Nebraska City, Neb. (October 26, 2011) - Scott County Family Y-Palmer Learning Center outdoor classroom earned the national designation of a certified Nature Explore Classroom from the Arbor Day Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundation.

The national certification places Scott County Family Y in a select circle. The first Nature Explore Classroom is located in the Tree Adventure attraction at Arbor Day Farm, the Arbor Day Foundation's interactive conservation venue in Nebraska City, Neb.  Nature Explore Classrooms are part of the Nature Explore program, a collaborative project of the Arbor Day Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundation. Developed in response to the growing disconnect between children and nature, certified Nature Explore Classrooms are designed to help fill the void by educating young children using research-based principles for integrating nature into their daily learning.

These classrooms, which are being developed across the country, offer interactive elements - including musical instruments made of natural materials, climbing structures, wooden blocks, small waterways, garden areas, and natural materials for building and creating art - that give children important and inspiring nature experiences. While connecting children with nature, such unstructured play and activities are shown to enhance concentration, develop creativity and problem-solving, relieve stress, and improve skills in many areas.

The Scott County Family Y-Palmer Learning Center is located at 724 Harrison Street in Davenport, IA. Outdoor classrooms that are designed according to principles described in the Dimensions Foundation's Learning With Nature Idea Book are eligible to become certified Nature Explore Classrooms. In a certified Nature Explore Classroom, children can create visual masterpieces in a nature art area, build with natural materials, climb on natural structures, and practice their balance, agility, and creativity in areas designed for music and movement.

"Scott County Family Y has taken an important leadership role in a profoundly needed initiative to connect young children with nature, setting a wonderful example for education centers across the country," said Susie Wirth, Nature Explore outreach director for the Arbor Day Foundation. "Everyone at Arbor Day Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundation appreciates the commitment that Scott County Family Y has made to the Nature Explore program and to providing nature education opportunities for young children."

About the Arbor Day Foundation: The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit education organization of more than 1 million members, with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. More information on the Foundation and its programs can be found at arborday.org.

Non-lobbyists Show Secret Supercommittee Could Make Cuts to Over $621 Billion in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid in Their States

(Washington, DC) - As lobbyists in Washington converge on the Super Committee, local advocates in states represented by the 12-member "Super Committee" today released new reports detailing the projected fall-out resulting from the committee's proposed cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.  Information on the new reports was discussed at press conferences throughout the nation and in Washington where the Supercommittee met publicly for the first time in a month.  In the eleven Super Committee states represented, 20.3 million Americans receive Social Security, 18.5 million Americans receive Medicare, and 21.4 million Americans receive Medicaid.

Money Injected in to Super Committee Members' States Economies By Programs

"You can see she would have no housing, day activities, medical, dental or prescription coverage without Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security," said Tom Taranto and Diane McCormack of Dorchester, MA, with regard to their daughter Christina who was born with severe disabilities.

"Too often political and media elites talk about these programs as just cold, unfeeling facts and figures, as if they are divorced from the people whose lives they touch," said Eric Kingson, co-director of Social Security Works. "Too often, the programs are talked about as 'problems' when in fact they really are 'solutions' - solutions that provide benefits that have been earned through the hard work of Americans."

The so-called Congressional "Super Committee" is just 30 days from its deadline.  As lobbyists attempt to save tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, the new reports reveal a possible economic crisis for many Americans should the committee vote to cut benefits.  The full reports are available at http://www.strengthensocialsecurity.org/super-committee/.

"The American people oppose any cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.  Our elected officials need to know that if they ignore this message, they do so at their own peril," said Ed Coyle the Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans. "This fall, as the Super Committee completes it work, the Alliance for Retired Americans will continue to educate and mobilize seniors and people of all ages on the need to strengthen - not cut - Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid."

Opinion poll after opinion poll show that the vast majority of Americans want no cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.

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Nebraska City, Neb. - Celebrate the holiday season with friends and loved ones this year and give back to the Earth at the same time with the help of the nonprofit Arbor Day Foundation.

Send holiday greetings and plant a tree - all at the same time - by using the Foundation's Give-A-Tree cards. Give-A-Tree cards are unique in that every card plants a tree in one of our National Forests in honor of the recipient. By sending Give-A-Tree cards, you are helping to replant forests that have been devastated by wildfires, insects and disease. Give-A-Tree holiday cards come in 20 varieties. This year, an option is available to customize Give-A-Tree cards, including using your favorite picture in a Give-A-Tree photo card.

When you give the gift of Arbor Day Specialty Coffee, you're helping to preserve the Earth's precious rain forests. Arbor Day Specialty Coffee is shade-grown under the canopy of Latin American rain forests. Unlike sun-grown coffee plantations, this traditional shade-grown method gives the coffee a delicious, rich flavor and helps preserve the rain forest as part of the Foundation's Rain Forest Rescue program.

The Foundation's Trees in Celebration program allows the giver to honor loved ones while at the same time making a positive impact on the environment. Trees in Celebration includes a certificate for the recipient, and for each dollar donated a tree is planted in a damaged forest.

Give special friends a membership to the Arbor Day Foundation, and they will also receive 10 free trees. A membership costs $10, and includes many great benefits, including 10 free trees that will be shipped at the right time of year for planting.

"The holidays are a time for thinking about others, and as you do, take a moment to think about what you can do to protect the beauty and splendor of the Earth," said John Rosenow, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. "We encourage everyone to give gifts that will have a lasting impact on the world for generations to come."

To purchase holiday gifts that give back to the Earth, go to arborday.org.

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