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Poverty Hurts Everyone California's future prosperity and health depends on all children having a fair chance to thrive and succeed. Yet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent poverty numbers, a staggering number of children in our state are being held back by the crippling impact of poverty. The data, released earlier this month, reveals that there were 2,121,351 children living in poverty last year, a 36 percent increase from 2007. Roughly half of these children belonged to families scraping by on $11,917 a year, which amounts to about $229 a week, or $33 a day. Black and Latino children continue to suffer disproportionately, with nearly two in every five Black children and three in every 10 Latino children falling below the federal poverty line. Growing up poor not only puts the well-being of the child at risk - it also imposes enormous costs on society through lost potential and higher spending on health care and incarceration. Read our Child Poverty in America fact sheet to get more information on the national child poverty rates and find out what you can do to help #FightPoverty New Leadership Please join us in welcoming Alex Johnson as the new Executive Director of Children’s Defense Fund - California. Alex possess all the qualities we were looking for in a leader: he has a deep knowledge of the most pressing public policy issues facing children, hands-on experience operating large and complex education oriented programs, strong relationships in the nonprofit, public and private sector - and, most importantly, he has an abiding commitment to making a difference in the lives of children and youth in the state. As Executive Director, Alex will help strengthen our policy efforts to provide children with the high-quality health care, education, and support services they need to thrive. Alex will also focus on expanding the reach of our CDF Freedom Schools® programs in Northern and Southern California, and establish our Beat the Odds® Scholarship as the premier college and career readiness program in Los Angeles. Read more about Alex on our website and check photos from our official announcement earlier this month Putting the Justice in Juvenile Justice This month, we joined Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Probation Chief Jerry Powers, CDF Board Member Carol Biondi, and advocates to commemorate the start of demolition on Camp Vernon J. Kilpatrick to make way for a more rehabilitative and research-informed model. The demolition of the decades old facility marks an important step forward for Los Angeles County, whose juvenile justice system has been hindered by outdated and correctional approaches ill-equipped to address the complex needs of youth in custody. LA County’s current camps, with military-style barracked dorms and open prison-like bathrooms, offer youth little privacy and are not conducive to healing or relationship-building. Demolishing Camp Kilpatrick sets the way for the county to create a new model — the Los Angeles Model. We look forward to working with the county to ensure that this project is not just a new facility but truly a new model, built on a smaller, more nurturing and homelike environment with the high-quality education and programming youth need to successfully reenter their communities. Find out more about what we’re doing to reform juvenile justice in Los Angeles. Step Forward For Children’s Health The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has been a lifeline for millions of children in working families since its bipartisan beginning in 1997. However, unless Congress takes action, there will be no new funding for this highly successful program after September 30, 2015. This would be devasting for the millions of children who would lose coverage or have to pay substantially more for less comprehensive coverage. With state lawmakers already planning annual budgets for 2015, we must work together to ensure funding for CHIP is renewed this year for four more years. We cannot move backward in our progress to give children a healthy start. More than 8 million children currently benefit from CHIP. Learn more about the benefits of CHIP and urge your representatives in Congress extend funding for four more years! 24th Annual Beat the Odds® Awards Dinner You are invited to join the Children's Defense Fund - California and Hollywood's most luminous stars at the Book Bindery in Culver City on Thursday, December 4th as we celebrate the lives of Chase, Elizabeth, Sequoia, Timothy, and Zachary, five outstanding high school seniors who have overcome tremendous obstacles to achieve academic and personal excellence. Meet our 2014 Beat the Odds honorees and get sponsorship and ticket information. |
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