Rich countries contribute an average of $14,000 per year for a toddler’s care. In the U.S. it’s $500.

The New York Times: How Other Nations Pay for Child Care

Child care in the United States is in a crisis — and it’s time for change.

The New York Times recently shared shocking statistics about child care support in the United States. While most rich countries around the world contribute an average of $14,000 per year for a toddler’s care, the United States contributes just $500 per year, per child.

The United States — one of the richest countries in the world — spends only $500 per child on early childhood care each year.

This number is staggeringly low, and the truth is undeniable.

In the developed world, the United States is an outlier in its abysmal levels of financial support for child care.

Affordable child care is essential to millions of workers and their families. Parents and caregivers cannot work if their infants and toddlers are not safe and cared for.

President Biden has proposed spending $450 billion to subsidize child care and offer universal preschool as part of his 10-year, $3.5 trillion Build Back Better plan. Congress is now on the verge of making transformational policy change for babies by investing in comprehensive paid leave, high-quality child care, and an expanded Child Tax Credit.

But negotiations continue, and these objectives remain at risk.

We need to make sure that Congress understands that scaling any of these components back could lower the odds that our children will thrive.

The needs of America’s children are non-negotiable.

Funding and building a child care infrastructure is key to supporting our families, providing the recovery our nation needs, and addressing America’s shameful underinvestment in child care.

It’s time that every family in the United States has access to a high-quality, affordable child care system. Help make this vision a reality by letting your legislators know that high-quality child care should be affordable for every family in America.

Here are 3 Ways to Voice Your Support for Child Care:

1. Share Your Story: Child Care Aware of America has a vision for the future of child care. Contact your legislators and share your personal child care story here: https://www.childcareaware.org/our-issues/advocacy/take-action/support-affordable-child-care/

2. Write a Letter: Take action with MomsRising to urge Congress to support kids and families by passing critical care infrastructure: https://action.momsrising.org/sign/NY_Times_Care_RR/?source=action

3. Send a Note: Urge Congress to pass the Build Back Better Act by sending a note through Think Babies: https://www.thinkbabies.org/take-action-build-back-better-act/

Further Reading

Fact Sheet on the Build Back Better Act

The Build Back Better Act Would Greatly Lower Families’ Child Care Costs

The True Cost of High-Quality Child Care Across the United States

The post Action Alert: 3 Ways to Voice Your Support for Child Care appeared first on Promise the Children.

Two critical programs that provide financial support to low-income parents and caretakers are the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC). These working-family tax credits lifted 5.6 million people out of poverty in 2018, including 3 million children, and made 16.5 million other people less poor.

— EITC Fast Facts

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) are two of our tax code’s most effective income boosters for working families. These tax credits help everyday families that face the stress of flat wages handle the rising costs of childcare, healthcare and more. Recent research suggests that income from these credits leads to benefits at virtually every stage of life, including improved school performance, higher college enrollment, and increased work effort and earnings in adulthood.

What is the Difference Between the EITC and the CTC?

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a federal tax credit for low-income working people that encourages and rewards work by offsetting federal payroll and income taxes; the Child Tax Credit (CTC) helps working families offset the cost of raising children by providing working families with payments per eligible child.

The American Rescue Plan has temporarily increased the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child for children over the age of six and from $2,000 to $3,600 for children under the age of six, and has raised the age limit from 16 to 17. This is an excellent first step as it provides the largest child tax credit ever and historic relief to the most working families in history.

Now is the time to encourage legislators to make these CTC expansions permanent.

What is the Child Tax Credit (CTC)?

The Child Tax Credit (CTC) is a credit that helps people who are working and raising children. Those eligible will receive a larger tax refund or will have to pay less in federal taxes.The CTC is for working parents (or other caretakers such as grandparents, relatives, or foster parents) who are raising one or more children on an income below certain federal limits. Eligible individuals must file their taxes to receive the CTC, but many people who qualify for the CTC (and other refundable tax credits) often miss out on the credits that are intended for them. For details about the CTC and additional credits, visit the IRS resource “What You Need to Know about CTC, ACTC and ODC“.

What is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)?

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is designed to support working parents and individuals who earn between $15,820 and $50,954 a year; they must also have investment income of less than $3,650. In 2020 there were approximately 25 million eligible working parents in the U.S. that received about $2,461 each.

The EITC payment made to eligible families depends on three criteria: the amount earned from working for someone (or for yourself); marital status; and the number of qualifying children. For more information on eligibility visit www.IRS.gov/eitc.

If you qualify for Federal EITC, you may also qualify for a similar credit from your state or local government. The various states that provide these additional tax credits are listed here: 30 States and Local Governments with Earned Income Tax Credit. The IRS also offers Free Tax Return Preparation for qualifying taxpayers (more information here). Note that the payee is responsible for the accuracy of the return. If you pay for help, that person must enter his or her Preparer Tax ID number on the tax return form. (PTIN)

Join Us in Urging Legislators to Make the Child Tax Credit (CTC) Permanent

In March of 2021, lawmakers enacted the American Rescue Plan which temporarily expanded the benefits of the CTC through December 2021. By making a significant set of changes to the Child Tax Credit, the American Rescue Plan is set to drastically reduce the number of children living in poverty. The CTC benefits the poorest among us, including our indigenous families, but currently the benefit extends for only one year. Permanently enacting these benefits should be an urgent priority.

Please tell your legislator to make these benefits permanent. If made permanent, these benefits will cut the number of children in poverty by more than 40 percent. Let your legislators know that we care deeply about the most vulnerable among us.

Contact Legislators through the Children’s Defense Fund and urge your representative to make CTC increases permanent. Send a one-click letter here.

The expanded CTC benefit will equate to roughly $3,600 per year, per child, aged 0-6, and $3,000 per year for children aged 6-17. Families will get this increased CTC benefit in monthly payments from July to December 2021 and will get the final payment when they file their taxes in July of 2022. For eligible individuals, this final payment could be at least $1,500.

Married couples earning $150,000 annually or less are eligible for this benefit. A child or children must live with the U.S. adult for more than 6 months of the year to be eligible for the CTC. If a child has a social security number, and the parents have individual ID numbers (ITIN) and meet income requirements, they can receive the credit.

CTC payments are distributed by the IRS which uses the banking service information they have on file to distribute payments. An estimated 90% of children will get the CTC even if a parent has little or no income, and most families—including about 39 million children—will get the CTC automatically if a tax return was filed in 2019 or 2020.

Importantly, receiving the expanded CTC will not change eligibility for means-issued programs such as food stamps or SSI.

Taking Action

The EITC and the CTC are two of the tax code’s most effective income boosters for working and middle-class families. Given the positive track record of the EITC and CTC, there are countless reasons to make the CTC expansion permanent. These improvements yield benefits for our national economic prosperity and will serve as a game-changer for millions of children.

More Reading and Further Information

5 Reasons Why Strengthening the EITC and CTC Is the Kind of Tax Reform America Needs

Its Time for Congress to Create a Kid-Friendly Tax Code by Strengthening Working Families

Make Child Tax Credit Improvements Permanent in Upcoming Recovery Legislation

10 Things to Know About the Expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC)

First Focus Campaign for Children Identifies 120 Lawmakers who Prioritize Children

The post Action Alert: Urge Legislators to Make the CTC Expansion Permanent appeared first on Promise the Children.

Guest post by Grinil Khanna with AuX Family Dynamics.

We used to have a routine. Wake up, get the kids ready, take the kids to school, hustle to work in traffic, answer to the boss, rush back home hoping the kids were doing what they had to do without getting into trouble, and run around like a chicken with its head cut off until the kids were fed and in bed. The pandemic has changed this for many, but not for all. Regardless, parents have needed to adjust and this interesting time has given some families a moment to reflect.

Routines have changed. People have quit their jobs. Teachers have switched careers. Kids are learning online. Some people have decided to move and work remotely on a permanent basis. Others have been able to step back and reevaluate what it means to be a family.

Life is full of transitions, and this period of time has been a transition for all. As life throws those constant curve balls, it’s important that we keep a handle on what’s important.

Wellness

Individual wellness alone is tough to manage, so family wellness needs that extra bit of effort. If this time has been a learning curve for you, it’s also been one for your lovely children.

Let’s touch base for a moment. There are four main components to family wellness:

–          Mental Wellness
–          Physical Wellness
–          Social Wellness
–          Environmental Wellness

The definition of each type of wellness:

1. Mental Wellness: The mental category in family wellness, mental wellness is the shared mental balance of the entire family as a whole.

2. Physical Wellness: The physical dimension in family wellness, physical wellness is the shared physical confidence of the entire family as a whole.

3. Social Wellness: Social wellness can be determined by healthy social connections throughout the connected emotional whole of the family.

4. Environmental Wellness: Safety and security is key here. The family as a whole should feel and perceive the environment as safe and healthy.

Here’s an article by AuX Family Dynamics that provides a deeper dive into each of these topics.

The key takeaway here is that the family is one interconnected unit. If one member of the family does not feel well, physically or mentally, the family wellness drops and other members of the family must step in to provide support.

Think of it like the roots of a flower. If there is a section of the flower’s roots that is not getting its full nutrients, the flower will wilt. But if the flower adjusts its nutrients from other roots into that section, it can rebalance and become vibrant again.

We all get caught up in day-to-day life – yelling, demanding, repeating, rushing – and it gets hard to take a moment to take a deep breath and check in on each other. Don’t underestimate the beautiful flower that is your family, and take a moment to nurture its roots.

The pandemic has not been merciful! People have felt isolated and metal health issues have dramatically increased in children and adolescents. Here are some tips for checking on your family and focusing on your wellness, as well as the wellness of your children. These tips can be a saving grace:

1. Find a time, even for 10 seconds, for mindfulness and re-gathering yourself.

Mindfulness is a skill and something amazing if we keep getting better at it. It is good for our minds, managing our stress, and taking a realistic look at ourselves and everything around us to keep things in perspective.

2. Be open to being vulnerable. Lead through example.

It might take a couple of tries, but mention to your family that you want everyone to be well and that it’s important to you. Be the first to step up and say: “Hey all, I feel like I want to do a small physical wellness thing together. I feel like we have been inside too much. Can we find a day this week to take the bikes and scooters to the park, or maybe shoot a few hoops? Let’s get out together and breathe some fresh air.”

3. Be observant and check in.

Whether you have preteens, toddlers, teens, or college-aged kids, everyone is going through something, so check in with each other. Try this: “What do you think it’s going to be like to see your friends again in person when you go back to school?”

4. Keep on keeping on. Make it a routine.

Weaving a conscientious family culture around family wellness takes awareness from everyone. It takes practice. It may seem silly at first, but if all members can commit to self-wellness and add to the pot of family wellness, you will create one of the most beautiful things in the world , right in your own home. Doing so makes the family stronger and more connected, and it makes sure no one is left out.

Don’t be fazed! This doesn’t mean you have to be a happy, always smiley, sitcom family. No way! You have your own family culture and identity, and your family has the power to create its own image of family wellness. Take that small moment to reflect, mindfully nurture yourself, and send it out to those you love in your special and unique way.

The post Guest Post: Family Wellness During the Pandemic: Let’s Get Back to Normal appeared first on Promise the Children.

This year Promise the Children will be raising funds to support Free Online Tutoring for any student in need as they work to catch up from last year’s disrupted school year.

Join Promise the Children for our second virtual online auction!

This year we will be raising funds to support free online tutoring for any student in need as they work to catch up from last year’s disrupted school year. We are proud to partner with and support Boston COVID Tutoring, a student-run organization that currently provides tutoring services free of charge to students of all ages throughout the Greater Boston area and beyond.

Any additional funds raised will go toward supporting our advocacy for affordable childcare, public school funding, food security, Medicaid, immigrant families and gun safety.

View Our Online Auction and Start Bidding Today!

The post Bid for Good! Promise the Children’s Second Annual Online Auction appeared first on Promise the Children.

“We know single caretaker families in Cambridge are struggling, are well below the Cambridge poverty line, and the impacts to single mothers and women of color are even higher…”

– Sumbul Siddiqui, Mayor of Cambridge

Food insecurity is on the rise in Massachusetts, but the city of Cambridge is taking an innovative approach toward addressing it.

As of August 2021, Cambridge will begin a guaranteed income test for 120 eligible single caretaker households in its city. The test will run over an 18-month period and low-income families will be selected via lottery.

To be eligible, households must be headed by a single caretaker with children under the age of 18 and fall below 80 percent of area median income (AMI), with the bulk of the participants under 50 percent of AMI. Low-waged individuals or families are defined by the number of members in each family; a family of one must earn less than $26,850 annually, while a family of 3 must earn less than $34,550.

Cambridge is the first city in Massachusetts to undertake this pilot program, but it joins a growing number of direct-cash programs across the country, including Baltimore; Paterson, New Jersey; Oakland, California; Madison, Wisconsin; and a dozen other cities.

Research has found that more than 75% of these cash allotments is spent in food markets.

In Stockton, California, a guaranteed income has helped families stabilize and plan for the future, according to the city’s former mayor. “What we found is that people did not stop working, in fact, people were able to find full-time jobs,” said former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, adding, “We saw significant declines in stress and anxiety and depression.”

