A new report says 97 percent of children in West Virginia are covered by health insurance.
The report by Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families says West Virginia’s 3 percent rate of uninsured children is among the lowest in the country.
The report ranks West Virginia fourth in the nation. Massachusetts is ranked first with a 1.5 percent rate of uninsured children.
According to the report, West Virginia reduced the number of uninsured children by 43.7 percent from 2013 to 2014.
West Virginia Children’s Health Insurance Program director Sharon Carte says the state faces many health challenges. She says in a news release that the low rate of uninsured children provides a foundation on which to build a healthy future.
A new after school program in Beckley is bringing Science and Art together. The program is made possible by a grant from the Beckley Area Foundation with the help from the Benedum Foundation and West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
Dr. Aida Jimenez is the Assistant Professor of Biology in the Department of Natural Science and Mathematics at the University of Charleston in Beckley and director of the after school program.
Jimenez says the program, The Science Behind the Art Experience, is meant to provide a unique extracurricular activity and increase science and art literacy among youth in the region.
The Science Behind the Art Experience is a six week program that meets two days per week. Students age 13 to 16 will perform college level science experiments and create pieces of art that relate to the science.
Scholarships are available. To find out how to register, visit the website.
There’s a place in historic downtown Martinsburg that’s known to the community as… the BE-Hive. It’s spelled B-E, meaning “to be,” and “hive” meaning “home.” It’s an activity center for children, but it’s not a drop-off point. The parents have to be involved too.
That’s Mike Schaeffer on his guitar. Mike is the vice president of BE-Hive, and before most BE-Hive events, he’s playing on his guitar and singing songs with the children. He gives an excited little girl the chance to strum on his guitar as he presses the chords. Her face lights up as she hears the change in pitches that she is helping to make. Activities at BE-Hive are aimed at children up to the age of 13, but Mike Schaeffer says the BE-Hive isn’t just for children.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Mike and Robin Schaeffer, owners of BE-Hive
“One of the important things was, since we wanted it not just to be a drop-off for kids,” Mike said, “we wanted it to be for parents and their kids, we wanted also the parents to be comfy, so we have comfy like living room seating with couches, we have little café tables that the parents can sit and talk with each other or they can sit and play games with their children.”
“The first time we came, I thought this is wonderful,” said Allison Lemaster, a BE-Hive regular, “I can sit and I talk with other mums and I can watch my kids, I don’t have to send my kids off to another room, I can watch my kids play, and I can have a bit of relaxing time talking with parents instead of five-year-olds and three-year-olds, and it was just like the kind of play group that I had been looking for, but it’s so much more than just a play group.”
Since BE-Hive opened in October 2012, more than 11,000 people have come through its doors. The organization is open to anyone, but President and co-founder, Robin Schaeffer says, BE-Hive serves many teen mothers and single parents. She hopes it provides a stable home away from home.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“It’s designed to be cozy and comfy and to invite you in just like you’re coming home,” Robin explained, “so we have a kitchen table that we’re sitting at right now, with a little kitchen cabinet. We have a living room with lots of games to play, we have a library with cozy, big comfy chairs.”
BE-Hive is funded through grants from the Community Foundation of the Eastern Panhandle and from United Way; however, most of its funding comes from community donations. Each month, the organization hosts free events and programs on topics like the arts, math, languages, health, and there’s also story time.
The Schaeffers developed the idea for BE-Hive while volunteering with what is now the Emmanuel House, in the basement of a church in Martinsburg. Robin and her husband, Mike, volunteered to hold activities for the children, while their parents attended a separate program.
“So that kind of led to our idea of having a place called BE-Hive,” Robin remembers, “where parents and children would be together and learn some of the things that we were wanting to teach the children.”
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The Schaeffers say BE-Hive has affected families in more ways than they ever expected. They’ve seen children grow as people, make friends, and they’ve also seen some of the parents change. Robin remembers when one of her regular mothers came in with her daughter, and her daughter’s estranged father. She told Robin they hadn’t seen him in over a year.
“I watched him because I was curious,” Robin said, “and he you know, made no motion to really do anything but just sat in the chair at the table most of the time. Then he came back again, and then he came back again, and we have seen him now, you know hugging and loving his daughter, and you can just feel it, that he’s involved.”
BE-Hive is open four days a week for families of all different backgrounds and incomes. Robin and Mike Schaeffer say it has far surpassed their original mission, and they hope their organization will continue to thrive, as long as the funding allows.
The State Senate has concurred with the amendment and from the House and has passed the bill. The bill now goes to Governor Tomblin and awaits his signature.
The Senate passed the bill 30-1. Sen. Herb Snyder was the lone vote against.
Original Post onWednesday: May 21, 2014 at 12:24 p.m.:
An amendment unanimously approved by the West Virginia House of Delegates would fully restore more than $1 million in cuts to family and child service programs.
Those cuts came in March as part of a line item veto by Gov. Tomblin. Later, the governor restored about $260,000 of those cuts by taking money from a trust fund to provide future children’s programs.
Members of the House amended a special session bill dealing with appropriations from excess lottery for Fiscal Year 2015, beginning July 1. The amendment cuts $1.06 million from the racetrack purse fund to restore the governor’s cuts to child advocacy centers, family resource centers and domestic violence prevention and assistance programs.
Advocates held a rally at the Capitol Tuesday urging lawmakers to find a way to restore the more than $800,000 in funding to make service programs whole, but instead of finding just that amount, Delegates voted to restore the full $1.06 million, putting money back into the trust fund the governor had used to previously restore funding.
“This is especially good news as it would mean the state would not need to borrow against other children’s programs,” Stephen Smith, executive director of the West Virginia Healthy Kids and Families Coalition, said in an email after the vote.
The money comes from excess lottery revenues that would have been appropriated to the racetrack purse fund. The money in that fund is used to pay winners who bet on races at horse tracks.
“Unfortunately, we’re taking this money from a group that doesn’t deserve to be cut either,” Delegate J.B. McCuskey said on the floor, “but this will show West Virginians where our priorities are.”
Lawmakers say moving those revenues to fund services should not affect the racing industry itself, as in the number of races they are able to run, but may slightly effect the amount tracks are able to pay out.
