Do It For the Kids

From Every Child Matters

With 38,000 of Iowa's children living in poverty, 35,000 without health insurance, 38,000 reported abused, 160,000 alone after school every day and with the inability of thousands of families to access quality child care, the Every Child Matters Education Fund, Early Child Iowa, Every Child Counts and Child Care Resource and Referral of Iowa will be holding events throughout the week of October 5 to call attention to the needs of Iowa's most vulnerable citizens.

The events will take place throughout the week:

October 7
Urbandale Public Library
3520 86th St
Urbandale, IA

October 8
Children's Hall at Children's Square
North 6th and Ave. E
Council Bluffs, IA

October 9
Iowa Central Community College
One Triton Circle, Room CEB 108
Fort Dodge, IA

All events will begin at 10:00.

Schedule as follows:
10:00 - 11:30 - advocacy training and update
11:30 - 12:15 - lunch
12:15- 12:45 - media availability and event

The week long series of events are of a wide array of "Step Up" activities taking place in every state during Step Up for Kids week, October 5-9, 2009. As people step up for kids across the nation, they will be asking officials to directly address the needs of children and families as they make their budgetary decisions and to shift spending priorities in the direction of our most valuable assets.

BACKGROUND: With 14 million children living in poverty, 7 million without health insurance and 3 million reported abused or neglected in the U.S., the Every Child Matters Education Fund (ECMEF) is sponsoring the 2nd annual "Step Up for Kids" week, giving organizations and individuals a chance to celebrate our children while at the same time calling for solutions to the issues confronting them. According to the ECMEF-published Homeland Insecurity (3rd edition, 2009), the U.S. has the worst child poverty rate among 24 rich countries and ranks 20th among 21 rich democracies when it comes to child well-being.

For more information, contact:

Tom LaPointe,
Every Child Matters
202-230-3658

Sheila Hansen,
Every Child Counts
515-280-9027