From 2019 to 2020, food insecurity in Massachusetts increased by 55% and today more than 1.6 million residents struggle for food. The Chelsea Eats Program (Chelsea, MA) has handed out gift cards of between $200 and $400 to approximately 2,000 low-income families in the city; this program spent about $2.1 million in 5 months.

Outright cash or food cards ensure that families choose the food they need.

Despite the best of intentions, handing out food boxes can be inefficient and can result in wasted food, with too much of the same food being distributed too often. Beyond economic benefits, recipients of a guaranteed income have been found to be less anxious, less depressed and less fatigued from financial stress. Notes Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui: “I’ve seen the real everyday effects of economic insecurity, and I think this will be a really powerful tool. It’s effective and immediate.”

Taking Action to Address Hunger

Since the start of the pandemic, political leaders across the country have been taking steps to address hunger. The American Rescue Plan passed by Congress in spring 2021 has helped to:

• Increase SNAP Benefits through September 2021;
• Fund the P-EBT Program, which provides grocery benefits to replace school meals;
• Improve the WIC Program for Women, Infants and Children, providing fruit and fresh vegetables over the summer;
• Increase federal funding to the states for the administration of these food programs.

The economic fallout of the pandemic — which has disproportionately hurt low-income households — has required policy makers to look for new ways to get food to the hungry and has accelerated efforts to create direct cash payment programs. To learn more about hunger and food insecurity in Massachusetts, visit The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute or Mass Legal Help.

Organizations and Further Reading:

Mayors for a Guaranteed Income

Center for Guaranteed Income Research

Every U.S. City Testing Free Money Programs

The post A New Approach to Solving Hunger Through Anti-Poverty Programs appeared first on Promise the Children.

Promise the Children was recently interviewed by a young advocate at Gonzaga University on the topic of affordable childcare. Below are a few highlights from our conversation and our work toward making affordable childcare for all a reality.

1. How does your organization view affordable childcare? What is the impact of affordable childcare?

Promise the Children supports a national investment in affordable, high-quality childcare for all children. Affordable childcare is essential for women and families, and it also makes economic sense.

Childcare still largely falls to women, and without access to affordable childcare, women may stay out of the workforce entirely. But when women have access to affordable childcare, and can work and participate in the labor force, we see a significant increase in U.S. economic output. “According to a report from S&P Global Inc., the U.S. could add $1.6 trillion to GDP if women entered and stayed in the workforce at a rate similar to Norway’s, which has government-subsidized day care.”

Simply put, affordable childcare makes economic sense.

The U.S. ranks behind other countries in investing in child care and early education — we currently spend less than 1% of GDP. For comparison, Sweden and Iceland spend closer to 2%. We almost attained a nationally funded, locally run child care system in 1971, but President Nixon vetoed the proposed law and left childcare up to the states and cities to figure out. This happened at the same time that women were joining the workforce in ever-larger numbers, without any federal policies to support them.

Here’s the result of this inaction: today more than half of Americans live in a “child-care desert” where there is little or no access to quality care — and since this care is scarce, it’s often unaffordable. In 2016, the average cost for infant child care was actually more than a year’s tuition at a public college in 28 states. These costs bankrupt our families and keep more children and families in poverty.

2. What improvements does your organization seek to make with affordable childcare?

Promise the Children advocates for an increased federal investment in childcare. We support the few efforts that have already been made to address child care — like federal Child Care and Development Block Grants — but we also recognize that these initiatives focus solely on low-income families and create no relief for middle-income families. We advocate for subsidizing child-care centers; creating paid family leave; establishing universal healthcare; and creating family focused policies.

3. What changes would those improvements require? What actions might lead to those changes?

These improvements require an ambitious federal investment in our children and our childcare system. We’re pleased to see the current Administration proposing a $775 billion, 10-year plan to fund universal preschool, build new child-care facilities, fund paid family leave, and increase salaries for child-care workers. We believe continued advocacy and the creation of incentives for businesses to do the right thing can help make these goals a reality. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, nearly 50% of employers surveyed said that they would provide more child care assistance to employees if the government gave them an incentive to do so.

Promise the Children partners with a number of other advocates that are also working toward making life better for children and families. These include: Mom’s Rising, Mom’s Demand Action, Zero to Three, NAYEC, Office of Childcare (OCC) and Crawling Behind. The results of our work together are that we now have the attention of the Biden Administration as well as the House of Representatives. We have advocated for and allocated funding for child care in Covid Relief bills, but President Biden’s newest bill will provide more permanent funding for childcare and more. We remain committed to the cause, because we know that investments in child care would have enormous benefits for our children, our families, our society and our economy.

The post Action Alert: Promise the Children and our Work Toward Affordable Childcare appeared first on Promise the Children.

Students, and primarily young learners, have taken a hard hit with the pandemic.

With the constant influx of changes that COVID-19 has brought to our lives, it may be difficult to keep up with all of the modifications we’ve made in order to address potential problems. While some are more obvious and target every subsection of society—such as masks and six feet of distance—others are targeted towards specific groups like office workers and students.

Students, and primarily young learners, have taken a hard hit with the pandemic.

They’ve lost face-to-face socialization with their classmates, and, equally important, they’ve lost the school environment altogether. Though our society continues to adopt more and more aspects of the digital age into our daily lives, it’s still been a difficult shift, especially for younger generations.

‘School’ isn’t quite ‘school’ anymore.

Parents were faced with the question: how do they adapt online learning to better address the needs of their children? Parents—especially the wealthy—turned to a new form of learning.

Pods.

The name itself evokes thoughts of unity and companionship—a shared identity of sorts. Learning pods follow a similar dogma. It’s a system that welcomes experimentation and innovation. As time passes, more and more types of pods arise, tailored to different students’ needs and interests. An article by The New Yorker shares examples of pods with their focus on math, art—even Buddhism. The pods themselves can even provide effective conduits to more diverse classroom settings. Racial justice conversations, which are essential in such difficult times, are much easier to schedule and incorporate into pods. Whereas there are many roadblocks when addressing race and prejudice in schools, pods allow parents to have a much more hands-on role when shaping the curriculum.

These learning pods also provide important in-person connections for the children.

Students band together to replicate the lost classroom setting, led by a trusted teacher and organized by parents. Apartments become miniature schools—a school away from school. Parents monitor the safety of their own children, allowing them to coexist in a space without fears of sickness. While classes still occur on Zoom, children can learn in a classroom setting and keep focus in ways they might not be able to at home. Lessons that were once only online can now become hands-on, with the teacher organizing a breadth of activities tailored to lessons—just like classrooms before the pandemic.

Pods help maintain the sense of community among students—something essential to developing social skills. However, as time progresses and the pandemic seems closer to its end, the question arises: will they outlast COVID-19?

One parent told The New Yorker that, while the experiment has proved effective in the current climate, she thinks that they promote inequity.

After all, since parents are at the helm of these pods, the money for the classroom and teacher comes out of their pockets. However some Pods may not have a highly paid facilitator. In these circumstances, one member of a group of parents might manage the Pod, one at a time, at their individual homes. In other instances, one teacher or assistant teacher might manage a Pod in a school classroom, or parents may cooperate together to manage a pod for their children as an after-school program or home-schooling program. If a teacher is hired to run a Pod every day of the week, it can quickly become costly, but parents may cooperate to run pods after school or as part of a homeschooling program which can keep costs lower.

While a price tag of twenty-thousand dollars a year might be manageable for those with the means to pay, many parents still have to turn to public schooling, despite certain shortcomings in the pandemic. Learning pods, while effective now, must be an option for parents of all economic backgrounds, in order to avoid sinking into obsolescence. Inventions that can only be enjoyed by a small minority of the population are rarely worth keeping.

Sources and Further Reading:

The New Yorker: Why Learning Pods Might Outlast the Pandemic

Learning Pods: Make This Year Your Child’s Best Year of Learning

The New York Times: What Parents Need to Know About Learning Pods

Littledata: Four Types of Childcare and Schooling Pods, Explained

The post Guest Post: Learning Pods – A New Form of Learning appeared first on Promise the Children.

Prison reform is a frequent subject of discussion in our newsletters, and with good reason. Incarceration for minor crimes, such as drug possession, can break apart families and leave children without parents. Another added problem is that minorities such as African Americans and Latinos are incarcerated at a higher rate than white people. Reforming America’s prison system can create major positive changes for inmates who have committed nonviolent crimes. America can draw inspiration from foreign countries’ prison systems, particularly Scandinavian countries like Denmark.

From the American viewpoint, Denmark’s prisons can barely be considered prisons. There are no barbed wires or gun towers because prison staff believe that an escape is better than a hostage situation. Other major elements of the Danish prison system include frequent, private visits with family, no uniforms, and the ability to cook one’s own meals. Many prisoners continue working at their jobs regardless of incarceration.

As for the violent conditions within the prison, the rate of prison deaths in Denmark is only one percent, which is equivalent to the U.S. However, in 2013, that meant that 8 Danish prisoners died, in comparison to the 4,446 deaths in the U.S.

If America had similar policies to Denmark, perhaps the rate of prison deaths or incarceration wouldn’t be so high. Unlike America, Danish prisons prioritize the dignity of their prisoners over harsh policies. And it’s undoubtedly effective—recidivism rates are three times lower in Scandinavian countries than in America. By enforcing an open prison system, America could stop separating parents from children and reduce the need for so many prisons. After all, shouldn’t America be trying to reduce the number of incarcerated citizens?

The post A New View: The Prison System in Denmark by Grace Pires appeared first on Promise the Children.

Guest post by writer and reserve military officer Diana Moga

The Department of Defense (DOD) boasts the largest employer-based childcare program in the United States. The program serves uniformed service members and DOD civilians. At an annual cost of $1 billion, approximately 200,000 children ages six weeks to five years old participate in the program. The subsidized service offers full-time childcare at a fraction of the cost compared to childcare outside the DOD program.

How has the Department of Defense come to offer the affordable, high-quality child care that has eluded many private and public sector organizations?

According to the Congressional Research Service Report on Military Child Development Program: Background and Issues, child care services are part of a broader set of quality-of-life benefits available to service members and DOD civilians. According to the DOD, childcare benefits support recruiting, readiness, and retention goals for the Department. In short, the DOD determined that subsidized childcare supports its mission in a wide range of areas.

DOD subsidized childcare evolved with the shift away from the practice of military conscripts. By 1973, the military consisted of an all-volunteer force and introduced new demographics to the services.

As more women served in the military, the DOD directed the services to stop the involuntary discharge of pregnant or custodial mothers. Changes in cultural norms writ large meant that the number of women participating in the workforce increased across the United States. More women participating in the workforce resulted in more dual-career families within the DOD.

After years of hosting informal childcare onboard military bases, the DOD issued a directive that formalized government responsibility for the installation of childcare centers. The morale, welfare, and recreation (MwR) program, which already existed to serve DOD families, became the logical place for childcare centers within the DOD organization. Congress first appropriated funds for new construction childcare facilities in 1982.

Since 1982, the DOD has expanded its childcare program, and today, the program offers more access with up to 12 hours of service per day.

There are several lessons that organizations can learn from the DOD childcare program:

1. The DOD takes a holistic view of the family.

As the service member profile shifted from males without dependents to males with families, the DOD considered families part of the same institutional umbrella. When the number of women participating in the workforce increased, the DOD saw an increased need to offer childcare benefits within the institution. As an organization, the DOD builds careers and community around employees and their families.

2. Demand for childcare services grew from employees within the DOD.

Informal childcare organizations on military installations could not meet the demand for childcare quality or access. Because the morale, welfare, and Recreation program existed to serve DOD families, childcare services had a natural place to land within the DOD organization.

3. The DOD recognizes that childcare improves readiness, retention, and recruiting.

The DOD recognizes that it must compete for talent. Access to quality and affordable childcare is a value that few other organizations offer. Because the DOD built childcare into the fabric of a system designed to support DOD employees, the organization is positively impacted.

Access to quality and affordable childcare supports employees and families and ultimately impacts organizational success. Stay tuned for more on how the DOD childcare program can serve as an institutional model for organizations.

Diana Moga is a writer, U.S. Naval Academy graduate, and civil affairs officer in the Marine Corps reserves. Follow Diana on Twitter @DianaXMoga or Instagram at @dianaxmoga.

The post Guest Post: An Intro to the Military’s Affordable, High-Quality Childcare Program appeared first on Promise the Children.

“The deported parents are kind of lost in the story. Not only were they separated, they were deported back to the country they fled. They haven’t seen their children in three years now, and there’s no clear pathway to get them back.”

– Carol Anne Donohoe, Attorney with Al Otro Lado

Right now more than 600 migrant children are still separated from their parents. This cruel legacy is left behind by the Trump administration which tore apart more than 5,500 families in just 4 years.

Approximately 1,400 parents were ultimately deported without their children; many of these parents are now back in Central America while their children remain in the United States. Hundreds of families are still caught up in this long, fraught chapter of U.S. immigration policy.

The work to reunite these children with their families is far from over. Immigrant advocates are still searching for hundreds of parents, many of whom are unreachable. Hundreds more parents have been located but are still not reunited with their children.

The search for parents has been a painstaking process. That’s in part because the previous administration did not keep track of where the parents went and contact information is often outdated or incomplete. The work to reunite families has also been hampered by hurricanes, the COVID-19 pandemic and bureaucracy.

