“We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer ‘Tomorrow.’ His name is today.”
-- Nobel Laureate Gabriela Mistral
-- Nobel Laureate Gabriela Mistral
The President’s budget released this week proposes billions in critical new federal investments for 2016 and beyond to improve the life chances of millions of poor children. It also would prevent more harmful budget cuts in cost effective child investments while providing essential new investments to decrease the morally indefensible number of poor children (14.7 million, 6.5 million of them extremely poor) desperately in need of hope and help.
So many children have lost ground as the trumped-up fear of excessive debt children did not cause has been used by some in Congress to cut safety net programs we know work. For example, the indiscriminate and unjust sequestration guillotine cut 57,000 children from Head Start and 100,000 low-income households from critical rent assistance. Yet Congress did nothing to curb hugely unfair tax loopholes disproportionately benefitting powerful and wealthy corporations and individuals while starving federal programs millions of poor children depend on to survive. Members of Congress in both parties must now join the President to help our nation move forward by protecting and investing in America’s neediest children and future.
The President’s budget proposal includes major increased investments in the critical early childhood years of rapid brain development which help prevent poverty. The most significant of the President’s new child investments would add $80 billion over 10 years for the Child Care and Development Fund to guarantee child care assistance to all low-income working parents with children under 4. Currently only 1 in 4 eligible children under 5 receives this crucial assistance. New investments in voluntary home visiting, Early Head Start/Child Care Partnerships, Head Start, and Pre-School for All grants (totalling $75 billion over 10 years) for low income 4-year-olds will all bolster child readiness for school. It is hard to find a better investment. Society reaps an $8 return for each dollar invested in high-quality early childhood programs and we cannot afford not to help children and decrease current and future costs. Members of Congress on all sides of the political aisle should put politics aside and build on the important 2014 bipartisan reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant to help ensure states implement the quality improvements that legislation requires and enable more children to benefit.
There’s much other good news for children in the President’s budget which all Americans and all members of Congress should strongly support:
- Four more years of funding for the successful bipartisan Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to ensure 8 million children in working families will continue to have access to high-quality, affordable, and effective child health coverage. If Congress takes no action, CHIP funding will run out this fall.
- A $1 billion boost for Title I education funding for poor children – a critical program children living in areas of concentrated poverty desperately need. Title I must include strong accountability measures to make sure poor and vulnerable children truly benefit.
- Funding to make permanent key improvements in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) scheduled to expire at the end of 2017. These two tax credits lifted 5 million children out of poverty in 2013. Making these improvements permanent would prevent one million children falling into poverty and 6.7 million falling deeper into poverty.
- New help for abused and neglected children and children in foster care including $1.4 billion over 10 years in new guaranteed funding for preventive services to help keep children safely in families and out of costlier foster care, promote family-based care for children with behavioral and mental health needs, and help American Indian children removed from families remain in their communities.
- An additional $1.8 billion for rental assistance for low-income families and youths aging out of foster care, including $512 million for restoring 67,000 housing choice vouchers lost from sequestration.
The President’s forward looking budget pays for his critical proposed new investments to alleviate child poverty and reverse harmful unjust cuts by eliminating egregious tax loopholes benefitting powerful corporations and the super-wealthy and other spending inefficiencies. Additionally, the President’s balanced approach would generate more than $1 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. However, his laudable increased child investments still would not recoup lost funding for non-defense, non-entitlement programs which would still remain 15 percent below 2010 levels adjusting for inflation and population growth.
As Congress considers budget legislation in the coming weeks, I hope they will stop hurting and start helping our most vulnerable children. The President’s proposed new measures are giant steps towards cutting child poverty. The Children’s Defense Fund’s recent report Ending Child Poverty Now shows we can cut child poverty 60 percent – and Black child poverty 72 percent – immediately by investing just 2 percent more of the federal budget in existing programs that work including the EITC, the CTC, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), housing subsidies, child care subsidies, and subsidized jobs.
Children really do have only one childhood and it is right now. Protecting precious child lives and America’s future demands that we act immediately and move forward and not backwards. Let’s stand up to those who hurt children and dim America’s dream of becoming a just society for all.
This article is very encouraging to read because it counters the narrative that there is little hope for changing the outcomes for impoverished children in the near future. However, this article shows that there are clear strategies and programs to make large gains in ending child poverty in our nation. I especially appreciate the call for this to be a bipartisan effort by Congress to support the President's proposed budget. All of our children together are the key stakeholders in our future so the irony of one group not supporting children in poverty is laughable and saddening. This article touches me on a personal level as well being a mother who is looking for education for my son and supports my grandmother who gets only $16/mo in SNAP, it's ridiculous. However, it is very helpful to be informed on these policies and programs to focus my work as a community organizer and educator. I am talking about risk takers in history with my second graders and they just can't understand why the smart grown ups don't take the time to care about people or the environment. They keep thinking that John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and MLK are from the same time because they all believed and fought for equal rights for Black people and poor people. I correct them but let them know that I understand why they make that connection because stigmatizing and dismissing the needs of the poor (which correlates often with Blackness) is an enduring problem of our nation. I hope to see movement with this new proposal.
