Get ready for a tough budget year

Action: Join the BOLT campaign in your area to help preserve state funding for programs for children and families.

Background: The Legislative Analyst’s Office predicts that California’s deficit will balloon to $20.7 billion over the next year and a half—and children’s advocates are getting ready for tough budget battles.

The California Partnership is organizing a statewide campaign to preserve and protect state programs that benefit low-income people (including child care, Healthy Families, CalWORKs, and cash assistance programs for immigrants). The Budget Organizing Leadership Team (BOLT) will develop 200 grassroots leaders in 12 organizations around the state (Bay Area, Chico, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara). Leaders will testify at budget hearings, speak with the media, and mobilize their communities to make sure families have a say in the state budget process. The campaign plans:

Jan: Press events about the budget
Jan-Feb: Leadership trainings
Mar: Local community forums
Apr-May: At the capitol—attending hearings and holding advocacy days.

Events and trainings are open to everyone.

For more info, contact: Kim Kruckel, 510-301-1456

Get your full tax refund—and free tax help!

Action: File for your Earned Income Tax Credit when you file your taxes this year—and find out how your organization can help other families file for theirs.

Background: The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is available to people earning up to $48,279 (depending on family size). It’s the federal government’s biggest and most successful antipoverty program. The EITC can be up to $5,657, depending on your income and family type. And it’s refundable—if your tax credit is $2,000 but you only owe $1,000 in taxes, the government will pay you $1,000!

Get free tax help by going to a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance center (if your income is under $49,000 a year). To find a center, call 800-829-1040 or visit www.ftb.ca.gov (after Jan. 15)

Learn how your organization can become a VITA site, by emailing the IRS, partner@irs.gov or the California Franchise Tax Board, volunteercoordinator@ftb.ca.gov; United Way of the Bay Area (www.uwba.org) and United Way LA (www.greaterlaeitc.org) also coordinate VITA programs.

New Early Learning Advisory Council (ELAC)

The Governor has established ELAC to recommend ways to improve statewide child development programs and to help the state get more federal funding. The Governor will convert ELQIS into ELAC—by adding more members and making ELQIS into an ELAC committee.

For more info, visit http://gov.ca.gov/press-release/13812

This year in Sacramento

New laws

• CPR in family child care. AB 1368 (Adams) requires small family child care programs to have at least one person trained in CPR on site at all times (already applies to large family child care and center-based programs).
  
  
• Foster children’s relatives. AB 938 (Judiciary) requires social workers to search for the relatives of a child in foster care within 30 days—and let them know how they can participate in the child’s care and placement.

Vetoed by the Governor

• Maternity care insurance. AB 98 would have required most individual health insurance plans to cover maternity services.
  
  
• Better nutrition and limited “screen time.” AB 627 (Brownley) would have created new nutrition requirements for the federal food program and limited children’s screen time (TV, computer, video game) to one hour per day.
  
  

First 5: New Priorities

The State First 5 Commission announced its new program priorities:

• A high quality, comprehensive early learning model
  
  
• Children’s access to health insurance and services
  
  
• A parent network to support parents in preparing children for success in school and life
  
  
• Professional development that provides incentives for the early learning workforce. The Commission also supports a statewide quality rating and improvement system pilot.

First 5 will present more details at its Jan. 27 meeting in Sacramento.

For more info, visit www.ccfc.ca.gov/pdf/comm/
Oct09-Commission-Handouts/Item10-Project_Legacy.pdf

Food insecurity at record levels

Action: Advocates are pushing for stronger food and nutrition programs because more families are struggling to put food on the table.

Background: A USDA report shows that food insecurity in the US is at the highest level since 1995:

• One in seven Americans struggles to put food on the table
  
  
• One in four children lives in a household struggling with hunger
  
  
• African American and Latino households are much more likely to be food insecure.
  
  

Another study (from the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine) finds that half of all children will live in households receiving food stamps during their childhood—with rates among African American children near 90%. But a California Food Policy Advocates report finds that California ranks at the bottom for food stamp participation.

However, thanks to efforts by CFPA and other advocates, California has taken recent steps to make it easier for people to get food stamps. The state has:

• Removed the “asset test” for households with children
  
  
• Allowed counties to have telephone interviews with applicants rather than face-to-face meetings
  
  
• Been required to develop a plan for simplifying reporting requirements.
  
  

For more info about CFPA’s advocacy agenda for 2010, contact 510-433-1122, www.cfpa.net

Harlem Children’s Zone closes achievement gap

A recent study finds that New York City’s Harlem Children’s Zone has closed the black-white achievement gap by combining high-quality charter schools with community supports. African American students in the Harlem Children’s Zone score as well on math and reading tests as white students in the city’s public schools.

The Harlem Children’s Zone offers wraparound community services for low-income families and families of color. Free services for children from birth to college include preschool programs, parenting workshops, afterschool programs, health care, and family support programs.

The Obama Administration’s 2010 budget also provides funds for “Promise Neighborhoods,” modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone, that will test strategies that help children do better in school and later in life.

• National Bureau for Economic Research report http://papers.nber.org/papers/w15473 ($5 fee to download)
  
  
• For more info about the Harlem Children’s Zone, contact, 212-360-3255, www.hcz.org/home
  
  

Child Care Law Center closed its doors

Advocates for children lost a champion in December when the Child Care Law Center (CCLC) closed due to a budget shortfall.

CCLC had worked tirelessly over the past 30 years to strengthen child care laws and regulations and also provided training and information to parents, early care and education programs, and government agencies. At press time, CCLC was exploring ways to continue some of its work through allied agencies.

Candidates running for office in California

• For a list of candidates committed to children, contact CSEE, www.supportearlyed.org
  
  
• For a list of candidates who have filed statements of intent, see
  http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Candidates/
  List.aspx?view=intention&sort=RACE&electid=22
  
  
• The official list of candidates, available after April 1, will be at www.sos.ca.gov/