Much of the burden of finding families has been on nonprofits and lawyers coordinating across borders, particularly in Honduras and Guatemala, from where many of the families separated by the Trump policies migrated.

Managing Family Reunifications

The Biden administration has launched a new task force to manage family reunifications on a case-by-case basis, making different immigration benefit determinations for different families. Such a task force is desperately needed to cut through bureaucratic tape and scale up the resources involved in the search.

The work to undo the damage of family separations must remain an urgent priority for the Biden administration and a task force on family separation is just the start. Join us in urging the Biden administration to commit to the following actions and consider signing the petition below:

1. Find the missing parents and reunite all the families.
2. Ensure they can live in the United States together, free from detention and deportation.
3. Support a pathway to citizenship for all separated families.
4. Establish resources that include coverage of trauma-informed mental health services.
5. Make systemic changes to end family separations for good.

Sign the Petition Here

More Ways to Help:

Support Justice in Motion: Justice in Motion has mobilized an on-the-ground Defender Network of human rights lawyers and organizations across Mexico and Central America to collaborate with U.S. lawyers and help find the parents deported without their children.

Support Families Belong Together: Families Belong Together delivers help to the border to meet the immediate needs of children separated from parents — from providing legal support to mental health services.

Support Project Corazon: Project Corazon was created to help reunite families separated by the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.

Further Resources:

1. Why are so many migrant families still separated? – Unwinding the Trump administration’s immigration rules and reuniting families are very different things.

2. This Honduran lawyer reunites families separated at the US-Mexico border. It involves difficult road trips — and detective work. – The World

The post Action Alert: How to Help Separated Families appeared first on Promise the Children.

One of the most high impact, powerful things you can do right now is send a letter to the editor of your local paper calling on your elected leaders to do the right thing and pass a COVID relief package.

Families are hurting in this COVID economy. People continue to be out of work, struggling with child care centers and schools being closed, eviction protections going away, and cases of COVID rising. After delaying for far too long, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues have one last chance this year to pass a vital COVID-relief package before key programs (unemployment benefits, emergency paid leave and sick days, eviction protections) expire at the end of the year.

Join with us and MomsRising to speak out!

Send a Letter to the Editor Because #ReliefCantWait

Click here to access the #ReliefCantWait Action Alert organized by MomsRising. There you can fill in your name and contact information and choose a newspaper for your letter. You’ll also be given a Sample Letter and Talking Points to write your letter. Then click send and watch for your letter to be published!

The post #ReliefCantWait: Send a Letter to the Editor for a COVID Relief Package appeared first on Promise the Children.

Congress’s refusal to #SaveChildCare could cost mothers $64.5 billion in wages and economic activity, cost the federal government $12.2 billion in tax revenue, and set gender equity back a generation.

For months Americans have been calling on Congress to provide COVID relief funding to stabilize the child care sector. These calls have gone unanswered. This is simply unacceptable when millions are jobless, children are housing and food insecure, and child care providers are fighting to keep programs afloat.

Join us in calling on Congress to prioritize passing a COVID relief package that includes at least $50 Billion in dedicated funding for child care. Children, families, and educators cannot wait any longer.

Here’s How You Can Help #SaveChildcare

1. #SaveChildcare Toolkit

Click here to access the #SaveChildcare Toolkit which includes all messaging and background on the challenge at hand. The toolkit also includes Tweets, Shareable Graphics, Sample Communications and Social Media Tips to help spread the word.

2. Social Media

***On Wednesdays at 4:50 PM EST/1:50 PM PST, we’re asking all child care champions to tweet at the same time.***

You can use this tweet or create one of your own:

Congress must focus on COVID-19 relief that includes at least $50B to #SaveChildCare. If not, America risks losing 4.5M child care slots. The House included this funding in the updated HEROES Act. The Senate must do the same! @SpeakerPelosi @GOPLeader @senatemajldr @SenSchumer 

3. Call Congress

Call your Member of Congress at (202) 224-3121.

Hi, my name is [NAME], I’m a constituent of [REP/SENATOR] and I first want to thank you for your efforts to pass emergency child care measures. I’m calling to request that [REP/SENATOR] reach out to leadership and let them know that Congress must focus on a COVID relief package right now. Families need your support to help pull the country’s child care industry back from the brink of collapse.

4. Send An Email

Find your Senators’ information here and your Representatives’ information here.

Dear  [REP/SENATOR],

I’m writing to ask that you reach out to leadership and let them know that Congress must focus on a COVID relief package right now. Families need your support to help pull the country’s child care industry back from the brink of collapse. 

Families rely on child care for safe and nurturing environments while parents work, go to school, or take care of other responsibilities.  We cannot lose our child care supply; children, families, communities, and businesses will suffer the consequences. 

Thank you for taking action!

The post Action Alert: Join us to #SaveChildcare and Pass Dedicated COVID Relief appeared first on Promise the Children.

Photo via Pixabay

Guest post by Kristin Louis of Parenting with Kris

Parents play an extremely important role in the development of their kids at every age and stage. But keeping up with your kids’ changing needs can be difficult. As your children get older, they will need varying levels of support and guidance to develop the skills that will help them thrive as adults. While you may not be able to coddle your kids forever, you can continue to offer support, guidance, and unconditional love as they grow up. Check out the following resources for some useful age-by-age parenting tips!

Preschoolers

Preschoolers thrive under the structure of routines, but they also need a chance to experiment with the world around them. Give your kids some freedom to explore while providing a safe and nurturing home environment.

• Unstructured Play Is Critical for Kids and Brain Development
• The Importance of a Regular Routine to Your Child
• Best Ways to Help Children Fall Asleep at Nap Time
• 5 Guidelines for Giving Kids Choices
• How to Make Your Discipline Consistent as a Parent

School-Age Kids

As your kids progress through elementary and middle school, they will need more positive support, encouragement, and opportunities for independence.

• Growing Independence: Tips for Parents of Young Children
• 7 Ways to Be Involved in Your Child’s Education
• 10 Easy, Affordable DIY STEM Experiments to Keep Kids and Teens Engaged
• Connecting with Your School-Age Child
• The Powerful Parenting Tool of Validation
• Storm Spotting for Children: At-Home Meteorology

Tweens and Teens

During the tween and teenage years, kids need parental support more than ever—even if they seem to resist your help and disregard your suggestions.

• 4 Ways to Connect Better With Your Teen
• Teach Children How to Stay Safe While Online
• Stop Fighting with Your Teen
• How to Have “The Talk” with Your Teen
• Helping Your Teen Decide What to Do After High School

Raising children from tiny, crying babies into happy, healthy, and successful young adults takes a lot of work. While the job of a parent will never be easy, following recommendations and tips from experts and other parents can help you make the best decisions for your kids. As your kids progress from preschool to school-aged children to teenagers, be ready to provide the support they need. And remember to cherish every moment!

The post Guest Post: The Age-by-Age Guide for Raising Amazing Children appeared first on Promise the Children.

There’s no question that most children would rather be in school. “Kids are getting more bored by the day,” writes 11-year-old Harry Dodd in the New York Times. “We wish we could go back to school to see our friends.”

However with most schools closed due to the pandemic, the alternative is online schooling—which comes with a whole host of challenges for children, parents and teachers.

“The worst is that the teachers might not always see your hand when you’re raising it. I really miss my friends and play dates. My mommy, and sometimes my daddy, have to help because it’s too hard sometimes. — Noah Bresler, 6, Brooklyn

According to a new report from Common Sense Media, almost 16 million children and more than 400,000 teachers lack adequate internet or computer access. Fortunately some childcare programs offer access to internet that can link children to their classrooms, helping to bridge the digital divide facing many American families. In many cases children are grouped into “learning pods” which can represent yet another set of challenges for families; as the Boston Globe warns many learning pods “help the kids with the most resources, leaving the neediest kids further behind.”

Public schools may also face a lack of funding for the protective equipment needed for staff, for electric filters to keep air clean in old buildings, to purchase cleaning materials for schools and to pay staff to clean premises frequently and regularly. And many classrooms are also not large enough for children’s desks to be spaced 6- to 10-feet apart so as to control the spread of the disease.

These challenges have led to a number of schools opening and closing again as outbreaks occur in which staff and/or children have become infected.

While the landscape may look grim, there are a number of ways that we can continue to support students, parents and teachers during these difficult times. Below is a list of resources and further reading to help keep kids learning.

Resources:

Donors Choose: Fund a local teacher’s project. At school or at home, wherever learning happens, you can make a difference. With teachers and students facing the toughest learning challenges in a generation, you can help provide the supplies to keep kids learning.

Adopt a Classroom: AdoptAClassroom.org advances equity in education by giving teachers and schools access to the resources they need. A student’s potential shouldn’t be limited by budgets; any support can open opportunities for long-term success.

Support Public Libraries: Since suspending in-person services, the Boston Public Library has loaned more than 1.4 million online items and put more than 11,000 new physical books in the hands of readers. Consider supporting your local library, like the Boston Public Library, through an online donation.

Further Reading:

1. Back to School Like Never Before by Randi Weingarten – President, American Federation of Teachers

2. Boston Public Schools (BPS) Puts Off Further Re-opening of Schools Another Week Due to Rising Coronavirus Numbers – Universal Hub

The post Difficulties Related to the Opening of Schools appeared first on Promise the Children.

As we continue into the fall with many still facing hardship as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, here is a list of the unemployment benefits related to coronavirus that are available to workers.  These benefits are for those who lost their jobs, lost hours on their job, or are infected with coronavirus or are essential to family members who have this virus.

The first major unemployment relief allocation was a $600 weekly check starting in April of 2020 for many laid off work. Individual states may have added to this unemployment benefit. Here is the information on this allocation of the federal CARES ACT (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act) passed in late March 2020. More than 31,000,000 people in the U.S. received this aid which came to an end on July 31^st, 2020. More benefits were offered by state unemployment offices and here is more information on state benefits or PEUC: https://www.justia.com/covid-19/50-state-covid-19-resources/coronavirus-and-unemployment-benefits-50-state-resources/.

Another resource for financial help is available for certain workers who have run out of aid or are ineligible for existing programs or are coping with the virus themselves or as caretakers. This is called Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Assistance (PEUA) and is part of the CARES Act. You can learn more about this here. This too is running out of funds. Read more about PEUA at https://www.uc.pa.gov/COVID-19/CARES-Act/Pages/PEUC-FAQs.aspx/.

Also, on March 18, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which provided additional flexibility for state unemployment insurance agencies and additional administrative funding to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27,2020.  This expands states’ ability to provide unemployment insurance to workers impacted by the virus. Here’s more information: https://www.justia.com/covid-19/50-state-covid-19-resources/coronavirus-and-unemployment-benefits-50-state-resources/.

A week or after the $600 weekly payment ended, President Trump allocated $300 weekly from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to be administered through individual state unemployment programs. FEMA has no more money to fund unemployment as of the end of August 2020. Many families are left with about $400 weekly.

In August 2020, 8.4 percent (13.6 million) of U.S. workers were unemployed. It is not clear that these people now have access to sufficient unemployment benefits or whether they have any at all. Some State payments run out after 26 weeks from the date they are first awarded. It’s pretty clear that many unemployed workers need money for rent, health care, and food today or in the near future.

For unemployment questions, please visit https://www.nelp.org/faq-unemployment-questions/ for more information.

The Senate and House of Representatives in D.C. have passed bills to remedy the need for benefits and these bills remain in consideration by a joint committee. The Senate Republicans want a small relief bill, and the Democrats a larger more helpful one. The President stepped up to the plate in July and says he will again. We’ll see.

TAKE ACTION: Please make your voice heard by calling your Senators TODAY – (888) 496-3502.

The post Coronavirus SS+ Unemployment Benefits appeared first on Promise the Children.

What are we doing to feed our children while more than 10.6 million more workers were unemployed in July 2020 than in March 2020? More workers than ever are facing a cutback in their hours. 

Partial success: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has heeded the anti-hunger, education, youth-serving communities’ and bi-partisan call to extend waivers for critical child nutrition programs that ensure the growing number of children at risk of hunger can get the nutrition they need. This extension will ensure schools and private nonprofit organizations serving as summer meal program operators have the flexibility to reach low-income children who rely on free and reduced-price school meals while schools are shuttered or have schedules that include both remote and in-classroom learning. We commend the USDA for extending these waivers but we ask that the waivers be extended through June 30, 2021, to address the long-term economic fallout of COVID-19. We need continued advocacy to be sure our children will receive meals throughout the whole academic year.

 Presently, school meals will be provided through The Summer Meals Program. Under this program, there are little income eligibility restrictions or other requirements. The School Lunch Program has awkward eligibility restrictions. We hope that this waiver will last the full academic year and continue to assist families.

Under the program, Parents can pick up food without their children in tow. Children can remain at home or in childcare or school, where they are safer from viral infection. Hopefully, this will be allowed all year. 

Advocacy: Now, we call for the USDA to extend waivers and access to affordable meals through the end of the 2020-2021 academic school year. Advocates also propose an increase of 15% increase in our Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Right now the average benefit is $1.40 per meal. We need an increase to prevent children from starving and we urge you to reach out to your legislators to help make this possible.

