The Scariest Thing for Children This Halloween? No Health Coverage.

Last week, Congress continued its work to enact legislation that would strengthen and improve the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted on a revised version of the SCHIP bill designed to gain support from more Members than the previous version had. While this revised version passed with significant bipartisan support, it did not get enough votes to override another expected veto by President Bush. (This requires a 2/3 majority.) This was the fourth time the House has voted to pass a form of the SCHIP bill.

While this latest revised SCHIP bill includes compromises to address concerns of those who supported the President's veto, it would still provide critical health coverage to more than one-third of America's uninsured children and is a step in the right direction of ensuring access to affordable, seamless and comprehensive health coverage to all of our nation's uninsured children.

The bill now heads to the Senate for a vote this week, where it is expected to pass with a veto-proof majority. Unfortunately, President Bush has already announced his intention to again veto this bill despite significant compromises.

What can you do? At this point, the power lies with the House. If they can gain enough additional votes to override another shameful presidential veto, the bill will become law and millions of uninsured children will get the health coverage they desperately need.

1. Find our how your Representative voted on this crucial children's health bill.

2. Send an email to your Representative telling them what you think of their vote. (Just follow the link on our website.)

CDF Honors Five Students at 2007 Beat the Odds^® Awards Dinner

CDF hosted the 2007 Beat the Odds Awards Dinner at which five Washington, D.C., metropolitan-area high school seniors were honored for overcoming tremendous adversity, demonstrating academic excellence, and giving back to their communities. The event was emceed by Desperate Housewives actor James Denton and hosted by actress and comedienne Ali Wentworth and ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos with a performance by singer N'Kenge.

Learn more about these inspiring scholarship recipients and check out photos from the event!

CDF Issues Report and Holds Summit on America's Cradle to Prison Pipeline^® Crisis

Last month, CDF issued a report, America's Cradle to Prison Pipeline^SM, to spotlight an urgent national crisis at the intersection of poverty and race that causes Black boys to have a one in three chance of going to jail during their lifetime, and Latino boys to have a one in six chance of the same fate. Tens of thousands of children and teens are sucked into the Pipeline each year. The report includes:

• an overview of the major factors behind the Pipeline.
• photographs that show the faces of children in the Pipeline.
• case studies describing how the Pipeline affects children.
• descriptions of some promising approaches to help keep children out of the Pipeline.
• research tables and state-by-state data of key child indicators.
• a call for the hard work and persistence needed to build a transforming movement to put the necessary social and economic foundations beneath all children and families.

(Copies of the America's Cradle to Prison Pipeline report can be purchased online.)

The report was released at CDF's Cradle to Prison Pipeline^® Summit, which provided the environment for a highly interactive dialogue to explore the underlying causes of the Pipeline, share promising approaches and develop a plan of action to dismantle it. Learn more about the Summit and check out photos and videos of the Summit's speakers (including Dr. Bill Cosby).

Give the Gift of Daily Inspiration

Get the daily inspiration you need to advocate for children and change the world in 2008 with the Mothers Acting Up's 2008 Handbook. This weekly engagement calendar offers tools, information, weekly actions and, most importantly, portraits of people who inspire our own activism, including: CDF's own Marian Wright Edelman, Harry Belafonte, Anita Roddick and Dolores Huerta. The Handbooks make inspiring holiday gifts for your mother, sister, aunt, friend, daughter, grandmother and everyone else on your list!

The gorgeous, full color, spiral bound Handbooks are printed on 100% recycled paper and can be purchased for $20 at the Mothers Acting Up website.

Mothers Acting Up is a movement of mothers publicly and passionately advocating for the world's children. Learn more at mothersactingup.org.