Over the last year, First Focus Campaign for Children has been hard at work making children and families the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. Below is the list of our most popular resources for child advocates, policy makers, and the media in 2014. See the top 10 resources of our partners at First Focus.
1. Record Number of Homeless Students in U.S. Schools (Statement): Coalition statement on U.S. Department of Education data showing the United States has a record number of homeless K-12 students with over 1.2 million children being counted, an increase of 8 percent from the previous school year. 81 percent of the children are not recognized as homeless by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which prioritizes homeless adults.
2. 750+ Leaders’ Letter to Congress: Extend funding for the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (Letter): Over 750 leading national, state, tribal, and local organizations and elected officials wrote to Congress to urge a funding extension of the bipartisan Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV program).
3. 2014 Champions for Children (Awards): Champions and Defenders of Children awards recognize the top 100 Members of Congress working to make children and families a national priority in federal policy and budget decisions.
4. Dr. Phil and 100+ Organizations to Congress: Protect Kids from Overmedication (Press release): Dr. Phil McGraw, the leading mental health expert, television personality and outspoken children’s rights activist, cosigned a letter joining more than 100 organizations urging lawmakers to support a budget initiative aimed at reducing unwarranted overmedication of children in foster care. We coordinated the letter in partnership with Voice for Adoption, a national organization advocating for children in foster care.
5. CHIP is Critical for the Future of Children’s Health (Fact sheet): This paper discusses how the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) fits into today’s health care system, focusing on why CHIP continues to be an essential source of coverage for kids. It also underscores the consequences for children’s health of the coming funding crisis and why protecting the future of children’s health means continued funding.
6. Voters Support CHIP Extension (Poll): We commissioned opinion research to assess public support for CHIP. The survey, completed by the Republican opinion research firm American Viewpoint, found nearly three-fourths of likely voters support the extension of CHIP funding.
7. Reject Congressman Issa’s DACA Proposal (Letter): Letter to all members of the House of Representatives regarding the misguided, irresponsible, and mean-spirited Dear Colleague letter circulated by Congressman Darrel Issa in the June The Congressman’s letter proposed to address the issue of an increase of child refugees fleeing terrible and unspeakably violent circumstances and arriving at the Southern Border by eliminating the highly successful and popular Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative.
8. Homeless Children and Youth Act to Close Gaps in HUD Services (Blog post): This blog post covers the over 1 million homeless children in the United States, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s current definition of homelessness that excludes these children, and proposed legislation that would make several changes to the HUD definition and grant awards process in an effort to improve flexibility and efficiency.
9. Bipartisan Bill Re-Examines Overuse of Standardized Tests (Blog post): This blog post discusses how students, teachers, and schools have become unnecessarily overburdened by the growth of standardized testing and how proposed legislation would end mandatory over-testing and return to standardized tests offered once per grade span.
10. Protect her from harm (Advertisement): This advertisement, circulated to Congress, urges lawmakers to vote against a proposal that would have harmed over 1 million children and driven more families into poverty.