Take action to tell Congress and the White House: pass and enact a final COVID-19 deal that boosts SNAP benefits and extends and strengthens P-EBT.

Visit this article from USA Today to learn more about how your state is managing to feed families with little or no income: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/09/05/states-where-government-food-assistance-is-spiking/113640534/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=943b42ef-0035-4693-92b0-c044eedb008b.

The post What Happens to School Meals When Schools are Closed and Parents Have No Income? appeared first on Promise the Children.

Image via Unsplash

Written for Promise the Children by Lacie Martin, raisethemwell.org 

Few things are more difficult or stressful than working from home when you have children. And when your children are staying home more than usual because their preschool is closed or opened at a limited capacity, it can become overwhelming if you don’t come up with a good plan and strategy. Read on for information and resources to help you make sure that your kids are well-cared-for and that your work is completed efficiently.

Keeping Your Children Occupied

Kids need things to do; otherwise, no one in your household will be happy! Here a few ideas for keeping your children entertained and engaged:

• Research fun educational activities that your kids can do at home.
• Arrange family activities to do on a weekly basis, such as a dinner and movie night or a backyard scavenger hunt.
• Invest in family-friendly computers for your children so that they can stay entertained with movies, shows, games, and so on.

Finding Ways to De-stress

If you’re carrying around a bunch of stress, it won’t help you or your children. Look for ways that you can reduce stress in your everyday life.

• Make sure you are exercising on a regular basis.
• Consider volunteering activities for the many benefits to your family.
• Focus on eating a healthy diet. It’s tempting to eat poorly when you’re stressed, but it will only make it worse!
• Create a nightly routine that helps you fall asleep and stay asleep.
• Develop a solid morning routine to start your day with some structure and relaxation.
• Connect with Promise the Children for information, advocacy and volunteer opportunities.

Hiring People to Help

Don’t try to do everything yourself; if you can budget for it, hire people to help around the house.

• Make sure you have a reliable handyman that you can call for any home repair issues that come up.
• Bring on a cleaning service to help maintain order and cleanliness in your home.
• And hire a lawn care service to keep your property looking in tip-top shape.

Don’t let the stress of being a work-from-home parent overtake your life. Find ways to lighten your workload and connect with the fam for a happier and healthier balance.

The post Caring for Your Children While Working From Home: How to Do Both Well appeared first on Promise the Children.

There are lessons to learn from the shutdown of child-care this spring in Massachusetts. How can child care centers work?

Massachusetts designated 10,000 “emergency” free child-care slots for eligible “essential workers,” and disabled, and/or homeless children. About 2,500 spots were used. These slots are still open to eligible parents who are returning to work. We can’t verify the reason for this lack of use, but here are some suggestions:

1. Perhaps “essential workers” were strictly defined and too many parents were turned away.
2. Perhaps the free spots were in child-care centers, serving larger groups of children, perhaps 20 in a classroom, and parents feared for the safety of their children’s health
3. Perhaps parents were listening to public health advisors who advised that their children avoid group settings.
4. Perhaps children were safely cared for by relatives.
5. Perhaps there were and still are small licensed childcare programs in homes where parents felt safer.

Many owners of childcare programs have debt from the expenses during the shut-down such as rental fees. The teachers were terminated and may have been able to collect unemployment pay from the government. Now, facility owners have their debt to pay and new regulations that may well double the cost of child care.

Owners will need to purchase cleaning supplies. The class size must be reduced from 20 to 10 children with two teachers. They must keep children separated with no shared toys. The toys will have to be sterilized. They may need to take temperatures and test the children regularly. The children must wear masks.

So tuition will increase and fewer parents will be able to afford it. Licensed child care in homes for a small number of children may be a possible answer until we have a vaccine.

The post Is Safe and Affordable Child Care Possible? appeared first on Promise the Children.

There is no national child-care system. Working parents living on or close to minimum wage cannot afford to pay for licensed child care, rent, food, and transportation. They may be lucky enough to rely on a family member, or on a small group of neighbors. But they cannot necessarily rely on the safety of whatever arrangement they are able to make. Fewer than half the population of low waged families have access to quality, licensed child care. This is especially true for infants and toddlers.

Below is an outline of the funding of child care programs.

(1) Head Start and Early Head Start: This is a federal program operating under the auspices of the U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services, that provides child-care to about one million U.S. children from birth to age 5 years. Head Start provides grants to 1600 public and private, for-profit, and nonprofit local agencies to provide this child-care in our states. The grants are issued according to strict formulas. Head Start is usually a year-round program, but some programs operate for half days and others for full days. Teachers must have college degrees related to the child-care profession and are paid about $30,000 annually. Parents apply to their local Head Start Program for admission. Their eligibility is defined partly by Poverty Guidelines that relate to the parent’s income and to. Parents of children admitted to Head Start do not pay a fee. Many Head Start Programs have substantial waiting lists. There is an age gap in that Head Start doesn’t serve younger 5-year-olds who may not be eligible for kindergarten in their state.

(2) The Federal Government Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) has a formula for providing funding for block grants to each state to help the parent(s) pay for child-care for children from birth to 13 years old.  This includes infants, toddlers, PreK, and older children in grades K-8.

The Child Care Programs are licensed in accordance with each state’s regulations. Some of the CCDBG funding is distributed through a voucher system. Parent(s) can apply for vouchers (or pay assistance) that partially fund “spots” in child-care programs accepting vouchers. Parent’s eligibility for vouchers may depend on, employment, disability, participation in acceptable education, and more. These vouchers pay for a portion of the child-care “spot” as long as the parent is eligible. Should the parent lose a job, or the hours of their work change, they also lose the voucher payment for the child-care spot. To find more information speak with your local Child Care Resource and Referral Agency. (CCRRC).  There is a gap in funding the child-care “spots” when the payment for vouchers is interrupted. The child-care program loses money. Advocates suggest that each state contract fund payment for a number of “spots” in local child-care programs to stabilize the financing of their operation.

(3) Some elementary public schools have designated space for child-care, usually for four, and five-year-old children.  Children may be admitted for 2 or 3 days weekly. Parents usually pay privately for this service.

(4) Family Child Care Homes may be licensed, unlicensed, registered, or license-exempt. This child-care may be offered by a friend or family member in their home. There may be fewer children cared for in these homes than in a child-care center. This service may be offered at any time of day or night, and siblings of different ages may be welcomed. A parent looking into this type of care should check to see if the state has ratings for the quality of these Homes. Child Care Aware offers a Family Child Care Home Checklist. Click here to view their list.

(5) A Co-Op preschool is composed of a group of families who hire trained teachers and work with them to provide a quality preschool for their children. The parents contribute time to make this a quality experience for their children.

Recently, some Republican and Democratic Legislators have promoted the Child Care is Essential Act to fund child care nationally with $50 billion in relief to support existing child care providers and to make child care affordable for low waged workers. Read more about the act here.

The post Low-Waged Working Parents Need Affordable Child Care appeared first on Promise the Children.

During these challenging times, we’ve rounded up a handful of resources for Nahant area residents in need of a little extra help to feed and support their families. We’ve also listed ways you can help these organizations continue to operate and support the wellbeing of children and families in our community.

My Brother’s Table at 98 Willow Street in Lynn MA offers free prepared meals to go during the week from 12:00 to 4:30 PM. On Saturdays and Sundays a bagged breakfast and hot meal to go are available from 2:00-4:30. Meals are offered to everyone without financial screening. Single people or parents out of work or staying home to care for children and/or  ill relatives are welcome. My Brothers Table needs volunteers – call 782-595-3224, or donate at http://www.mybrotherstable.org.

Daniel’s Table at 10 Pearl Street in Framingham has placed freezers in locations throughout Framingham. Inside these freezers are restaurant quality healthy frozen meals that Daniel’s volunteer staff has created for distribution to those in need. Some are students in school or colleges. Others are parent(s) who’ve who lost their jobs. To volunteer, or donate call (508)-405-0769.

Promise The Children has received donations to help pay for making masks for the volunteers handing out food to those who need a meal at My Brother’s Table. The textiles have also been donated. Our volunteers consist of a dedicated crew of two Nahant seamstresses, cloth cutters, a wire cutter, and a prep volunteer. So far, the team has created and donated 45 masks, primarily to My Brother’s Table in Lynn, Nahant seniors, and Nahant residents in need.

Please email us to add to this list or update a resource. Thank you!

The post Nahant Area Resources and How You Can Help appeared first on Promise the Children.

During these challenging times, we’ve rounded up a handful of resources for Taunton-area residents in need of a little extra help to feed and support their families. We’ve also listed ways you can help these organizations continue to operate and support the wellbeing of children in our community.

Taunton Area Community Table (TacT) | 378 Bay Street, Taunton, MA

TacT is still open to families for a new Grab & Go meal service. Their current hours are 11:15am–12:30pm Monday–Thursday. They welcome anyone, regardless of where you live or what your circumstances may be.

How you can help: TacT needs help adding more to their meal bags. They are especially looking for healthy breakfast items like the following: single-serving breakfast cereals, single packets of instant oatmeal in different flavors, breakfast bars, yogurt, fresh fruit or any other breakfast items you enjoy in individual servings would be helpful. You can drop them off at the meal center Monday–Thursday between 9:00 AM and 12:30 PM. In an abundance of caution, they will have a bin outside the side door where donations may be left without having any unnecessary contact. For more, call (508) 386-3807 or visit them on Facebook.

Our Daily Bread Taunton, Food and Resource Center | 111 High Street, Taunton, MA

Our Daily Bread is serving and feeding our homeless population with daily lunches and to-go bags under an outdoor tent daily, Monday-Friday from 11:00am to 12:00pm.

How you can help: Our Daily Bread is looking for donations, monetary and non-perishable food donations are most welcome including canned food, boxed goods, pasta, sandwich meats, cheese, chips, cookies, etc. For more, call (508) 824-1788 or visit them on Facebook.

Boys and Girls Club of Metro-South, Taunton Clubhouse | 31 Court Street, Taunton, MA

The Boys and Girls Club of Metro-South, Taunton Clubhouse is now offering a grab-and-go dinner service program Monday-Friday between 4:30-5:30 PM. This nutritional assistance program is open to ALL youth ages 18 and under–not just BGCMS Club members! They have also recently expanded their dinner menu to include hot items! For more information, please call them at (508) 824-4341 or visit their Facebook.

Girls Inc. of Taunton | 131 Arlington Street, Taunton, MA 

Girls, Inc. is continuing to connect with girls in our community through their social media with videos and messages. With so much change and uncertainty, they are exploring options for online programming through Zoom. They are in need of monetary donations in order to support staff who are able to continue to serve our girls through online programs. Consider a donation today. For more, visit them on Facebook.

To update information regarding your organization or add a resource to our list, please send us a message.

The post Taunton Area Resources and How You Can Help appeared first on Promise the Children.

When disaster strikes, we’re often amazed by the number of neighbors who rush to the front lines and the many community members whose first question is: how can I help? While those in our medical communities are in the best position to serve as our front line defenders, here are other ways you can help the Greater Lynn community during this trying time. (And please remember: wash your hands, don’t touch your face, and commit yourself and your families to social distancing (staying at least six feet apart from others) in order to keep our healthcare workers and communities safe.

Lynn Community Health Center: The Lynn Community Health Center (LCHC) is a leader in developing new initiatives that result in high-impact, low-cost health care. More than 41,000 children, adults, and elders rely on LCHC for comprehensive health care, regardless of ability to pay. The nonprofit’s vision is that poor health is never again a barrier to raising a healthy family, pursuing gainful employment, or learning in school. Donations contribute directly to the health and well-being of everyone in the Greater Lynn community. Here’s where you can donate: https://www.lchcnet.org/donate

My Brother’s Table: My Brother’s Table (MBT), located in Lynn, is the largest soup kitchen on the North Shore. With no government funding, the organization has been nourishing neighbors for 365 days a year since 1982. Last year alone MBT served over 186,000 meals. Here’s where you can donate: http://www.mybrotherstable.org/funding_donation.shtml

Greater Lynn Senior Services: Greater Lynn Senior Services (GLSS) is the nonprofit Aging Services Agency serving people age 60 and older and adults living with disabilities in Lynn, Lynnfield, Nahant, Saugus, Swampscott and all of Boston’s North Shore. GLSS delivers close to 300,000 “Meals on Wheels” to homes every year and serves another 120,000 at lunch sites located at local senior centers, day programs, and housing sites. GLSS operates in the homes of over 4,000 seniors and adults living with disabilities in the Greater Lynn area each day and provides over 700,000 door-to-door rides per year for people living with disabilities throughout 27 cities and towns. Donate to GLSS here: https://www.glss.net/Join-Us/Donate-Now

The REAL Program: Since 2013, The REAL Program has collected and distributed over 125,000 children’s books in Lynn while building and placing over 40 bookshelves or little free libraries throughout the community. REAL reinforces the literacy skills of beginning readers by providing books, homework assistance, healthy food, and fun for children and their families. Staffed with committed volunteers including high school and college students as well as retired teachers, REAL also offers ESL classes to parents for whom English is a second language. You can donate to The REAL Program here: https://www.therealprogram.org/

