In this edition, you’ll find a recap of this week’s U.S. Senate hearing on early learning, where lawmakers and advocates discussed including early learning in K-12 education reform – a Children’s Alliance priority. You’ll also find an opinion by J.B. Pritzker, an entrepreneur who sees early learning as vital to fixing our national economic crisis, and an opinion on how raising revenue in hard times preserves Washington state’s core values.

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Though Washington has made great progress toward providing all kids with health coverage, an estimated 78,000 remain uninsured, and it’s a problem that plagues American Indian children at much higher rates than any other group.

In this edition, you’ll read about a research initiative launched today by the University of Washington to study how our youngest children learn. Thrive by Five Washington, the state's public-private partnership for early learning, is a partner in the effort which will make the case for investing in early learning. You’ll also find articles about how federal Child Nutrition Reauthorization can help end childhood hunger, funding for home visiting programs, and Arizona taking steps to restore children’s health coverage.   

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In this edition, you'll read about Washington and other states that have raised revenue as a "common and reasonable" way to preserve vital services for children and families. You'll also find articles about how the effects of low-quality child care can last into adolescence and a call for Congress to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act.

Many critical support systems for kids in our state faced potentially devastating cuts when the 2010 legislative session started. We knew that protecting vital services for children and families was not going to be easy.

But we’ve never been ones to shy away from a challenge.

Day in and day out, we worked to make sure that lawmakers did right by kids. In the end, the Children’s Alliance played a pivotal role in the successful push for:

• Nearly $800 million in new state revenue.
• Full protection of Apple Health for Kids.
• A stronger commitment to early learning for infants and toddlers and a path toward preschool for all.
• Meals for kids in child care, schools and during summertime.
• Continued support for the work of a committee studying how to remedy racial disproportionality in the state’s child welfare system.

Read our 2010 Legislative Session Review for an in-depth look at all we accomplished for kids, setbacks we fought hard to prevent, and the next steps we’re taking to keep children and families at the top of our lawmakers’ priority lists.

– Liz Gillespie

In this edition, you'll read about an after-school meal program the Children's Alliance wants Congress to expand to all states when it reauthorizes the Child Nutrition Act. You'll also find a column underscoring the critical importance that federal nutrition programs play in fighting childhood hunger, and about an early learning focus that's part of the White House's push to curb childhood obesity.

In this edition, you'll read about the Quality Education Council's efforts to change the way Washington pays for education, and the work this panel is doing to help the state create a plan for all-day kindergarten and high-quality preschool. You'll also find an opinion piece about a school district's proposed policy to limit all-day kindergarten to children in families who can pay for it, and about a decrease in the number of families making use of child care subsidies.

 

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In this edition, you’ll find an opinion piece applauding the Legislature for raising much-needed revenue to protect vital services for kids and families. You’ll also find an article raising concerns about cuts many states are considering in early learning programs. The Children’s Alliance worked hard during the 2010 legislative session to make sure Washington strengthened its commitment to early learning, especially for infants and toddlers.

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In this edition, you’ll read an opinion piece by Washington state businessmen touting early learning as a crucial investment for our state’s economy. You’ll also find a podcast on federal health care reform’s boost to home visiting programs that pair nurses and other social work professionals with new and expectant families, giving parents support to help them thrive in their role as their children’s first and best teachers.

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