ReplyDelete"Push For Progress: Children Cannot Wait" is a very interesting column as it discussed supporting and keeping school readiness programs for early education such as Head Start Programs. As we know and was informed by the column, President Obama is doing great things to ensure that the issue of funding for early education programs is no longer an issue by the awesome budget he has proposed. Nonetheless, In my community, we face a different issue that is battling against Head Start. In my area, many public schools are now opening up more 3k and 4k programs. Well I guess you ask what is the problem... The problem with this is that they are taking Head Start Children away. Our Head Start program is struggling to meet enrollment for the very first time in fifty years. From experience, I can say Head Start does work and is needed. Head Start provides family assistance and partnerships as well as everyday life essentials that children need such as family style eating experience, dental care, and community learning experiences etc. that public school does not provide. If in the future that Head Start does vanish because of enrollment issues, programs such as our very own Freedom Schools will be carrying the duty of providing the family and community involvement as well as health and social development experiences to our children and communities.
ReplyDeleteI cannot agree with Jessica more. HeadStart programs are essential to helping communities prepare for school readiness but also life essentials. The first five years of life is so much more than academic education. Habits ranging from eating, to social attachment and bonding, to self-awareness and self-esteem are established. Many families, especially in impoverished neighborhoods, need the extra assistance to jump start all of these habits to be healthy. The public schools do not take the same kind of care and personal attention that HeadStart and other similar programs do.
DeleteAnother thing that stood out to me in this article was the proposition for "New help for abused and neglected children and children in foster care including $1.4 billion over 10 years in new guaranteed funding for preventive services to help keep children safely in families and out of costlier foster care". Abuse and neglect can have everlasting effects that devote a child's development. It has been shown that trauma effects brain development, so as much as therapeutic treatment does help after abuse, the most important focus is on prevention. If we can treat the causes that originate in families and society, our children will have a better chance at becoming successful and happy adults. The worst thing for a children is to be betrayed and separated from this they loved or trusted. I hope and dream of a day when the foster care system is not needed. It only funnels children who have experienced trauma into more traumatic situations and leads to further detachment from mentors, community and their sense of self. 0-5 is so important in a child's life and i truly hope Congress can see past politics and see children.
This article was particularly interesting for me for two reasons: 1- last year I completed an honors thesis on the impact of maternity leave on children, so I am very aware of how important the first few years of life are. 2- Additionally I have recently begun taking reading graduate level classes. These classes have shown me how important education at home and preschool education is to teaching students how to read. Learning more about reading has gotten me interested in teaching Kindergarten myself. These two reasons help me to fully understand and concur with the title of this article: “Children CANNOT Wait.” The first few years of a child’s life can shape a lifetime, so it is essential that we invest money into that time so we can save money later. I believe that investing in education, child care, and parent support, will reduce the number of homeless or incarcerated adults down the line. I agree with all budget raises that will support early education and low income schools, I hope congress supports this as well.
ReplyDelete“We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer ‘Tomorrow.’ His name is today.”
ReplyDelete-- Nobel Laureate Gabriela Mistral
Many policies and procedures take days, months, years and centuries. This quote above shows us how critical it is today that we work with our children on a micro level, such as we all are doing with Freedom Schools and the many other programs we work with in our cities. I am glad to see that 1.4 billion over the next ten years will be going to children who has been neglected and abused and those in foster care. While I was working with the Harriet Tubman Center for battered women and children in Minneapolis I dealt with children and women who I wanted to help. However, the resources that was given to me was limited. Our need exceeded our resources, just like so many other programs that this proposal addresses as well.
I am also glad to see that this proposal will address EITC and CTC continuing after 2017. Many families in our communities depends on these tax credits. I know my family personal depends on these tax credits. Another benefit to this will be the ability to limit or stop the ridiculous loopholes that the wealthy have and the tax credits that are unjust.
I am excited to be on the frontline to support this proposal on both a micro and macro level within my community. I am excited to live and breath the quote above to help my communities understand the importance of what are we doing today and what can we do right now to help our children today because tomorrow is not promise to our children, if we forget about them today.
I love this proposal!
"Invest now, or pay later!" For me it is this simple when we are talking about our children and the future of our country. Why is it not just as simple for Congress? Why do they not understand that children are our nation's biggest stakeholders? I think it is easy to make accusations of disconnect, lack of empathy and power. However I believe it is deeper than that. In my opinion Congress does not see enough evidence or testimonies of the benefit for child defense and entitlement program funding. Their judgment is too clouded to understand that disadvantaged children leads directly to a disadvantaged nation. We must continue to fight for the right of our children and hope congress not only votes to reinvest but also sees the value of their vote.
