Oakland, CA — Children Now, a research, policy, and advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives of California’s kids, called for bolder leadership on issues of children’s well-being as it released its 2019–20 Pro-Kid Policy Agenda for California. The Agenda is a comprehensive roadmap for policymakers to follow in order to make the state’s child-serving systems stronger and more equitable, so all children have the supports they need to thrive.
“California has led the way on so many economic, social justice and environmental issues, but has yet to prioritize the wellbeing of our state’s children,” Children Now President Ted Lempert said. “With this is mind, we urge the new Administration and other state leaders to use the Agenda to address poverty and equity issues affecting all our children and families across the state, and lead the way in making kids a priority.”
The Agenda is the only comprehensive roadmap at the state level for policymakers to follow to ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential. It outlines goals for 28 key issues affecting child well-being in California, from prenatal to age 26. The goals are focused on ensuring child-serving systems are equitable, well-funded, high-quality and accountable to kids’ success.
“Achieving these Pro-Kid goals is possible and essential to the state’s economic and democratic future. Working together, we can make California the best place to grow up. We can create a state that ensures our most vulnerable children, especially children of color and children in low-income households, have access to the supports they need to achieve their full potential,” Lempert said. The Agenda can help us get there.”
Along with providing a policy roadmap through the Agenda, Children Now publishes the California Children’s Report Card every two years to grade the state on its current ability to support better outcomes for children on key education, health and child welfare areas, from pre-natal to age 26, from our early childhood to our higher education systems.
About Children Now
Children Now is a nonpartisan, multi-issue research, policy development and advocacy organization dedicated to promoting children’s health and education in California. The organization also leads The Children’s Movement of California, a network of more than 3,000 direct service, parent, civil rights, faith-based and community groups dedicated to improving children’s well-being. Learn more about us at www.childrennow.org.