Girls Inc. of Lynn: Girls Inc. of Lynn is a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring all girls to be Strong, Smart, and Bold. Since 1942, Girls Inc. of Lynn has responded to the changing needs of girls and their families by providing essential resources and programs to disadvantaged, low-income girls. Each year Girls Inc. of Lynn serves over a thousand girls throughout Greater Lynn communities. Here’s where you can give to Girls Inc.: https://girlsinclynn.org/get-involved/donate/

Boys & Girls Club of Lynn: The Boys and Girls Club of Lynn was established in 1889, making it one of the first 20 clubs created in the United States. The Club is committed to inspiring and enabling all young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens. During the school year the Club serves more than 1,500 members ages 5 to 18 and welcomes more than 250 children through their doors daily for various after-school programs. The Club’s summer camp program serves over 125 children each week. You can donate directly to the Boys & Girls Club of Lynn here: https://bgcl.org/support-the-boys-girls-club-of-lynn/

Alfredo’s Italian Kitchen: Alfredo’s Italian Kitchen has been serving pizza in Lynn for years. Now they’re dishing out free pizzas to families struggling to feed their children as schools shutter in response to the coronavirus. “Lynn has been very good to us for the last six years and I think It’s time to give back to the community,” owner Thaer Demaidi said. If you’re facing concerns about feeding your kids, or if you’d like to support Alfredo’s efforts, call the restaurant at 781-584-4954 or visit their website here: http://alfredositaliankitchen.com/ak/lynn/menu.aspx

Tides Restaurant & Pub in Nahant: This longstanding Nahant establishment has generously donated food and beverages to many Promise the Children events. Now is the time to return the favor! If you’re interested in supporting the Tides Restaurant, consider purchasing a Gift Card and enjoying a night out in the future: http://tidesnahant.com/gift_certificates.html

Project Bread: Over 318,600 children in our state rely on school meals. Less than 24 hours after school closures were announced, Project Bread — along with state and school leaders — had more than 300 sites set up where kids can continue getting free meals. Project Bread is committed to preventing and ending hunger in Massachusetts. The nonprofit provides access to food for people who are hungry today, while working to break the cycle of hunger through advocacy, education, and community action. Here’s where you can support their COVID-19 response.

Meals on Wheels America: Vulnerable seniors are at the greatest risk amid COVID-19, and local Meals on Wheels programs are on the front lines every day. This nationwide nonprofit remains focused on doing all they can to keep older Americans safe and nourished in communities across the country. Give to the Meals on Wheels COVID-19 Response Fund to help local communities across the country meet the increased demand for nutritious meals that can keep our seniors safe and healthy. Donate here: https://ams.mealsonwheelsamerica.org/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?WebCode=covid19donate

Follow the Families First Coronavirus Response Act: With the goal of supporting millions of working families throughout the United States, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act is set to provide immediate paid sick leave and paid family leave, expanded unemployment insurance, vital nutrition aid, more Medicaid funds for states, and free COVID-19 testing for our communities. Recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, we now need the Senate to act. Here’s where you can contact your Senators: https://indivisible.org/demand-your-senators-address-coronavirus-outbreak

The post Ways to Support the Greater Lynn Community During Challenging Times appeared first on Promise the Children.

Promise the Children is seeking a part-time Communications and Marketing Coordinator beginning April 1, 2020. This temporary role will continue throughout the summer and end just before Labor Day on September 4, 2020.

Title: Communications & Marketing Coordinator (Part-Time, Temporary)

Duration: 6 months | Beginning March 30, 2020 – September 4, 2020

Location: Greater Lynn Area / Nahant, MA | Majority of work can be done from home

Hours: 5 hours per week

Pay Rate: $20 per hour / $400 per month

Application Deadline: March 20, 2020

Qualifications: Fluent in English. Proof of experience with social media and the ability to post successfully on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. Knowledge of WordPress and Mailchimp email marketing campaigns. Excellent writing skills and the ability to write on behalf of the challenges facing today’s children, parents and teachers. Experience with public relations, graphic design and/or fundraising helpful.

Responsibilities: Run all social media accounts for Promise the Children. Post weekly on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. Write, design and launch a monthly email campaign asking for action on issues related to problems faced by today’s children. Generate publicity for an annual summer service project and fundraiser. Must be familiar with WordPress, Mailchimp and Social Media. Must be available at first for for bi-weekly meetings with Promise the Children President (either in-person or online), followed by monthly meetings (either in-person or online) once a working rhythm has been established.

About: Promise The Children is a nonprofit advocacy organization urging volunteers to take action in support of children. Promise began by serving Massachusetts children and became a national organization as well as a local advocacy organization via social media. Public Policies that Promise The Children support include: Medicaid, CHIP, Food Stamps, School Lunch, Childcare for All, Early Childhood Education, Gun Safety, Criminal Justice Reform and more.

In order to be locally relevant, Promise the Children Board Members and friends decide on an annual local fundraising effort. For two years we have raised funds for the Lynn nonprofit The REAL Program which offers after-school and summer camp literacy enrichment for public school students in Lynn. The Communications & Marketing Coordinator also handles the publicity for the annual Promise the Children summer fundraiser.

To Apply: To apply for this position, please email rkr@promisethechildrenuu.org with your resume and a short statement of how your experience relates to this role and to our organization. Please also provide examples of your work with email campaigns and social media.

The post Job Opening: Communications & Marketing Coordinator (Part-Time, Temporary) appeared first on Promise the Children.

While volunteering in a children’s summer program, I often saw a foster child run to the teacher’s desk each day and ask if their foster parent had dropped off lunch. Lunch was never there, and the child was offered a daily peanut butter sandwich. This was humiliating because others had good food from home. One day this child brought food and shared it within the classroom. Sadly, the facilitator, not knowing the significance of this event, ordered that the food be removed.

As of September 2017, approximately 443,000 U.S. children had been placed in foster care by organizations similar to Family and Children’s Services. This number is increasing due to the country’s opioid addiction crisis. In 2017, about half the children in Foster Care were adopted by a family member. A total of about 118,000 children and youth were waiting to be adopted, and 23% of these foster children lived in institutions, group homes, trial and pre-adoptive homes.

Temporary placements of children in foster care who are already stressed by being removed from their families may actually increase stress for these children. This stress may even become toxic and can alter a child’s brain. In Massachusetts, the increase in referrals to  Family and Children’s Services exceeds the availability of experienced and reliable foster parents. The solution to this problem may be found if states endorse the Families First Prevention Services Act that allows Title IV funds to be used to provide better education and health care support for parents as well as for Foster Care. Let your state legislator know if you approve this endorsement.

Many U.S. public and private schools have little understanding of toxic stress. Children experiencing stress may act out and disturb classrooms. Some teachers are seriously challenged by certain students; without counseling resources, a teacher may punish these children and cause even more stress. Some school districts (including Lynn Public Schools), may even place a social worker in each school to advise teachers.

Lynn has funded a Director of Social and Emotional Learning who supports the teachers and social workers in each public school. Each Lynn elementary school classroom has a quiet space where children learn to calm down. In the state of Washington, there is a quiet room in each school that is supervised by a social worker where children can collect themselves. Many public school classrooms have daily quiet times in which children are allowed to calm down and collect themselves.

If you are a voter, please be aware of the services in your public schools and take action to ensure that our teachers and children have adequate support and understanding of children suffering stress.

Resources:

Parent Support Groups & Parental Stress Line: Call (800) 632-8188 or visit www.parentshelpingparents.org.

Videos for Teachers Re: Early Childhood Learning: https://www.turnaroundusa.org/

The Center for the Developing Child at Harvard: https://developingchild.harvard.edu/

The post Foster Care: Supporting and Understanding the Children Suffering Stress appeared first on Promise the Children.

“The science is clear: when parents are stressed, babies pay the price. That is why improving conditions for families with young children is one of the best investments any nation can make.”

– The Raising of America | Documentary Series

Infants are born with millions of disconnected brain cells and most cells connect in the first five years of life. Starting at birth, a baby’s brain develops rapidly and produces more than one million neural connections each second. While learning occurs throughout all stages of life, more neural connections are developed in the brain in the first 5 years of life than at any other time.

These connections don’t just happen. The full attention of parents, teachers, and caretakers is required so that an infant can become a strong child who can cope with kindergarten and beyond. Babies are influenced by loving relationships, positive experiences, and a calm environment that includes love, music, rocking and listening to conversation—but a violent or hostile environment can result in permanent trauma to a child’s brain.

Learning Experiences

A baby learns while he or she is awake. Learning experiences can happen at home, either with parents, grandparents or a caretaker. They can also happen at Early Head Start, at a licensed childcare center or at the home of a friend who is caring for neighboring babies.

Infants watch the behavior of adults around them. They observe adult behavior far more than we recognize and may even try to join in. By observing their environment, infants learn about joy and relaxation, but they also learn about anger, frustration, fear and more.

The brains of Pre-K children are more flexible and adaptable, and when learning is delayed to later years, much more effort and skill is required from both teacher and student. Education can then become more costly and time consuming.

Growing infants and preschoolers need regular and focused attention from an adult. They also need activities that are appropriate to their age. They need help in learning to focus and control their emotions, which can be provided to all of our children by an alert parent or a trained caregiver in a licensed and inspected caregiving situation. When we place our children in unlicensed childcare situations that are not inspected, we may put our youngest citizens at risk of neglect and abuse. However most licensed childcare with trained caretakers is scarce and costly, with fees varying from state to state.

The Majority of Caregivers Need Government Subsidies to Offset Costs

According to a recent Care.com survey, approximately 70% of families are paying childcare rates that are unaffordable as defined by the U.S. government. Recognizing this problem, why do we continue to cut funds for programs that improve the cognitive development of infants and toddlers when this investment would improve opportunities? As Frederick Douglas once said: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

As a society, we have understood the importance of early childhood brain development for many years, but we deny adequate funding for higher wages or for programs that teach parents and caretakers how to encourage brain development within infants and toddlers. Many of our neighbors are bringing infants into the world without the necessary parenting skills, nor the money needed to afford trained caretakers who can encourage infant and toddler learning. Our society does not take the time to understand that 90% of brain development occurs before age 5, any many people ignore the plight of today’s families who must find multiple jobs just to pay for childcare, food, healthcare and housing.

Promise the Children advocates for affordable healthcare, childcare, and early education for all. Let’s help struggling parents to provide a bright future for their children and for our country. Please inform your elected officials that you support federal programs for children and keep in touch with them by phone or email. Together we can help all of our children develop into the healthy, strong children they are meant to be.

Programs that Make Childcare More Affordable

Early Childhood Home Visiting for a newborn and mother, by an experienced volunteer or a professional, is funded federally for eligible Moms on Medicaid. Some states fund Home Visiting more broadly.

Federal Refundable Tax Credits: The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit allows guardians to claim certain subsidies.

State Legislation: Some states have passed legislation requiring public schools to offer or provide space for childcare, while other states designate tax funds or charitable fundraisers to help pay for childcare. Various programs in Minnesota, Wisconsin and New Jersey are working with local school systems to allow for childcare in existing school spaces.

The Child Care Resource Center (CCRC): CCRC offers subsidy programs and financial assistance for families to pay for childcare and early head start. This organization may even help you find childcare resources locally.

Childcare and Development Block Grant (CCDBG): While childcare received a huge boost in the 2018 federal budget, approximately 83% of eligible children are still not being served. Here is the powerpoint by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) on childcare development.

The post Early Childhood and Our Future: Advocating for Infants and Babies appeared first on Promise the Children.

Today’s children face multiple stresses surrounding separation from family and community. This separation in and of itself is very stressful. The reasons for the separation are also stressful, and may include:

• Parent(s) who are addicted to opioids or substances causing them to neglect their children.

Based on data from 2014 and earlier, about 1 in 8 children (8.7 million) aged 17 or younger lived in households with at least one parent who had a Substance Use Disorder (SUD).

• Parent(s) who are incarcerated, sometimes for minor and non-violent offenses.

I recently read of a mother who had her baby induced so she could nurse for six weeks before her incarceration. Nationally, there are more than 120,000 incarcerated mothers and 1.1 million incarcerated fathers who are parents of minor children ages 0-17.

• Immigrant parent(s) who must leave their citizen children behind when ICE detains or deports them.

According to 2010-2014 census data, nine million U.S. citizen children under the age of 18 are currently at risk of separation because they live with an undocumented family member.

Children also experience stresses in their family and community, including:

• Gun Shot Wounds: Approximately 21 U. S. children and teens (ages 1-17) are shot every day, the second leading cause of injury related death.
• Sexual and Physical Abuse: Children have always been victims of abuse. Today’s children may face the publicity of their misery that is often posted on social media. Surely this publicity hampers their chance of recovery.

When children are neglected, usually they are referred to state-run Departments of Children and Family Services (DCF). Generally, after a short research period to determine if there is an existing guardian, each child is placed in family or group foster care, and there is little or no counseling available to help children deal with the event causing separation or the separation itself.

In the next newsletter, we will discuss more about Foster Care.

The post Many Children Today Face Overwhelming Stress appeared first on Promise the Children.

Red Flag Laws: 17 states have enacted a Red Flag Law. This law allows a temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to themselves or others. A judge makes the determination at a court hearing, and refusal to comply is a criminal offense. Another court hearing is usually required to extend the gun removal. This law has strong support, including from the NRA, as long as due process is involved. Senator Marco Rubio (R — FL) has introduced a national bill.

