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Win for Children | October 2017
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31
Days and Counting
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Here we are 31 days and counting since the September
30th deadline for funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program
(CHIP) passed and nine million children and parents still wait for funding to
be extended. Sadly, once again children are being held hostage to political
debates. Created specifically for
children, CHIP’s benefits and provider networks are designed to ensure children in working families across America
with higher income eligibility than Medicaid have access to child-appropriate
services, providers, specialists, and facilities. Despite bipartisan support for a strong, five-year extension of CHIP
in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, debate continues about how
to pay for CHIP and the extension of other important health programs. Later
this week the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the CHAMPIONING
HEALTHY KIDS Act, a bill that includes the same strong, bipartisan five-year
extension of CHIP that the House Energy and Commerce and Senate Finance
Committees approved and that CDF strongly supports, but it would pay for the
extension of CHIP – and other critical health programs for vulnerable
populations – with offsets that would cause undue harm to children and families. There
is also a sad irony to the fact that the House is bickering over how to pay for
these relatively small programs and at the same time is about to begin
consideration of a tax bill benefiting our wealthiest individuals with
relatively little concern about if and how it will be paid for. We’re so close
to the finish line. There is bipartisan support for CHIP. Congress is
following regular order. Senate and House members, Republicans and Democrats
alike, agree on what we need to do for children’s health, so let’s do it now!
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Experience
What Hope Feels Like
On November 7, bring your family, friends and coworkers to
the 2017 Beat the Odds® Celebration in Washington, D.C. to congratulate our
future leaders and experience what hope feels like. Tickets
are still available for
what promises to be a magical evening celebrating Elsa, Jonathan, Christian,
Tallya and Khalis, five extraordinary young
people who have overcome tremendous adversity and are beating the odds.
Join us on November
7th! Buy your
tickets today.
Since 1995,
the Beat
the Odds scholarship and servant leadership program has
supported hundreds of youths across the country. CDF
holds five high-profile awards events in California, Washington,
D.C., Texas, Minnesota, New York and Ohio not
only to celebrate the scholarship recipients, but to inspire community leaders
and citizens to help all children who are struggling to overcome adversity. CDF encourages you to attend one of these events and learn
more about how you can support CDF youth leadership and development programs.
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Pursuing Equity and Justice for Children in School
and Beyond
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Superintendents
and school district leaders representing 32 school districts serving
nearly 900,000 students joined CDF and AASA, The School Superintendents Association, for a Superintendent Summit on October 13th-14th
at CDF Haley Farm in Clinton, Tennessee. This summit focused on
ways to promote equity and justice in schools through enhancing access, inclusiveness and opportunity.
Discussions centered on sharing superintendent-led strategies
and challenges they face as they: seek to help all children achieve; promote positive
school climate; confront implicit and explicit bias; reduce suspensions
and expulsions and their disproportionate impact on children of color; and
establish alternatives to exclusionary discipline such as restorative justice. The event coincided with Youth Justice
Action Month, a month of action
with a focus on uplifting justice-involved youths, central to which is a major
push to urge Congress to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention Act (JJDPA). Learn more.
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Winning
for Children in California, Texas, and Ohio
In California, children’s advocates are celebrating
the passage of the three key state bills into law that will help level the
playing field for California children.
Two of the bills promote prevention and rehabilitation in the
justice system. Senate Bill 394 eliminates life without the possibility of
parole sentences for youth under 18. Senate Bill 395 requires youth age 15 and
younger to consult with legal counsel before waiving their Miranda rights
during a police interrogation. A third bill will end school lunch shaming in
California. Senate Bill 250 will prevent schools from denying a meal or
publicly shaming students for their unpaid school meal debt. Children’s Defense Fund-California worked closely with partners and policymakers to co-sponsor the
legislation. Learn more about the legislative wins in California.
On the heels of a highly publicized increase in Ohio’s infant
mortality rate, Children’s Defense Fund -Ohio
published a new policy brief, Birth Equity -
a Pathway Forward, which
explores how the psychological, social and environmental factors that women experience
throughout life and during pregnancy drive birth outcomes and could be behind
Ohio’s racial gap in infant mortality. The new brief explains how a growing body of evidence points to
nonmedical factors, like poverty and physical environments, along with negative
experiences across a woman’s life span—adverse childhood experiences, trauma,
experiences of racism, and chronic stress—as drivers of racial
disparities.
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And in Texas, Children’s
Defense Fund-Texas is working to raise public awareness about the need to
reauthorize Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and leading a team of
partners to create a public information campaign and recruit volunteers to
assist with Affordable Care Act enrollment activities. Over the past several
months CDF-Texas outreach teams in East Texas and the Rio Grande Valley have
been focused on a whole range of community- and school-based activities,
setting up agreements with numerous school districts in both regions, a Boys and
Girls Club in Nacogdoches, several Head Start programs and community clinics.
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Keep Moving Forward with Hope, Love, and Justice
for All Children
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Photo: Riverside Church |
Thousands of people spanning religious traditions joined in
the 2017 National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths, “Moving Forward with Hope:
Love and Justice for Every Child” this October to raise awareness of children
in poverty, underscore the mandate in every faith tradition to respond with
compassion and justice and launch or expand efforts to end child poverty.
Participation took many forms: some Children’s Sabbaths took place in individual congregations;
other communities held multi-faith
services; in other cities, dozens of
Children’s Sabbath celebrations were linked in a variety
of events and in shared advocacy.
What’s next? The Children’s Sabbaths aims to generate faithful
responses to last throughout the year.
Whether a parent or pastor, child advocate or Christian educator, professional
or volunteer working with children, we hope you will continue moving forward
for all children through action and
advocacy. In addition to our year-round
multi-faith resources, the book, Hope for the Future: Answering God’s Call to
Justice for Our Children, has more resources for monthly study and
action in a church.
Our next Children’s Sabbaths celebration is October 19-21,
2018. Save the date now and begin conversations
with other congregations and community groups for how you might partner.
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Be a #ChildDefender!
Nonviolent direct action has been at the epicenter of all
major changes in the U.S. history. Women suffragists, civil rights organizers,
and DREAMers have all successfully harnessed its strength to influence power
structures within society to make America a more just and fair country for all
children. Interested in learning more? Put
your passion into practice through the Children’s Defense Fund Child Defender
Fellowship program.
The fellowship application
closes on November 3rd. Sign up today!
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Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools® Program
in Your Community
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The CDF Freedom Schools program is welcoming Summer 2018 Sponsor Applications. |
Children and youth are not citizens in waiting. If you want
to make a difference in your community next summer, sponsor a CDF Freedom
Schools program. The CDF Freedom Schools program boosts
student motivation to read, generates positive attitudes towards learning, and
connects the needs of children and families to the resources of their
communities. Please contact us at freedomschools@childrensdefense.org if you wish to receive more
information about our application process.
This summer, over 12,000 children in 27 states
have experienced CDF Freedom Schools.
Learn
more about the CDF Freedom Schools program.
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Double Your Impact This #GivingTuesday
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This #GivingTuesday any amount you give will be matched by two generous donors dollar-for-dollar up to $750,000! Include Children's Defense Fund in your 2017 year-end charitable giving plans. Your
support helps further the Children’s Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind® mission.
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