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Monthly Newsletter - February 2010 |
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| © 2010, Children's Defense Fund, 25 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001 | 1 (800) 233-1200 | Unsubscribe | |||||
| The Children's Defense Fund's Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. |
President Obama’s 2011 Budget signals the President’s continued commitment to children and families even in these extraordinarily tough economic times. It reflects the President’s understanding that investing in children now will ensure a more stable economy and a healthier, more competitive workforce in the future and is consistent with the President’s assertion in his State of the Union address that “the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education.” The President’s Budget tackles the deficit and at the same time makes important investments in children and low-income families. In education and throughout other areas of the budget, there is attention to the needs of children of all ages and recognition of the crucial need for investments in prevention and basic supports that reach across systems and focus on the whole child to help reduce the multiple risks many children now face. 
Earlier this week President Obama released his proposal for health reform, “Putting Americans in Control of Their Health Care.” Drawing from health reform bills earlier approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate, the President outlined a number of policies he wants included in a final health reform bill to make health insurance more affordable for all Americans. It is very good news for children that the President is following the Senate’s lead and preserving the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through FY 2019 and extending funding for this important child health safety net for an additional year through FY 2016. The expansion of Medicaid to individuals at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level will also make millions of additional children and parents eligible for coverage. Simplifications in the enrollment process for CHIP and Medicaid are also noted. The proposal also includes important insurance market reforms to assist children and adults, the creation of subsidies to help families purchase affordable coverage, a health insurance “exchange,” a mandate for health coverage, and other improvements to the health care delivery system.
CDF congratulates board member Pat Fallon, founder of the advertising firm Fallon Worldwide, whose life work will be recognized next month when he is inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame® by the American Advertising Federation. Fallon Worldwide has collaborated with CDF for more than two decades to produce effective and powerful advertising campaigns that educate the public on children's issues. 
The Children's Defense Fund has long relied on census data in its advocacy work and has been designated a Census Information Center for data on children and families by the U.S. Census Bureau. As young children, particularly Black children and members of other minority groups, are historically missed at a higher rate than any other age group in the census, we encourage you to help spread the word to ensure that all children are counted in the 2010 Census. 