A License for Gun Owners: State licensing laws for firearms fall into four categories: (1) 10 states have enacted laws issuing a permit or license to buy at least some firearms; (2) MA, IL and NY require a license to own firearms; (3) CA requires firearm safety certificates indicating that safety training has been completed, and WA requires safety training for semi-automatic weapons; and (4) Washington D.C. has a registration law that also functions as a license requirement.

HI, IL and MA require a permit to buy a gun that is issued after a background check. NJ requires that firearm buyers obtain a permit to purchase a firearm and conduct the purchase through a federally licensed firearms dealer. Four more states (IA, MI, NE, and NC) require a permit and background check to buy a handgun, but not long guns. IL also requires a point of sale background check for all gun sales at gun shows.

National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS): Current federal law requires background checks (through NICS) only for guns sold through licensed federal dealers and not through gun shows or private dealers.

Background Check Laws by State: Twelve states (CA, CO, CT, DE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA) and D.C. require universal background checks at the point for the sales and transfers of all classes of firearms, whether they are purchased from a licensed dealer or an unlicensed seller. MD and PA require a universal background check only for the purchase of a handgun.

Concealed Carry or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon in public out of sight. As of 2018 there have been 17.25 million concealed weapon permits issued in the United States. There is no federal statutory law concerning CCW. All 50 states have passed laws allowing qualified individuals to carry certain concealed firearms in public, either without a permit or after obtaining a permit at the state and/or local level; however there are still many states with CCW that don’t issue permits or make it extremely difficult to obtain one.

While we lack a strong federal gun safety law, many states have passed a variety of laws. These laws are being researched for effectiveness (complete listing here).

If you have an opinion about these issues, make sure you vote for those who agree with you. We also encourage you to speak with the elected officials in your state.

The post Gun Safety: Laws, Licenses and Background Checks appeared first on Promise the Children.

Red Flag Laws: 17 states have enacted a Red Flag Law. This law allows a temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to themselves or others. A judge makes the determination at a court hearing, and refusal to comply is a criminal offense. Another court hearing is usually required to extend the gun removal. This law has strong support, including from the NRA, as long as due process is involved. Senator Marco Rubio (R — FL) has introduced a national bill.

A License for Gun Owners: State licensing laws for firearms fall into four categories: (1) 10 states have enacted laws issuing a permit or license to buy at least some firearms; (2) MA, IL and NY require a license to own firearms; (3) CA requires firearm safety certificates indicating that safety training has been completed, and WA requires safety training for semi-automatic weapons; and (4) Washington D.C. has a registration law that also functions as a license requirement.

HI, IL and MA require a permit to buy a gun that is issued after a background check. NJ requires that firearm buyers obtain a permit to purchase a firearm and conduct the purchase through a federally licensed firearms dealer. Four more states (IA, MI, NE, and NC) require a permit and background check to buy a handgun, but not long guns. IL also requires a point of sale background check for all gun sales at gun shows.

National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS): Current federal law requires background checks (through NICS) only for guns sold through licensed federal dealers and not through gun shows or private dealers.

Background Check Laws by State: Twelve states (CA, CO, CT, DE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA) and D.C. require universal background checks at the point for the sales and transfers of all classes of firearms, whether they are purchased from a licensed dealer or an unlicensed seller. MD and PA require a universal background check only for the purchase of a handgun.

Concealed Carry or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon in public out of site. As of 2018 there have been 17.25 million concealed weapon permits issued in the United States. There is no federal statutory law concerning CCW. All 50 states have passed laws allowing qualified individuals to carry certain concealed firearms in public, either without a permit or after obtaining a permit at the state and/or local level; however there are still many states with CCW that don’t issue permits or make it extremely difficult to obtain one.

While we lack a strong federal gun safety law, many states have passed a variety of laws. These laws are being researched for effectiveness (complete listing here).

The post Gun Safety: Laws, Licenses and Background Checks appeared first on Promise the Children.

Red Flag laws: 17 states have enacted a Red Flag law. This law allows a temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to others or themselves. A judge makes the determination at a court hearing, and refusal to comply is a criminal offense. Another court hearing is usually required to extend the gun removal. This law has strong support, including from the NRA, as long as due process is involved. Senator Marco Rubio (D. FL.) has introduced a national bill.

A License for Gun Owners? State licensing laws for firearms fall into four categories: (1) Ten states have enacted laws issuing a permit or license to buy at least some firearms. (2) MA, IL & NY require a license to own firearms, (3) CA requires firearm safety certificates indicating that safety training has been completed, WA requires safety training for semi-automatic weapons, (4)DC has a registration law that also functions as a license requirement.

HI, IL and MA require a permit to buy a gun that is issued after a background check. NJ requires that firearm buyers obtain a permit to purchase a firearm, and conduct the purchase through a federally licensed firearms dealer. Four more states (IA, MI, NE, and NC) require a permit and background check to buy a handgun, but not long guns. IL also requires a point of sale background check for all gun sales at gun shows.

National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS): Currently, federal law requires background checks (through NICS) only for guns sold through licensed federal dealers and not through gun shows or private dealers.

Background Check Laws by State: Twelve states (CA, CO, CT, DE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA) and DC require universal background checks at the point for the sales and transfers of all classes of firearms, whether they are purchased from a licensed dealer or an unlicensed seller. MD and PA require a universal background check only for the purchase of a handgun.

Concealed Carry or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon in public out of site. As of 2018 there have been 17.25 million concealed weapon permits issued in the United States. There is no federal statutory law concerning CCW. All 50 states have passed laws allowing qualified individuals to carry certain concealed firearms in public, either without a permit or after obtaining a permit at the state and/or local level; however, there are still many states with CCW that don’t issue permits or make it extremely difficult to obtain one.

While we lack a strong federal gun safety law, many states have passed a variety of laws. These laws are being researched for effectiveness. Here’s a complete listing

The post Gun Safety Laws #3 Rebekah Richardson appeared first on Promise the Children.

Assault Weapons: Recently I saw a TV report about a U.S. District Attorney who was shot and wounded by someone whom she had sentenced. The dark scars running up her arms startled me. The shooter had used an assault weapon with bullets that exploded after entering her body. While our constitution allows the ownership of guns, there is no reason for the private or licensed sale of assault weapons and ammunition to the general public. Gun manufacturers have a responsibility to our communities as well as to themselves and their investors. Assault weapons and ammunition that are designed to kill and injure people should not be manufactured and sold for public or private use.

Banning Assault Weapons: There has been bipartisan support for an assault weapons ban. A ban was signed into law in 1994 and allowed to expire in 2004. Since then, attempts to pass a law have failed. Seven individual states have laws banning the sale of assault weapons: CA, CT, D.C., HI, MA, NJ and NY. There may be regulations in these states regarding the ownership of assault weapons prior to the dates when the bans went into effect.

Mass Shootings and Assault Weapons: About ten or twelve mass shootings have involved assault weapons. These are the deadliest shootings with many adults and children killed or wounded in seconds. There have been suggestions by Republicans and Democrats to ban the sale of assault weapons, completely, and buy back the ones that are already privately owned. There should be a ban on bump stocks, which allow repeated shooting of hand guns and of “armor piercing bullets, or of any bullets designed to cause unnecessary bodily damage. Such ammunition is simply torture.

Relationship of Gun Laws and Gun Related Deaths: There’s some relationship between the states with the strictest gun laws and the fewest gun related deaths. There’s also a relationship between the states with the most gun related deaths and the largest number of gun owners:

• States with fewest gun-related deaths: CT, MA, NY, HI, RI
• States with the strictest gun laws: CT, MA, NY, CA, CO, MD, NJ, D.C.
• States with most gun-related deaths: AK, AL, MT, LA, MS
• States with the most gun owners: AK, AL, MT, AR, NM, WY, WV

If you have an opinion about these issues, make sure you vote for those who agree with you. We also encourage you to speak with the elected officials in your state.

If you have an opinion about these issues, make sure you vote for those who agree with you. We also encourage you to speak with the elected officials in your state.

The post Gun Safety: Community Safety and Assault Weapons appeared first on Promise the Children.

Assault Weapons: Recently I saw a TV report about a U.S. District Attorney who was shot and wounded by someone whom she had sentenced. The dark scars running up her arms startled me. The shooter had used an assault weapon with bullets that exploded after entering her body. While our constitution allows the ownership of guns, there is no reason for the private or licensed sale of assault weapons and ammunition to the general public. Gun manufacturers have a responsibility to our communities as well as to themselves and their investors. Assault weapons and ammunition that are designed to kill and injure people should not be manufactured and sold for public or private use.

Banning Assault Weapons: There has been bipartisan support for an assault weapons ban. A ban was signed into law in 1994 and allowed to expire in 2004. Since then, attempts to pass a law have failed. Seven individual states have laws banning the sale of assault weapons: CA, CT, D.C., HI, MA, NJ and NY. There may be regulations in these states regarding the ownership of assault weapons prior to the dates when the bans went into effect.

Mass Shootings and Assault Weapons: About ten or twelve mass shootings have involved assault weapons. These are the deadliest shootings with many adults and children killed or wounded in seconds. There have been suggestions by Republicans and Democrats to ban the sale of assault weapons, completely, and buy back the ones that are already privately owned. There should be a ban on bump stocks, which allow repeated shooting of hand guns and of “armor piercing bullets, or of any bullets designed to cause unnecessary bodily damage. Such ammunition is simply torture.

Relationship of Gun Laws and Gun Related Deaths: There’s some relationship between the states with the strictest gun laws and the fewest gun related deaths. There’s also a relationship between the states with the most gun related deaths and the largest number of gun owners:

• States with fewest gun-related deaths: CT, MA, NY, HI, RI
• States with the strictest gun laws: CT, MA, NY, CA, CO, MD, NJ, D.C.
• States with most gun-related deaths: AK, AL, MT, LA, MS
• States with the most gun owners: AK, AL, MT, AR, NM, WY, WV

If you have an opinion about these issues, make sure you vote for those who agree with you. We also encourage you to speak with the elected officials in your state.

The post Gun Safety: Community Safety and Assault Weapons appeared first on Promise the Children.

Assault Weapons: I saw a TV report about a U.S. District Attorney who was shot and wounded by someone whom she sentenced. The dark scars running up her arms startled me. The shooter had used an assault weapon with bullets that exploded after entering her body. While our constitution allows the ownership of guns, there is no reason for the private or licensed sale of assault weapons and ammunition to the general public. Gun manufacturers have responsibility to our communities as well as to themselves and their investors. Assault weapons and ammunition that are designed to kill and injure people and should not be manufactured for public or private use.

Banning Assault Weapons: There has been bi-partisan support for a n assault weapons ban. A ban was signed into law in 1994 and allowed to expire in 2004. Since then, attempts to pass a law have failed. Seven individual states have laws banning the sale of assault weapons – CA, CT, D.C., HI, MA, NJ & NY. There may be regulations in these states regarding the ownership of assault weapons prior to the dates when the bans went into effect.

Mass Shootings & Assault Weapons: About ten or twelve mass shootings have involved assault weapons. These are the deadliest shootings with many adults and children killed or wounded in seconds. There have been suggestions by republicans and democrats to  ban the sale of assault weapons, completely, and buy back the ones that are already privately owned. There should be a ban on bump stocks that allow repeated shooting of hand guns and of “armor piercing bullets, or of any bullets designed to cause unnecessary bodily damage. Such ammunition is simply torture.

Relationship of gun laws & Gun Related Deaths: There’s some relationship between the states with the strictest gun laws and the fewest gun related deaths. There’s also a relationship between the states with the most gun related deaths and the largest number of gun owners.

States with fewest gun related deaths:   CT, HI, MA, RI, NY

States with the strictest gun laws:   CA, CT, CO, D.C., MD, MA, NJ, NY

States with most gun related deaths:   AK, AL, LA, MT, MS.

States with the most gun owners        AK, AR, AL, NM, MT, WY, WV.

In the next News item, I will discuss gun safety laws.

The post Community Safety & Assault Weapons (2) appeared first on Promise the Children.

Years ago a friend of mine lived next to a neighbor with a fierce dog that was ready to bite every living thing that passed by his house. One day that dog got free, came into my friend’s yard and attacked his dog. In anger, my friend decided to kill that fierce dog. He got his gun from a locked safe, retrieved his bullets from separate storage, and started toward the door. He had time to reconsider and returned the gun and bullets to their separate, safe storage. A gun should be locked up safely, and the bullets stored separately, so that children won’t use them for play and so that gun owners have time to reconsider their use in an infuriating situation.

Safe Storage of Guns at Home: Massachusetts is the only state with a law requiring that gun owners lock their gun(s) in safe storage. Eleven states require that there be locking devices on guns when they are sold or transferred by licensed gun dealers. A similar federal law was passed in 2005, but this law doesn’t apply to private dealers.

Death and Injury by Gun Shots: In the United States there are many more school shootings than in any other industrialized nation on earth. In 2017, gun deaths reached their highest level in at least 40 years with 39,773 deaths that year alone. Here are more alarming gun shot statistics:

• Every year, 15,000+ children are killed by gun shots.
• So far in 2019 there have been 22 shootings at U.S. schools in which someone was hurt or killed.
• In total there have been 319 mass shootings in 2019 with 11,300+ deaths and 22,510 injuries.
• Each year, 600 women in America are shot and killed by an intimate partner, and millions of women have been non-fatally shot or threatened with a gun by an intimate partner.

