Michelle Obama has gotten involved, joining in the Let's Move campaign - America's Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids.  "Exercise is not an option," Obama said during a recent interview with AOL Health senior editor Jennifer Fields.  "For our kids to be successful academically, they need to be successful physically."

Running, as well as other sports, helps kids gain health and maturity, inspiring self-respect and sportsmanship.  Rivermont Collegiate is hosting a unique cross country event on Saturday, Oct. 16th for runners in grades 5-8.  This exciting event will have athletes completing a 2 mile course around the Rivermont campus - featuring varied terrain of grass and pavement.  Rivermont is located on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi, so there will be challenging hills, as well!  Over 30 students from local Quad City Conference schools will be participating, with volunteers directing them around the unique course.  The race begins at 9:00 a.m., with check-in beginning at 8:15 a.m.  Rivermont is located at 1821 Sunset Drive in Bettendorf, directly off 18th Street behind K & K Hardware.  Join us to cheer on these young runners as they rise to the challenge!

For more information on the Let's Move! campaign, visit www.letsmove.gov

For additional information on Rivermont Collegiate, contact Cindy Murray at (563) 359-1366 ext. 302 or murray@rvmt.org.

Rivermont Collegiate is the Quad Cities' only private, independent, non-sectarian PS-12th grade college preparatory school.  Visit us online at www.rvmt.org!

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