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

Every Child Matters --A Lot

8.6 MILLION American children are without health insurance,
more than 3 MILLION are reported abused and neglected,
nearly 2 MILLION have parents in prison,
and 13.6 MILLION live in poverty’s grip.

There are 670,801 children under 18 in Iowa. Many face strong challenges.
• 95,696 children in Iowa live in poverty (2006)
• 44,000 children in Iowa are without health insurance at any time during the
year (2006)
• 6,285 two-year-olds are not immunized (2006)
• 45,091 children in Iowa are not enrolled in pre-kindergarten programs (2006)
• Over 158,000 children in Iowa are left alone every day after school
• 24,536 children in Iowa are reported abused (2005)

These chilling stats are from Every Child Matters who ask caucus goers to consider where their candidates stand, particularly since "President Bush vetoed the bi-partisan State Children's Health Initiative Program (SCHIP) bill for the second time last week. Unlike most of the developed countries in the world, our children are suffering when a lack of early childhood immunizations and delays in regular medical attention for treatable issues cause major medical problems.

Ironically, many of those members of Congress who voted to sustain an earlier SCHIP veto represent states or districts with some of the worst child health indicators. See selected health indicators in Iowa.

Our children deserve better. Our Presidential candidates must take the crisis in children's health care seriously.

For more information, get free copies of our report, Homeland Insecurity: Why Children Must Be A Priority in the 2008 Election. It makes a great gift for the informed voter and elected official."

If you are willing to caucus for kids, go here for a caucus kit.

Kids Can't Vote But They Do Count

The welfare of children is arguably an important metric to see how we are doing as a society. A statewide poll of likely Iowa caucus participants was released in June by the Every Child Matters Education Fund . The poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Democrats (94%) and Republicans (82%) say issues of child well-being, such as child health care, child abuse prevention, and education are important in making their voting decisions.


Where do the candidates stand on issues that relate to the future of our country?

Joe Biden

Hillary Clinton

Chris Dodd

John Edwards

Mike Gravel

Dennis Kucinich

Barack Obama

Bill Richardson