Surely our democracy can provide a safer environment for our children. Surely business leaders can think about more than money for themselves and returns for their shareholders. These people assist in the death and injury of children, parents and others by selling weapons and bullets that were made for war and not for use in a peaceful, advanced society.

If you have an opinion about these issues, make sure you vote for those who agree with you. We also encourage you to speak with the elected officials in your state.

The post Gun Safety: Providing a Safer Environment for our Children appeared first on Promise the Children.

Years ago a friend of mine lived next to a neighbor with a fierce dog that was ready to bite every living thing that passed by his house. One day that dog got free, came into my friend’s yard and attacked his dog. In anger, my friend decided to kill that fierce dog. He got his gun from a locked safe, retrieved his bullets from separate storage, and started toward the door. He had time to reconsider and returned the gun and bullets to their separate, safe storage. A gun should be locked up safely, and the bullets stored separately, so that children won’t use them for play and so that gun owners have time to reconsider their use in an infuriating situation.

Safe Storage of Guns at Home: Massachusetts is the only state with a law requiring that gun owners lock their gun(s) in safe storage. Eleven states require that there be locking devices on guns when they are sold or transferred by licensed gun dealers. A similar federal law was passed in 2005, but this law doesn’t apply to private dealers.

Death and Injury by Gun Shots: In the United States there are many more school shootings than in any other industrialized nation on earth. In 2017, gun deaths reached their highest level in at least 40 years with 39,773 deaths that year alone. Here are more alarming gun shot statistics:

• Every year, 15,000+ children are killed by gun shots.
• So far in 2019 there have been 22 shootings at U.S. schools in which someone was hurt or killed.
• In total there have been 319 mass shootings in 2019 with 11,300+ deaths and 22,510 injuries.
• Each year, 600 women in America are shot and killed by an intimate partner, and millions of women have been non-fatally shot or threatened with a gun by an intimate partner.

Surely our democracy can provide a safer environment for our children. Surely business leaders can think about more than money for themselves and returns for their shareholders. These people assist in the death and injury of children, parents and others by selling weapons and bullets that were made for war and not for use in a peaceful, advanced society.

The post Gun Safety: Providing a Safer Environment for our Children appeared first on Promise the Children.

My friend lived next to a neighbor with a fierce dog ready to bite every living thing passing by his house. One day the dog got free, came to my friend’s yard and bit his dog. My friend decided to kill that fierce dog. He got his gun from a locked safe, and his bullets in separate storage and started towards his front door. He had time to reconsider and returned the gun & bullets to their safe storage. A gun should be locked up safely, and the bullets stored separately so (1) children won’t use them for play, and so(2) the owner has time to reconsider their use in an infuriating situation.

Massachusetts is the only state with a law requiring that gun owners lock their gun(s) in safe storage. Eleven states require that there be locking devices on guns when they are sold or transferred by licensed gun dealers. A similar federal law was passed in 2005.  This law doesn’t apply to private dealers.

There are many more U.S. school shootings than any other industrialized nation. In 2017, gun deaths reached their highest level in at least 40 years, with 39,773 deaths that year alone.

Every year, 15,000+ children are killed by gun shots.

So far in 2019 there have been 22 shootings at US schools in which someone was hurt or killed.

Each year, 600 women in America are shot and killed by an intimate partner, and millions of women have been non fatally shot or threatened with a gun by an intimate partner.

There have been 319 mass shootings in 2019 with 11,300+ deaths & 22,510 injuries.

Surely our democracy can provide a safer environment for our children. Surely business leaders can think about more than money for themselves and their stockholders. These people assist in the death and injury of children, parents and others by selling weapons and bullets that were made for war and not for use in a peaceful community

The post Gun Safety and Gun Laws #1 by Rebekah Richardson appeared first on Promise the Children.

Around 1.4 million U.S. students between the ages of 6-18 are homeless, and every year approximately 1 million babies, toddlers and preschoolers also experience homelessness. The definition of homelessness is divided into those who are sheltered and those who are not. Thankfully, the majority of children are in sheltered situations. The extent of homelessness nationally and in each state is described here.

Homelessness is a public health crisis and there is a significant negative impact of homelessness on children’s mental and physical health. Here are resources prepared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that may help strengthen our nation’s families facing financial hardship.

The crisis of homelessness faced by U.S. children is fluid and shifts according to age group. Our public school policies do not classify foster children who are in our welfare system as homeless, but our foster care system is not always able to provide consistent care. Foster children may face changes in living situations and caregivers; as a result, their physical and mental well-being may be traumatized by the fear and anxiety associated with homelessness.

A statistically common scenario is for a homeless, low-waged single mother with one school-aged child and a preschooler to live in a technically sheltered but homeless situation, which could include:

• a homeless or domestic violence shelter;
• living “doubled up” and/or living with another family;
• sleeping in a car, or on a family member’s couch,
• renting a small room in a house.

These situations are not stable and change frequently. Homeless parent(s) typically share common economic and social and/or emotional experiences. Roughly 80% of mothers who become homeless have experienced some form of domestic violence or other trauma. Most, if not all, have barriers to economic mobility. With a shortage in affordable housing and a failure of wages for unskilled workers to keep pace with inflation, low-waged workers are constantly at risk of homelessness.

The Crisis of Homelessness for Older Youth

For latency age and older youth, the picture of homelessness tends to be different. Many of these youth are categorized as “unaccompanied minors.” The term “unaccompanied” refers to youth living with a person who is not their legal guardian. Usually temporary caregivers are not legal guardians. Temporary caregivers may be family members or friends of parent(s) who may have been detained, deported, incarcerated, addicted to opioids, or injured or killed by gun shots. In addition, youth who have migrated to the U.S. may be living on their own and without a legal guardian. All these homeless youth may not receive medical, educational, or counseling services. This too, contributes to the public health crisis of homelessness.

Here’s how you can help improve the situation for children at risk of homelessness:

Stand Up for Kids: How to Help | Horizons for Homeless Children: How to Help | Housing Families: How to Help

The post Homelessness is a Public Health Crisis by Nicole Simonson, LICSW appeared first on Promise the Children.

Around 1.4 million U.S. students between the ages of 6-18 are homeless. Also every year about a million babies, toddlers and preschoolers suffer homelessness. The definition of homelessness is divided into those who are sheltered and those who are not. Thankfully, the majority of children are in sheltered situations. The extent of homelessness nationally and in each state is described here.

Homelessness is a public health crisis. There is a significant negative impact of homelessness on children’s mental and physical health.  Here are resources prepared by the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services that may help strengthen our nation’s families facing financial hardship.

The crisis of homelessness faced by U.S. children is fluid, and shifts according to age group. Our public schools’ policies do not classify foster children who are in our welfare system as homeless. However, our foster care is not always able to provide consistent care. Foster children may face changes in  living situations and caregivers  and their physical and mental well-being may be traumatized by the fear and anxiety associated with homelessness.

Statistically, a common scenario is for a homeless low waged single mother with  one school aged child and a preschooler is to live in a technically sheltered but homeless situation such as;

•  a homeless or domestic violence shelter,
• “doubled up” and/or living with another family,
• sleeping in a car, or on a family member’s couch,
• renting a small room in a house.

These situations are not stable and change frequently. Homeless parent(s) typically share common economic and social/emotional experiences. Roughly 80% of mothers who become homeless have experienced some form of domestic violence and/or other trauma. Most, if not all, have barriers to economic mobility. With a shortage in affordable housing and a failure of wages for unskilled workers to keep pace with inflation, low waged workers are constantly at risk of homelessness.

Please pay attention when you receive a Promise The Children email. There may be an action you can take to improve the situation for children at risk of homelessness.

The post Homelessness is a Public Health Crisis by Nicole Simonson, LICSW appeared first on Promise the Children.

On August 7, 2019, ICE officials raided several food plants in Mississippi in the largest single raid of its kind in U.S. history.  Many of the individuals detained were parent(s) and some will never be reunited with their children.

What happens to children when parent(s) are no longer at home to care for them?

There are many complicated possibilities for where a child will end up if his or her parent(s) are detained. The best case scenario is when a legal parent is at home to provide care. The next best is when the parent has planned ahead and obtained legal custody arrangement for a guardian to step in if detention or deportation occurs. When there is no custody plan and both parents, or a single parent, are detained, a difficult battle begins when the parents or single parent attempt reunification with their child or children.

Without a legal custody arrangement for a guardian, children are placed in our child welfare system. The welfare system is required to search for “kinship” options and for a very short time they attempt to place a child with a friend or relative. This particularly happens when there is no legal custody arrangement. Without this protection, a child may well be placed in one of these three places:

1) an emergency shelter for children,

2) a group home for citizen children, or

3) a foster home.

If the welfare system finds a friend or family member to be a foster parent, the approval of this placement can take months. Children with no legal guardian may remain in one of the placements described above for a long time.

Once a child is placed in the child welfare system, parents have great difficulty making contact and reuniting with them. Parents must learn how to contact their state’s child welfare offices and search for their child. If a parent makes no contact, it is assumed that the parent does not want reunification (even if that is false) and a new permanent home is sought for the child(ren). The law allows 6-12 months for this process to unfold. After that, the parent’s risk of losing parental rights greatly increases and adoption into another family is possible.

The Women’s Refugee Commission put together a toolkit (available in both English and Spanish) to help immigrant parent(s) plan ahead and increase their chances of family reunification. Consider sharing this toolkit within your community and ask your legislators for a better solution to this problem…because all families belong together.

The post ICE Detentions & Permanent Family Separation by Nicole Simonson, LICSW appeared first on Promise the Children.

On August 7^th, ICE officials raided several food plants in Mississippi in the largest single raid of its kind in U.S. history.  Many of those detained were parent(s) and some will never be reunited with their children. Here’s what happens to  children when parent(s) are no longer at home to care for them.

There is a wide range of complicated possibilities for where a child will end up if his/her parent(s) are detained. The best case scenario is when a legal parent is in the home to provide care.  The next best is when the parent has planned ahead and obtained legal custody arrangement for a guardian to step in if detention or deportation occurs. When there is no custody plan and both parents, or a single parent, are detained, a difficult battle begins when the parents or single parent attempt reunification with their child(ren).

Here’s what happens when there is no legal custody arrangement for a guardian. The child(ren) are placed in our child welfare system. The welfare system is required to search for “kinship” options and for a very short period of time when they attempt placement of a child with a friend or relative. This particularly happens when there is no prior legal custody arrangement. Without this protection, a child may well be place in one of these three places:

1) an emergency shelter for children,

2) a group home for citizen children, or

3) a foster home.

If the welfare system finds or approves of a friend or family member to be a foster parent, this can take months. So children with no legal guardian often still stay in one of the placements described above for a long time.

Once a child is placed in the child welfare system, it’s very difficult for a parent to make contact and reunite with them. Parents must learn how to reach out to their state’s child welfare offices and search for their child. If a parent is not heard from, it is assumed they do not wish to reunite with their child (even if that is false) and an alternative, permanent home is sought for the child(ren). The law allows for 6-12 months for this process to unfold. After that time, the parents or parent’s risk of losing parental rights greatly increases. Adoption into another family becomes possible.

In order to help parent(s )facing the risk of detention, the Women’s Refugee Commission put together a toolkit (Available in both English and Spanish) to help them plan ahead in order to increase their chances of the best possible outcome in a detention situation.  That  is family reunification.

The post ICE DETENTIONS & PERMANENT FAMILY SEPARATION appeared first on Promise the Children.

Homelessness in America is not what you might think it is.  In the U.S.A. 2.5 million children experience homelessness each year. By law, a person qualifies as homeless if they lack “a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence” (McKinney Vento Act). A person does not need to be “unsheltered” to qualify as homeless and experience the pervasive negative impacts of this experience. If you are asked to envision a homeless person in your mind, you may conjure up an image of an aged or middle-aged panhandler on a city sidewalk. Perhaps you may think of this man as a Veteran or someone with a substance disorder, or both. But this image is only a fraction of the true portrait of homelessness in the United States.

Roughly one third of the faces of homelessness in the United States belong to families, typically headed by a young, minority, single mother with two children under the age of six. Around 80% of those mothers are either currently fleeing domestic violence or have experienced interpersonal violence at some point in their lives and lack economic, safe housing, and social support resources. This issue is often compounded by the fact that many of these mothers are “unskilled workers” whose wages have not kept up with increases in housing costs and inflation. Those families who have tried to pay for housing on their own often find themselves spending an average of 70% of their income on housing costs. Volumes of research document the adverse and pervasive impacts of poverty, homelessness and exposure to violence on young children including negative health, educational, and social outcomes. The fallout is generational. While progress has been made to support children in this situation, much more work needs to be done.

Legislation currently exists to protect the educational rights of homeless children, like the McKinney Vento Act, but more is needed in the area of economic mobility for homeless families. An approach that is multi-pronged and intergenerational is necessary. Learn more about proposed legislation here and let your legislators know that we need better solutions today.

