This week, we are joining President Obama, schools, communities, and advocates across the nation in celebrating National School Lunch Week. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) was created 70 years ago as lawmakers recognized that child nutrition, particularly throughout the school day, was a top national priority. Most importantly, the…...
Voices Releases 2016 Vote Kids Candidate Survey
Child policy issues often receive little discussion within campaigns and elections. This is not because candidates and the public do not care about the issues. They do. But child policy issues often do not lend themselves to simple sound bites. They are not considered “hot button” issues that shape many…...
Neighborhood Opportunity in Nebraska
Child development and well-being is influenced not only by a child’s home environment but also by the neighborhood in which he/she lives. Neighborhoods vary in the resources they provide, such as in school quality, parks and other public spaces, child care centers, and health care availability. Additionally, poverty rates, adult…...
Back to School: Is Your School a Hunger-Free Zone?
August means that it’s back to school season in Nebraska! As students and teachers gear up for a full year of learning in the classroom, we at Voices are turning our attention to an important factor in academic success: proper nutrition. Research tells us that hunger negatively impacts academic performance,…...
2016 KIDS COUNT Data Book: Family and Community
In June, the Annie E. Casey Foundation released the 2016 KIDS COUNT Data Book – an annual ranking of states on 16 key indicators of child well-being in the areas of Economic Well-being, Education, Health, and Family and Community. In this year’s Data Book, Nebraska received an overall ranking of…...
2016 KIDS COUNT Data Book: Education
Last month, the Annie E. Casey Foundation released the 2016 KIDS COUNT Data Book – an annual ranking of states on 16 key indicators of child well-being in the areas of Economic Well-being, Education, Health, and Family and Community. In this year’s Data Book, Nebraska received an overall ranking of…...
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…...
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…...
