Since 2012, Voices for Children has produced a scorecard at the end of each legislative biennium, tracking every senator’s votes on a broad range of issues related to kids. Nebraska’s 104th Legislature adjourned in April after the second session of its biennium, and over the course of those two years,…...
National Child Abuse Prevention Month
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, which presents an opportunity to consider child welfare issues from a wider context before allegations of maltreatment come about. In 2013, 3,993 Nebraska children were victims of maltreatment (at a rate of about 8.6 per 1,000 children), marking a slight increase from the…...
New Report Shows Progress and Needs on Child Care
Child care assistance helps ensure that kids are safe so parents can work. Ideally, our child care systems and programs should also help ensure that children are being prepared for K-12 education. Last week, the National Women’s Law Center released a new report looking at state level policies for child…...
Time to Move Forward with Child Care Update
The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is the most significant source of funding for providing child care assistance to working families to help ensure kids are safe so parents can work. For families with young children, child care has become the largest expense in the family budget and…...
Will Nebraska Move Forward on Hunger-Free Schools?
Earlier this year, we mentioned Community Eligibility as a new option for providing school meals in a way that makes high-poverty schools hunger-free zones. Ensuring that children aren’t hungry in school can help them be better prepared for their primary job of learning. Community Eligibility allows eligible schools to serve…...
Hope in Concrete Form: The Promise of College Savings
Researcher Micheal Sherraden has an often quoted saying that: “assets are hope in concrete form.” Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a national conference on the emerging and growing field of children’s savings accounts where this concept came to life as policymakers and practitioners shared stories of how educational…...
The First 8 Years Policy Report
Yesterday, the Annie E. Casey Foundation released a new policy report “The First Eight Years: giving kids a foundation for lifetime success.” This report highlights the importance of investing in young children during crucial brain development stages to set them up for success later in life. It has been shown…...
Getting a Head Start on School
Last month, Voices for Children and First Focus co-authored an editorial published in the Omaha World Herald on the need for federal investments in pre-Kindergarten programs. The Editorial has sparked some responses related to the Head Start Program and the program’s perceived “failure.” In light of this, it seemed like…...
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