FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 5, 2021
CONTACT: Maria Mejia, (510) 763-2444 x 108, [email protected]
Over 1,000 Organizations Tell State to Put Kids First
Hundreds come together in letter urging leaders to prioritize investments in children’s programs and school reopening
Over1,000 diverse organizations of The Children’s Movement sent this letter to state leaders today, calling on them to take long overdue actions on behalf of kids, including prioritizing every unrestricted dollar for supports for kids in the upcoming state budget and coordinating an all-hands-on deck, urgent approach to re-opening schools (going even beyond the Governor’s recent proposal).
“We appreciate that policymakers are confronted with numerous requests for prioritization,” said Ted Lempert, President of Children Now, which coordinated the letter. “But the needs of kids, ranging from child care and preschool, family and economic supports, health and mental health care, K-12 and higher education, housing, and child welfare supports, must come first for two reasons: 1) kids, especially kids of color and those living in poverty, have been disproportionally impacted by COVID-19, facing immense stress and mental health issues, as well as deep and prolonged learning loss, and 2) California unfathomably sits near the bottom of the country in most measures of child well-being.”
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Children Now is a non-partisan, whole-child 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 over 4,000 direct service, parent, civil rights, faith-based and community groups dedicated to improving children’s well-being.