ReplyDeleteThere are many people on the ground fighting for child who are also suffering from subsidy cuts. My aunt owns a child development center in Minneapolis, MN. Recently she had to either cut or take money from her family to incur the expenses of services she offers her low-income families. These same services that were once aided by government subsidies. To many something as simple as transportation might not seem like much. However for those who need it, they understand that it can mean the difference of eating or more time spent outside the household for parents. Kudos to our President for understanding the need, now we need Congress to vote in favor for children and continue to reinvest!
Arsenio you make some great points. One very strong point you state is that the majority of congress do not see (or perhaps do not want to see) the benefit of investing in our youth and further our disadvantaged youth. They seem to not believe that this nation and the world will fail if these way of thinking is not changed very quickly. There is a direct correlation between the lack of investment in children and the lack of success of a society. Nations like Sweden have invested in their children and their citizens greatly and have reaped great benefits from this. I am aware that the United States has a very different make up in both size and diversity but, this does not mean there are not lessons we cannot take from other systems that have proven to work. I give credit to the president for his ability to see that the youth the success of the nation depends on the investment in the youth. I also want to challenge every individual to be more conscious of their psyche and how they are influenced to invest their time and money. How can we help programs like your aunts? Whether it be where we spend our dollar, how and where we give our time, or how we use our voice and input to influence government and policy. Great outlook on what Mrs. Edelman wrote, Arsenio. The children aren’t just the future, they are the now.
DeleteAs a Pre- K teacher I definitely share in my colleagues’ appreciation for this budget proposal and we have to applaud the legislators that constantly make our children a priority! However I am concerned about the support behind the proposal. While there is time to celebrate the introduction, there is less time to make sure that it does not get suffocated by flim flam politics. I'm not a lobbyist to influence policy agenda, but as an advocate for children I hope that those in closer circles to the Congress can become advocates as well, and try to approve this budget in this fight to end child poverty. Also on a local level I will have to research what I can do to assure the approval of this budget proposal. As pointed out by Arsenio's statement: "invest now or pay later," the fact that this bill will serve children who are 5 and under specifically shows that politicians are finally noticing that investing in children at their most innocent and vulnerable ages will benefit them as well as our nation in the future. While currently stopping to tie 3 year old Eugene’s shoes, I'm curious to know if this budget proposal -in my hopes- when approved will be a step to ensuring his overall success in the future.
ReplyDeleteWhile I completely agree with this article and all of your previous posts, I am able to see the viewpoints of both someone for keeping programs like head start, as well as cutting them. As someone who did not attend preschool prior to going to kindergarten, I can understand why the people making these decisions about whether or not to keep such programs would not see it as an absolute necessity. There are numerous people who did not utilize these programs, yet turned out to be successful both academically and career wise as adults. However, the problem comes in when those very people making the decisions do not consider the fact that all children do not come from the same socioeconomic backgrounds. Thus, may be further hindered when they do begin school because their resources have been limited. In a video depiction of summer learning loss done by Horizons National, which is a nonprofit organization, it was made clear that a lack of resources makes a low income child fall way behind their middle to higher class counterparts. This could be avoided by keeping school readiness programs. The same people who complain about having to allocate funds to these programs, are the exact same people who complain even further about having to hand out government assistance. If you give people the access to education that they need, they can become more independent in the future.
ReplyDeleteHopefully everyone has seen the video that I am referring to. If not, here is the link to it on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZolcNG3GVCs
Jackie, you hit the nail on the head! I would have to agree that I see both viewpoints of individuals wanting to keep specific programs and those who would oppose by cutting those programs. Unlike you, I attended head start, and day care before that and I could not tell you if there was an educational or academic gain from either experience. Often times, at my internship, I hear parents say "I'm just tired of my child being at home so I take them school to be someone else's headache" or "I'm not a teacher, that's why I send my child to school". What parents fail to realize is that the teaching comes from within the home first and then from educational settings.Considering that all of my clients are families who fall well below the poverty line, their children encounter the limited resources and teacher who have given up on them. You mentioned that "the same people who complain about having to allocate funds to these programs, are the exact same people who complain even further about having to hand out government assistance" and I agree! Until we, as a nation, can come to a consensus about the importance of education, what it should look like for each individual, and how we can ensure that EVERY child has a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start, our children will always be dependent on the government.
DeleteGreat post Jackie!
