Patt Morrison for Friday, September 24, 2010

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Friday, September 24, 2010

1-3 p.m.

 

CALL-IN @ 866-893-5722, 866-893-KPCC; OR JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE ON THE PATT MORRISON BLOG AT KPCC-DOT-ORG

 

 

1:06 – 1:19

OPEN

 

 

1:30 - 1:58:30

DWP reform, jobs, clean air and traffic reduction - LA's City Council President is on it all

There is no shortage of issues confronting the L.A. City Council—the state is still without a budget, impacting tax revenues that should be coming back into the city’s general fund; the effort to reform the DWP, mostly by bringing more transparency to the agency and installing a consumer advocate watchdog, continues amid much debate; and job growth in the city remains stagnant.  These are just the big ticket items, but there are plenty of smaller issues that still negatively affect the residents of Los Angeles—the city’s roads continue to be a pot-holed mess and a new planning director takes over the city’s Department of Planning with a mandate to fix transportation and development.  Join Patt, the president of the City Council and 700,000 of your closes friends for a huge town hall forum where you can bring your issues directly before L.A.’s city government.

 

Guest:

Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles City Council President representing Council District 13

HE CALLS US

 

 

 

2:06 – 2:58:30—FOR SPECIAL WEB COVERAGE, GO TO WWW.KPCC.ORG/FOSTERCARE

Fostering the most vital safety net:  the problems, and potential fixes, of L.A.’s foster care system

Too many children too easily fall through the cracks of society—unwanted or uncared for by parents who are either unwilling or unable to parent, foster kids are among the most vulnerable members of society and arguably most in need of a solid social safety net.  The safety net has some gaping holes in it, and while controversial deaths of children in L.A. County’s foster care system get publicity, thousands more who find themselves without shelter, an education or job prospects are left to their own devices when they turn 18.  Los Angeles, with the highest number of kids in foster care in the country, had 22,291 children in the foster care system in 2008, which actually shows years of progress reducing the numbers.  Even as the raw numbers of kids in the system comes down, these youths find themselves facing long odds at success: less than 4% of children in the foster care system nationwide graduate from a 4-year college.  This is the first part of a series of segments where Patt talks to children in and out of the foster system and the policy makers who are feverishly working to fix a broken safety net. 

 

Guests:

Andrew Bridge, director of Child Welfare Initiative in Los Angeles, former foster youth (age 7 – 18), author of Hopes Boy (memoir about his experience in foster care), former Executive Director of the Alliance for Children’s Rights, former Fulbright Scholar, and graduate of Harvard Law School.

 

David Ambroz, Executive Director of the Los Angeles City College Foundation, member of the California Child Welfare Council and a former foster youth.

 

Leslie Heimov (HIGH- mauve), Executive Director, Children’s Law Center, Certified Child Welfare Law Specialist, appointed to Child Welfare Counsel.

 

Trayvon Walker, foster reform advocate and former foster youth

 

Janis Spire, Chief Executive Officer, The Alliance for Children’s Rights

 

Laura Faer, Directing Attorney, Children’s Rights Project, Public Counsel

 

Daniel Heimpel, Director, Fostering Media Connections and freelance journalist. He has covered foster care for the LA Weekly, San Francisco Chronicle and Newsweek.

 

George White, foster youth

 

Lola Bell, Zaneta Bell, Shimia Gray, Clarence Wade, Avery Bankston, former foster youths

 

 

Jonathan Serviss

Producer, Patt Morrison Program

Southern California Public Radio

NPR Affiliate for Los Angeles

89.3 KPCC-FM | 89.1 KUOR-FM | 90.3 KPCV-FM

626.583.5171, office

415.497.2131, mobile

jserviss@kpcc.org / jserviss@scpr.org

www.scpr.org