If you're feeling inspired today -- even a little -- please take a moment to share that inspiration with your friends by sending them the Pledge For Florida's Children.

Last week, Bud had a chance to visit with St. Petersburg Times metro columnist Howard Troxler, who wrote up a column on their talk for the weekend edition. After their talk, Bud made a quick drive over the Howard Frankland Bridge to do a live radio show with WMNF's RadioActivity host Rob Lorei. You can listen to the podcast here. Still to come, Bud taped an episode of Political Connections at Bay News 9 to air at a future date, and Florida Magazine is working on a story as well.

During their interview, Troxler asked Bud what he hoped to accomplish by walking One Million Steps. Bud replied that the goal is to raise public awareness and to remind Florida that there is a common good and a nobility to advocating that good.

"Who," he asked rhetorically about the current crop of state politicians, "is inspiring? Who is being inspired?"

How we answer is up to you.

At Worst To First, we have a simple philosophy for helping Florida's kids: Invest in success instead of paying for failure. This week the entire country was reminded of Florida's failure to invest in children when the U.S. Supreme Court heard appeals in two Florida juvenile cases that resulted in life sentences.

Florida leads the nation in life sentences for minors who committed crimes in which no one died. Reporting by the St. Petersburg Times reveals that Florida sends more children to adult jails and prisons than other states because state laws make it easy for prosecutors to pull young offenders out of the juvenile justice system. Sadly, that's not surprising in a state that ranks last in per capita spending on education, but 16th in per capita spending on corrections.

Florida has some bright spots, however. Miami-Dade County is considered a model for the way it delivers services to first-time offenders based on their needs rather than their crimes. The Lawton Chiles Foundation's Worst To First effort is inspiring Floridians to improve the state's performance along a wide range of indicators, because we know that investing in healthy children is wiser than paying for broken adults.

We can invest in increasing high school graduation rates, reducing teen birth rates, and providing quality child care for working families, because we know that these will help children become stronger adults.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), it is estimated that only one in three Palm Beach County students graduates with a regular diploma on time, a statistic that is well below national and state averages. The ACLU reasons that if this is the case in Palm Beach County, the state is failing to provide an adequate education to its students; something Florida's Constitution explicitly promises.

In every community we visit, we get a chance to talk with the people working every day to help Florida's kids get off to a strong start in life, no matter their economic circumstances. In Jacksonville we were fortunate to spend some time learning about the work being done in the downtown area at the Salvation Army Child Development Center and Community Connections of Jacksonville.

Watch the video here to see some great interviews with people making a difference in improving the lives of Florida's kids -- Kristin Smith, director of the Salvation Army Child Development Center; Kathy Ingram, director of community initiatives at Nemours BrightStart! and Latwanda Smith, director of child care at Community Connections.

Bud and Loranne walk with Sheriff Lou Roberts and Commissioner Jeremy Branch in Marianna.

One of the long-running projects of The Lawton Chiles Foundation has been Whole Child Florida, a philosophy that uses strategic planning, web-based technology, performance measurement and broad-based community engagement to build communities where everyone works together to make sure children thrive.

This week Bud's walk brought him to our newest Whole Child community in Gadsden County, where he visited with Loranne Ausley and state Rep. Alan Williams while promoting the upcoming launch of Whole Child Gadsden. Earlier that day, One Million Steps for Florida's Kids came through Jackson County, where we met Jackson County Sheriff Lou Roberts and Jackson County Commissioner Jeremy Branch.

Sherry Van Landingham, a member of the Gadsden Community Health Council and vice-president of Premier Bank, told the Tallahassee Democrat she volunteered to be on the leadership council of Whole Child Gadsden because she believes an initiative like this is needed in her community.

"From my experience, people are not embarrassed to ask for help, but they just don't know who to ask," she said. "Whole Child will be able to expedite the process. That's what they're all about."

Screenshot courtesy of News4Jax.com

News4Jax.com caught up with Worst To First last week at the Hope Haven Children's Clinic and Family Center, a non-profit organization that serves children, young adults and families with educational, developmental and mental health needs.