I'm very happy to hear that President Obama has laid out a budget that increases the investment in children. I routinely find it incredible when Republican legislators advocate gutting programs that benefit children yet incite revolution at that idea that millionaires pay additional taxes. "Don't take Americans hard earned money" they say. Unfortunately for the rest of the country, they fail to realize that stealing the future of a child is drastically different than asking a person with a nine-course meal to surrender a roll to feed a starving man.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate to hear about the still-present gap in spending from before the sequestration. The fact that, even if this budget was passed verbatim, we as a nation would still be spending 15% less on government assistance than pre-2010 is shocking. Unfortunately, I don't see how that that gap will be filled until 2016 at the earliest, and that would require a blue sweep of the White House and both houses of Congress, which due to the disgustingly undemocratic gerrymandering that occurred in 2010, seems highly unlikely. I sincerely hope that while the debate about this budget occurs, President Obama repeatedly makes the case that his budget helps children while reducing the deficit by one trillion dollars. That should be something every politician would support, but unfortunately we know that won't be the case. We just have to hope that some of the more moderate members of the Republican party put their partisan leanings aside and cast a vote to support children.
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ReplyDelete“We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer ‘Tomorrow.’ His name is today.”
ReplyDelete-- Nobel Laureate Gabriela Mistral
Growing up in the church, I always heard the saying, "Our children are the church of tomorrow." So as I continued to matriculate in age, my spirit became vexed at that statement because tomorrow is not promised to a single person on earth.If we wait until "tomorrow" to give our children a chance, or to invest in them, then we are late and we have wasted the "day" before.
Our children are our first priority. President Obama has developed an extremely in depth and effective plan to help our children and help end child poverty. We have to start with them while they are young so as they grow, we continue to water and nourish that seed we planted in them when they were in head start. They can not wait and we can not put them on the back-burner.
However, it saddens me at the view that congress has on our children. In my opinion, there should not be a discussion or a second thought when it comes to our children. Do they not understand that the children, are the biggest ones at stake right now? What we do today and how we do it determines what they will have for tomorrow. "Protecting precious child lives and America’s future demands that we act immediately and move forward and not backwards." We have to stop playing and get the ball rolling for our children.
As an educator, I am constantly reminded of the fact that children really do only have one childhood. I feel it is my responsibility to help foster that sense of childhood because to be honest a lot of my students have "grown up" responsibilities and mind sets that often creates conflict with the demands of being a student. With poverty being an issue in the community I teach in, I feel it more than necessary to act immediately in protecting them mentally, physically, and emotionally and standing up for them. Every child deserves a childhood. I am pleased to hear that The President’s budget proposal includes major increased investments in the critical early childhood years. Part of having a childhood is having a quality education and child care.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the consistent support that President Obama has shown Early Childhood education. He not only realizes the importance of this critical time in a children’s life, but also invests in providing resources and education for these children and their families. In fact, the prekindergarten program that I teach with targets families with at risk children. They are provided with a free optimal education and even the extra endeavors like field trip and parent involvement opportunities are at no charge to parents. My school district is even beginning to partner with local child care centers in order to prepare children and families for the transition into the public school system.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, my colleagues and I arranged a meeting with child care center directors that surround our elementary school. We had a chance to share ideas and suggestions for the smooth transition of the young children into prekindergarten. We created the thought of having school visits where the future students have the opprurtunity to visit a prekindergarten class and obtain an idea of “big school.” We also suggested having teachers visit the child care centers to witness the preparatory measures taken to help children transition smoothly from day care to elementary school. We are literally laying the foundation for the success of our children and their families.
All of these initiatives are wonderful, and I do agree that the Obama administration has put education on the front lines of their political agenda, but not necessarily in a consistent and transparent way. The funding for each program seems a bit arbitrary -- why that specific amount? Why not more? The federal government's budget is so extensive when it comes to prioritizing war, surveillance and drones, and funding for education only really becomes a priority when it seems like schools are at an extremely low point, practically failing. Why wait until then? Furthermore, while it may be great to focus on early childhood programs, it is unsettling that the Obama administration has funded programs such as Race to the Top, which has led to teachers being stressed about state test exams and competing with each other to get the best evaluations and classroom assessments. I do think we are making positive changes, but I would urge the Obama administration to rethink where their funding consistently goes and for what motives or purposes. It would be great for every scholar to not only have a fair, safe, healthy and head start, but also one where their best interest is continually prioritized, regardless of the political climate. The President's proposed budget are seen as "great steps towards ending child poverty". If it can be imagined, then it must be done, not simply proposed. I hope this becomes an executive order, and not only for the youngest scholars, but for their entire educational trajectory. I can be tough on his administration, but only because I hold them to very high expectations.
ReplyDeleteI like the point Christopher made. We do have to reach children at a micro level and build them up with a solid educational foundation. I like that our children are being invested in and being considered as well as built around because the children are the future.
ReplyDelete