Last week, the Family First Prevention Services Act (H.R. 5456) advanced from the House Ways and Means Committee unanimously and its Senate companion bill (S. 3065) was introduced days later. The bipartisan and bicameral proposal would reform federal child welfare funding mechanisms to support prevention efforts and to reduce congregate…...
The National KIDS COUNT Data Book release is right around the corner!
If you follow Voices for Children in Nebraska, you undoubtedly hear a lot about the Kids Count in Nebraska Report. However, you may not know much about its national counterpart, published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Next week will mark the release of the 27th edition of the National KIDS COUNT…...
Thank you!
Every year, Voices for Children proudly joins many other Omaha-area nonprofits in Omaha Gives! This year’s 24-hour online giving campaign raised over $8 million and demonstrated our community’s strong commitment to the important work of our local nonprofits. This year, our participation in Omaha Gives raised over $5000 (before matching…...
Child poverty: Not just about income
Last month, the Brookings Institution released a two-part report, “Five evils: Multidimensional poverty and race in America,” examining the intersection of race, place, and poverty across the country. Looking beyond household income, the report identifies other measures of poverty—lack of employment, limited education, lack of health insurance, and living in…...
A Shared Sentence: the devastating toll of parental incarceration
Last month, the Annie E. Casey Foundation recommended to state and local policymakers the adoption of policies that would help millions of children and families nationwide deal with the emotional and financial instability inflicted as a result of having an incarcerated parent, in the policy report A Shared Sentence: the…...
Legislative Session Wrap-Up: 5 Victories for Kids
Wednesday will mark the final day of this year’s legislative session. Voices for Children will post our full legislative sine die in the next couple weeks, but for now, we’d like to take a moment and highlight five victories for Nebraska’s kids: Schools in high-poverty neighborhoods can take advantage of…...
Legislative Update
Today marks the 9th day of the 2016 Nebraska Legislature, and this year’s short 60-day session promises to be an important session for kids and families in our state. In the coming months, the Unicameral will consider many bills impacting child well-being in the areas of child welfare, economic stability,…...
Equality Before the Law: Commentary Series Part 7, Final Index Scores and Recommendations
This year’s Kids Count in Nebraska Report featured a commentary debuting our new Index of Race & Opportunity for Nebraska Children. After spending the last 6 weeks introducing the commentary and detailed our methodology, and diving into the 13 indicators by issue area: health, education, economic stability, child welfare and juvenile justice, we…...