A broad spectrum of San Joaquin Valley leaders will gather Feb. 13 in Fresno to discuss the most pressing issues facing children and youth in the region and what action needs to be taken.

The Regional Children’s Stakeholders Forum will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Cardinal Newman Hall, St. Paul Newman Center, 1572 E. Barstow Ave., just west of the California State University, Fresno campus.

The Fresno State-based Central California Children’s Institute will convene regional leaders in education, social services, health, business, philanthropy and community development for the forum.

Participants will learn what Valley residents had to say about children’s issues in a random telephone survey of 1,200 residents in the eight counties. The results were compiled in the publication “Voices of the Valley: Residents Speak of Children,” which lays the groundwork for developing an action agenda.

Researchers from five colleges at Fresno State, who developed the survey, will report the findings.

Participating faculty represent the College of Health and Human Services, Kremen School of Education and Human Development, College of Social Sciences, College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology and the College of Science and Mathematics. The Central Valley Health Policy Institute, a program within the College of Health and Human Services, was a key partner in the research effort.

A featured forum speaker is Jessica Delasandro Mindnich, senior policy associate with the statewide child advocacy organization Children Now. Mindnich will discuss how the Valley’s children are faring compared to children in other regions of the state. Children Now produces the annual “California Report Card: The State of the State’s Children”.

“We hope this forum will bring leaders together from across the region to discuss how we can incorporate the perspectives of Valley residents in developing an advocacy agenda for children,” said Dr. Cassandra Joubert, director of the Children’s Institute and a member of the research team. Joubert also is a faculty member in the Department of Public Health at Fresno State.

The Central California Children’s Institute’s mission is to improve the lives of children and families in the Valley by leveraging the resources of the university and bringing community partners together to address the challenges.

For more information, call 559.228.2150.