Newsfeed

This week, Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) along with Senators Al Franken (D-MN), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Representative Dale Kildee in the House of Representatives, reintroduced the Reengaging Americans In Serious Education by Uniting Programs (RAISE UP) Act (S. 1279 /H.R. 2358) which aims to re-connect our disadvantaged youth with education and workforce assistance. Where the current environment for youth outcomes is focused on dropout prevention mechanisms and the looming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA), programs for dropout recovery should also be further emphasized and implemented.With public high schools always facing pressure to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)...

The First Focus Campaign for Children is proud to join with Representative Mazie Hirono and Senator Bob Casey in supporting their requests to Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to create a separate fund that promotes the streamlining and coordination of high quality state programs of early learning for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.Both Representative Hirono and Senator Casey, with the support of their colleagues, have asked that the fund be part of the $700 million allocated in the Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011 (H.R. 1473), for Race to the Top.Much...

Last night, young people celebrated outside the Maryland Senate chamber as the Senate passed legislation (27-20) that would extend in-state tuition to undocumented immigrant students at the state’s public colleges. The measure will remove a critical barrier for undocumented children who have grown up in Maryland and aspire to a college degree but often are deterred by out-of-state tuition rates.Around the country, more than two dozen states are currently considering their own bills regarding access to a higher education for undocumented students—and the sentiments are high on both sides of the aisle. Once the Maryland bill is signed into...

You've heard of environmental-impact statements. Why not child-impact statements?There should be a check mark next to every state budget decision signifying that it doesn't harm our most valuable asset.But why stop there? Let's make children — especially our youngest and poorest children — the focus of public policy in Arkansas. Every decision should not only not harm them, it should benefit them so that they can grow up healthy, wealthy and wise.The state budget should come with a companion statement that shows how every category of spending impacts children and their families. Child-centered programs would be analyzed by their impact...

Both of my parents taught me at a very young age how important it was to vote. Clearly, I don’t remember the exact words that were imparted to me (it’s been a while). However, I grew up knowing that I had an opportunity to make choices and that those choices could change the world around me. I also understood this was an opportunity which wasn’t given to everyone and one that passionate advocates fought for me to have. I have vague memories of accompanying my mother to vote in elementary school, excited by the pull lever that open and closed...

This is it—the final push. With only one more day until the election, campaigns and candidates are making their final petitions to voters. Recently, a number of news articles, including stories in The New York Times and The Washington Post, noted that in these final days candidates have spent more time exhibiting themselves as parents and being accompanied by their children on the campaign trail. Political consultants call this type of campaign tactic “ending positive,” a removal from the months of attack ads to focus on more positive imagery, like families and children.Throughout the election season, First Focus...

This week, the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health convened for a field hearing in Newark, New Jersey. Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ), who chaired the hearing in his home state, took this opportunity to scrutinize the dangerous limitations within the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and most specifically how toxins are effecting our most valuable natural resource; our children.In 1976, TSCA was enacted giving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority to oversee the safety new or previously existing chemicals. Today, nearly 84,000 chemicals are registered in the TSCA inventory for use within the United States, and currently...

Yesterday, the Office of Child Care in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) hosted a symposium celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). There was much to celebrate and the audience was filled with leaders from across the country who came together to reminisce about the extraordinary events that led to the enactment of CCDBG twenty years ago, discuss how far we have come, how much we have learned, and a look forward to the challenges and opportunities of the next twenty.The enactment of CCDBG in 1990 was a huge win...

Years of research and public awareness campaigns have made it common knowledge that what happens in the womb impacts fetal development, birth outcomes, as well as neonatal and child development. Most of us however, would be surprised to hear that the uterine environment and exposure to stress, toxins, and even junk food may all be related to illness well into adulthood. In a recent New York Times Op-Ed, Nicholas Kristof discusses mounting evidence for the critical role of the fetal period in human development.Kristof cites research on the effects of acute stress in utero during wars, famine and pandemics on...

You’ve likely heard of the Tea Party, but have you heard of the Milk Party?The Milk Party, the brainchild of the Children’s Movement of Florida, a non-partisan advocacy group, is organizing rallies across Florida state to make children the focus of political and policy debates. On the whole, Florida continually ranks as one of the lowest states to support children’s welfare and policy initiatives: almost one out of five children are uninsured, nearly double the national rate of child abuse, and the state’s pre-kindergarten program fails to meet most national standards. It’s no wonder the attendance at these Milk parties...