Many thanks to Laurie Price and the entire staff at Hope Haven for making time for us in their day, and for helping News4Jax put together a terrific story highlighting One Million Steps for Florida's Kids.

Photo courtesy of jacksonville.com

On Thursday the Worst To First team found hope in Jacksonville among the people working to create a safer and healthier place for children. Our visit came on a day when hope was badly needed, as the entire community mourned the tragic loss of a child.

Bud and Geoff Chiles were joined by dozens of children and adults in downtown Jacksonville as they walked from the Salvation Army Child Development Center to the Davis Center of Community Connections of Jacksonville, two places that help kids get quality early education, and that help families with child care. Folks there couldn't help but smile as the kids counted out their steps, bringing us a lot closer to our goal of One Million Steps For Florida's Kids. Susan Main, executive director of the Early Learning Coalition of Duval, joined us for most of the day, helping introduce us to the good work being done in Jacksonville.

Later that day, Worst To First visited the Hope Haven Children's Clinic and Family Center, enjoying our time with a great staff dedicated to helping children and families with special needs. We were also honored to join Communities In Schools of Jacksonville in highlighting its TEAM UP program at Reynolds Lane Elementary as part of the 10th National Lights On Afterschool campaign. Finally, we finished the day in Jacksonville's Springfield neighborhood at The Bridge of Northeast Florida, seeing how a dedicated group of community volunteers are making a difference in one of the city's most impoverished neighborhoods.

In his interview with the Florida Times-Union, Bud said said he found the group of child-care providers he met in Jacksonville "by far the most enthusiastic group of advocates. I am encouraged by what is going on here."

Photo courtesy of staugustine.com

Walking one million steps is a lot easier when you've got friends to help you on the way. Yesterday in St. Johns County, Bud was fortunate to get an assist from a great group at the St. Augustine campus of the St. Johns River Community College. As the headline in the St. Augustine Record said, this is a group that walks the walk. Phi Beta Kappa members Aubrie Simpson and Shawna Petrollo, fresh from the Lawton Chiles Leadership Corps conference in August, organized a walk with Provost Glen W. Moore from the campus into St. Augustine, where Bud spoke to the Rotary Club and met with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joseph Joyner. Read the write up in the St. Augustine Record here.

One Million Steps For Florida's Kids is picking up momentum. Next up is Jacksonville on Thursday, Oct. 22. Interested in walking a few steps with Bud? Drop us a line!

Florida's education funding is heading for a cliff in 2010, as one-time stimulus money from the federal government runs out. An editorial in today's Orlando Sentinel calls attention to the serious consequences that will have for Florida's Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten Program, which voters created by constitutional amendment in 2002. Now funded at about $367 million, the VPK program is also getting about $38 million in stimulus cash that runs out in June 2010.

More than 154,000 kids will receive VPK services this fiscal year, with enrollment growing. That's good, because research shows that pre-K education is working in increasing the school readiness of Florida kindergarteners. Unfortunately, lawmakers this year cut payments to VPK providers. If providers give up the program, it would shrink the pool of private, public and faith-based providers, meaning less choices for parents and lower quality programs.

We know that investing in our children pays dividends for the rest of their lives, but short-sighted budget cuts are threatening that vision for the future. Florida can and must do better to support early education.

Budd Bell, photo by www.tallahassee.com

Florida has lost one of its true heroes. Budd Bell, a passionate advocate who helped establish Florida's first early learning and subsidized child care programs, died Friday morning at age 94, her family said.

Budd's accomplishments are an inspiration to all of us. Among her many successes, she founded Kids Incorporated of the Big Bend in 1972, using space in a church basement. The organization is thriving today, serving more than 5,000 children and families. She was a founding member of the National Association of Social Workers, and in 1974 started the Clearinghouse on Human Services, an advocacy group that now has more than 200 members and is largely responsible for passage of legislation that helped establish federally and state funded daycare centers throughout Florida.

Her family is requesting that in lieu of flowers memorial gifts be made to the Budd Bell Early Learning Endowment Fund for Kids Inc. of the Big Bend, or the William G. and Budd Bell Endowed Fellowship at the Florida State University Foundation.