Resources for activists

Nutrition and physical activity

• The Strategic Alliance Rapid Response Media Network makes it easy to get messages about nutrition and physical activity into your local media. If you sign up as a member of this network, you will receive guidance for crafting letters to the editor, op-eds and other interactions with the media. When a major news story happens, Strategic Alliance will send you talking points and framing analysis to guide your media response. Sign up by contacting Sana, sana@preventioninstitute.org.

• The Center for Public Health Advocacy has updated its report showing the increase in childhood obesity by state Assembly district. Download at www.publichealthadvocacy.org/policy_briefs/overweight2004.html or call 530-297-6000.

• The Latino Coalition for a Healthy California is forming a policy advisory committee of advocates and service providers interested in preventing Latino childhood obesity. Contact Ayde Perez at aperez@lchc.org.

Asthma profiles

California Breathing has created asthma profiles of each county, with data on numbers of people with asthma, hospitalization and deaths, and risk factors. Local health advocates can use the profiles to develop specific plans, educational materials, and advocacy efforts. Download at www.californiabreathing.org or call or email Gala King, 510-620-3634, gking1@dhs.ca.gov.

Campaigning for preschool: the benefits to Social Security

Investing immediately in a national preschool program would yield high returns—including strengthening the Social Security system, says a new report from WestEd. According to economist Robert G. Lynch, funding a national, high-quality, early childhood development program would help balance government budgets.

If a national preschool system began now, the first preschoolers would enter the workforce around 2018, when Social Security is expected to begin drawing on the Social Security Trust Fund. Especially for the 1.6 million children whose families fall below the poverty line, quality preschool would increase their earnings and decrease their likelihood of costing the government money, so it would help the government meet its Social Security obligations.

When poor children have access to high-quality preschool, research shows they perform much better in school, experience higher graduation rates, and tend to stay out of trouble with drugs, alcohol, and crime. As adults, they enter the workforce at higher skill levels, earning larger salaries and paying higher taxes. www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rs/772.

Fighting environmental injustice in SoCal

Communities for a Better Environment has just published Building a Regional Voice for Environmental Justice, a report showing higher levels of environmental pollution in communities of color and low income communities in Southern California. The report includes information on the different risks of toxic pollution experienced by different income and ethnic groups. It also shows the location of sources of pollution in L.A. County and Southern California and reports on research and community involvement. It shows, for example, that:

• Latinos are 66% and African-Americans 50% more likely to live near hazardous waste facilities than whites.
• Toxic exposure accounts for 10% of the ethnic differences in school test scores, beyond differences caused by income, parent education, and teacher credentials.
• Regardless of income, Southern California people of color have a 15% to 25% higher cancer risk from air pollution than whites.

Download at http://www.cbecal.org/pdf/regional-voice-enviro-justice.pdf or call 323-826-9771.

The year in Sacramento

Now that the 2005 legislative year is over, here are some highlights on children’s issues:

After-school programs

Became law:

• SB 854 (Ashburn) raises the state payment for after-school care from $5 per child per day to $7.50.
• SB 707 (Kehoe) increases flexibility in running after-school programs.

Early care and education

Became law:

• SB 640 (Escutia) provides grants to support child care quality improvements for children with special needs.

Governor vetoed:

• AB 1565 (Pavley and Benoit) would have started a study of rating systems for child care quality.

Held for next year:

• AB 172 (Chan) would express the intention of the legislature to create a program of preschool available to all California’s four-year-olds.
• AB 1095 (Mullin) would give teachers and aides in state and school-district early education programs up to three paid days off for training.
• AB 1254 (Coto) would provide training for preschool teachers and aides in working with English learners.

Health and nutrition

Became law:

• SB 12 (Escutia) bans junk food and soda machines in schools.
• SB 281 (Maldonado) provides funds for fresh fruits and vegetables for school meals.
• AB 121 (Vargas) sets maximum levels of lead in imported candy.

Governor vetoed:

• AB 772 (Chan) would have created a system of health care for all children in families up to 300% of the federal poverty level (about $46,000 for a family of three).

• AB624 (Montañez) would have streamlined the process for children to enroll into Medi-Cal or Healthy Families through the state’s Child Health and Disability Program.

Held for next year:

• AB 291 (Koretz) would create a program of screening new mothers for post-partum depression and similar problems.
• AB 576 (Wolk) would fully fund a statewide system to keep track of kids’ immunizations.
• SB 437 (Escutia) would create a system of health care for all children in families up to 300% of the poverty level (like the Chan bill that was vetoed).
• SB 840 (Kuehl) would create one system of health care that includes all Californians.

Child welfare

Became law:

• AB 519 (Leno) allows courts to reverse a “termination of parental rights.”
• AB 1412 (Leno) would promote long-term connections between kids in foster care and adults in their lives and involve foster youth in making their own case plans.
• SB 358 (Scott) allows foster parents to hire babysitters if they go out for a short time.
• SB 726 (Florez) allows courts to order a home visit after a child is placed with a noncustodial parent.

Held for next year:

• AB 860 (Bass) would require local law enforcement to inform arrested parents about their rights and responsibilities.

Poverty

Became law:

• AB 496 ( Chu) eliminates the fingerprinting requirement for food stamps.
• AB 1385 (Laird) allows automatic enrollment in school meal programs for children in families receiving cash aid or food stamps.

Governor vetoed:

• AB 48 (Lieber) would have raised the state minimum wage from $6.75 an hour to $7.25 on 7/1/06 and $7.75 on 7/1/07 and tied future minimum wage levels to inflation.

• AB 855 (Bass) would have ended the ban on receiving CalWORKs for people convicted of certain drug violations in the past.