The ways that you can help are to volunteer in a homeless center, or donate to you local shelter for families and children. Here is more information:

Services provided by McKinney Vento Act

Coalitionforthehomeless.org

Horizons for Homeless Children

The post U.S. Homelessness Is Not What You Might Think by Nicole Simonson, LICSW appeared first on Promise the Children.

Homelessness in America isn’t what you may think. By law, a person qualifies as homeless if they lack “a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence” (McKinney Vento Act). A person does not need to be “unsheltered” to qualify as homeless and experience the pervasive negative impacts of this experience. If you are asked to envision a homeless person in your mind, you may conjure up an image of a middle-aged, or aged, unshaven man panhandling on a city sidewalk. Perhaps you may think of this man as a Veteran or someone with a substance disorder, or both. This image is only a fraction of the portrait of homelessness in the United States.

Roughly one third of the faces of homelessness in the United States belong to families, typically headed by a young, minority, single mother with two children under the age of six. Around 80% of those mothers are either currently fleeing domestic violence or have experienced interpersonal violence at some point in their lives and lack economic, safe housing, and social support resources. This issue is often compounded by the fact that many are “unskilled workers” whose wages have not kept up with the increase in housing costs and inflation. Those families who have tried to pay for housing on their own often find themselves spending an average of 70% of their income on housing costs. Volumes of research document the adverse and pervasive impacts of poverty, homelessness and exposure to violence on young children including negative health, educational, and social outcomes. The fallout is generational. While progress has been made to support children in this situation, much more work needs to be done.

Legislation currently exists to protect the educational rights of homeless children (e.g. McKinney Vento Act) but more is needed in the area of economic mobility for homeless families. An approach that is multi-pronged and intergenerational is necessary.

The post Homelessness in America Isn’t What You May Think appeared first on Promise the Children.

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Promise the Children invites you to our annual Summer Fundraiser in support of The REAL Program!

When: Friday, August 2nd from 6:00-9:00 p.m.
Where: Promise the Children | 58 Winter Street | Nahant, MA
RSVP: Eventbrite registration page

Join us for a summer fundraiser hosted by Promise the Children in honor of The REAL Program in Lynn. Enjoy light bites, wine, sangria and beer. Chips, dip and fresh guacamole will also be served.

DONATIONS APPRECIATED! Consider making a donation online or at the door.

A collection of rare oddities and affordables will be available for sale or auction as well as raffle tickets for monetary awards. Raffle tickets will be sold at $10 a ticket with two grand prizes of $300 and $200. This fundraiser will help support literacy enrichment for Brickett pre-school in Lynn and its school children as well as ESL and high school equivalency support for parents in need.

Make a REAL Difference when you Promise the Children! RSVP today.

About The REAL Program: REAL reinforces the literacy skills of beginning readers by providing books, homework assistance, healthy food, and fun for children and their families. Staffed with committed volunteers including high school and college students as well as retired teachers, they offer ESL classes to parents for whom English is a second language. Learn more: www.therealprogram.org

About Promise the Children: PTC recruits volunteers who advocate for charitable and government funding in support of young children’s access to education, health care, and healthy food. They advocate via social media and email to those who sign up. PTC also works with REAL on fundraising to better support low-waged Lynn families with children. Learn more: www.promisethechildren.org

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“Each year, an estimated 4.2 million youth and young adults experience homelessness, of which 700,000 are unaccompanied minors, meaning they are not part of a family or accompanied by a parent or guardian. On any given night, approximately 41,000 unaccompanied youth ages 13-25 experience homelessness.”

– National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) | Youth Homelessness Overview

Though we often consider our society to be quite progressive, the statistics of homeless children and teenagers is a testament against the modernity flaunted by major institutions. It’s a weak point, certainly, and the situation is only becoming increasingly dire. Parents of color and of lower wages live in communities that face the brunt of imprisonment for minor misdemeanors, while immigrant parents face deportation by ICE. Both challenges result in families being torn apart, with many children ending up homeless or in the foster care system.

Though foster care is often a better alternative than homelessness, the system has its fair share of inadequacies. Addressing the issues in the foster care system would benefit not only the children of immigrant families or families of color, it would benefit any and all children placed within the system for whatever reason. In April, The Boston Globe ran an article detailing the hopes of advocates for ameliorating the current foster care structure. The current system struggles with “conflicts of interest” among other serious issues that prevent maximum efficiency and care for its children. The system is also in charge of evaluating itself, which leads to biased reporting. Advocates are calling for an unaffiliated organization dedicated to monitoring the activities within our foster care system.

The current foster care system also lacks stability for the children in its care, with living situations frequently changing. This lacks a certain level of understanding, and prioritizes outward efficiency instead of internal adequacy. In such a serious developmental stage for children, it’s important that their living situation doesn’t add to the mental stress they may be experiencing when separated from their families or either orphaned entirely. Foster care needs a serious revamping in terms of completely prioritizing the wellbeing of the children—but there are other ways to help combat the abundance of children who experience homelessness. Addressing incarceration rates and deportation laws can help keep families together and target the problem at the source, avoiding some of the strife placed on our children through the foster care system.

Resources: Stand Up for Kids: How to Help | Horizons for Homeless Children: How to Help | Housing Families: How to Help

The post The Children Who Experience Homelessness by Grace Pires appeared first on Promise the Children.

Each year Promise the Children focuses on a number of important issues that range from Child Poverty and Early Education to Limiting Out-of-School Suspensions, Advocating for Stronger Gun Laws and Ending the Detention of Immigrant Children.

As a member of the PTC community, we value your feedback! Our current areas of focus include Public School Funding and Teacher Salaries, Child Care and Early Education, Gun Safety and Control, and the Supervision of Detention Centers Housing Immigrant Children Separated from Parents.

Which of these issues are you most interested in working on by staying in touch with your federal legislators?

Create your own user feedback survey

The post Take Our Survey! What Issues Are You Most Interested In? appeared first on Promise the Children.

Each year Promise the Children focuses on a number of important issues that range from Child Poverty and Early Education to Limiting Out-of-School Suspensions, Advocating for Stronger Gun Laws and Ending the Detention of Immigrant Children.

As a member of the PTC community, we value your feedback! Our current areas of focus include Public School Funding and Teacher Salaries, Child Care and Early Education, Gun Safety and Control, and the Supervision of Detention Centers Housing Immigrant Children Separated from Parents.

Which of these issues are you most interested in working on by staying in touch with your federal legislators?

Create your own user feedback survey

The post Take Our Survey! What Issues Are You Most Interested In? appeared first on Promise the Children.

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“School funding is a mix of federal, state, and local funding sources distributed through complex and ever-changing formulas, making it all too easy for elected leaders to use half-truths and lies to slash education budgets and divert taxpayer dollars from public schools. Pro-public education advocates can’t allow that to happen.”

– National Education Association (NEA) | School Funding: Learn the Facts and How to Use Them

As public schools begin to wind down for summer, now is the perfect time to let your local legislators know that we need better funding for public schools. Most state legislative sessions begin in January, which means your state legislature is likely in session. (Not sure? Check with Ballotpedia for legislative session dates by state for 2019.)

Did you know? Public schools in the United States are locally funded by property taxes. This means that schools in wealthier districts are more likely to have better facilities. Many times you can see the difference in public schools when driving from town to town.

In 2005 the U.S. Department of Education published an important overview of school funding—10 Facts About K-12 Education Funding—that showed that education funds had been drastically reduced over the years despite an increase in the number of students attending our schools. More than 12 years later, census data from 2018 showed that these dramatic cuts to school funding have only continued.

In Massachusetts it has been 25 years since state funding has been adjusted to meet the needs of its schools.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average cost to send a child to public school for a year in 2013 was $10,700, but this average masks a wide variation that ranges from $6,555 per pupil in Utah, to $19,818 in New York. Here is more information on the variation in school spending from state to state.

Taking Action for Public School Funding

Today, in streets across the country, many teachers, parents and public school supporters are making their voices heard. In cities like Sacramento, California and Portland, Oregon, wide-scale rallies, marches and walkouts are bringing attention to inadequate school funding and basic public school needs, including:

• Higher teacher salaries to meet the cost of living;
• Better funding for disabled students;
• Increased funding in low-income school districts;
• Smaller class sizes for all teachers;
• Repairs on leaking roofs, windows and more; and
• Better care of school playgrounds.

How Schools Are Funded

Among the nation’s school districts, annual funding per student can range from less than $4,000 to more than $15,000. The “typical” school district with 1,000 or more students receives roughly $5,000 per year for each student, and affluent districts may receive $10,000 per student or more.

A combination of state funds, local sources such as property taxes (and in some cases income taxes), and federal funds pay the per student costs. The amount of state funds that a district. or sometimes an individual school, receives is based on a formula that takes into account the student enrollment numbers and the property wealth of the parents in the school district. The average school district receives about 44 percent of its funds from the local government, 47 percent from the State and 7% from the federal government.

Last year in response to strong advocacy from teachers and parents, Arizona, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, increased funding for public schools. These are 4 of 12 states that had cut school “formula” funding in the last 10 years. Despite these improvements, formula funding remains well below 2008 levels in these states. Students in Michigan and Rhode Island have filed class-action lawsuits against their states for failing to provide the funding necessary for adequate public education. (Source: CBPP.org)

Supporting School Funding

If you’re interested in advocating for better funding for schools, consider supporting Stand for Children whose mission is to ensure that graduation from high school is followed by access to college or career training. Stand for Children is active in 10 states including Arizona, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas. You can also join the National Education Association (NEA) which is committed to advancing the cause of public education across the United States. A recent movement launched by NEA known as Red for Ed is tackling school finding head on:

“Educators don’t enter the profession expecting to get rich. They do it because they love teaching and because they have an unwavering belief in their students… Today we see budgets being cut, overcrowded classrooms and outdated materials. We see educators working around the clock to make a difference in the lives of their students and standing up to lawmakers to ask for better pay and school funding. We’re raising our voices together for our students, for our schools and for ourselves as educators.”

If you believe our public schools deserve better, we urge you to support these important initiatives and let you own voice be heard by contacting your local legislators.

The post Better Funding for Public Schools: Ask Your Legislators to Act! appeared first on Promise the Children.

The current administration has proposed drastic changes to SNAP, our national food stamp program, that will leave some of our nation’s most vulnerable families without assistance to purchase food.

Current proposed funding for SNAP is approximately $537 million less than it was in 2018. Remember, this is a program that provides food aid to approximately 40 million people, the majority of whom are children and the elderly.

According to federal documents, the new Budget proposes to increase SNAP work requirements to at least 20 hours or more of employment, employment-related training or community service in order to receive benefits.

New regulations do not take into account many irregular employment arrangements or the many low-wage jobs that are disappearing, like those in the auto industry that are moving overseas or being replaced by technology. If a worker’s hours are unexpectedly cut or diminished, they will lose their eligibility for food stamp assistance.

These changes could go into effect as soon as October, and hundreds of thousands of our neighbors across the country are at risk. In the state of Illinois alone more than 400,000 residents are expected to lose their SNAP benefits overnight.

The public comment period ends in April and there is still time for our voices to be heard. Consider sharing your SNAP experiences with Moms Rising here.

Many of our lowest paid laborers and their families depend on the food stamp program in order to avoid starvation. These laborers include some teachers, meal service employees, nurses’ aides, maintenance workers and more.

Here are some common situations that could prevent low-income individuals from receiving SNAP benefits:

• Companies that only offer minimum waged jobs on holidays and in the summer;
• Time-limited jobs that are available only when there are increases in demand;
• Home care workers that lose employment when their client dies or is relocated; and
• Teachers that may rely on food stamps when they are unemployed over the summer.

Many unskilled workers hold 2 or 3 jobs at minimum wage. At any time they may lose these jobs, along with their health care and food stamps if a work requirement is imposed.

Contact your legislators and tell them that food stamps dependent on a work requirement will only lead to more hunger. Remind them that SNAP is an anti-hunger program whose only purpose is to help our most at-risk neighbors eat.

The post SNAP is an Anti-Hunger Program — Full Stop appeared first on Promise the Children.

Access to quality early education and childcare varies enormously across income classes.

Many times wealthier families have the money to spend on these services, but those with lower salaries do not. As a result, wealthier children are ready to learn in kindergarten and first grade while those lacking the experience of quality early childhood education, either in a classroom or at home, are not. Here is more information on the high cost of childcare in the United States.

Sadly, falling behind in kindergarten and the early grades can cause large achievement gaps throughout school and later in life. This includes children who have the misfortune of dropping out of high school and falling into the pipeline to prison.

Voters and candidates for political office are just beginning to understand that quality early education and childcare are an essential part of the development our youngest citizens. U.S. children are falling far behind those in foreign countries who are receiving adequate pre-school and grade school education. Our children need quality early education so as to be ready for first grade. They need better public education throughout grade school and high school so as to be prepared for the challenges of today’s job market.

Promise the Children supports a national investment in higher-quality childcare and early education for all children from the day they are born.

In the aggregate, such an investment would pay off economically for everyone, so long as we are willing to wait a decade or so for the children to grow up and enter the job market. This could raise the standard of living for the children of today’s low-waged workers.

The current patchwork of tax credits for early education and childcare and government subsidies for early education and childcare is deeply flawed. Those with six-figure salaries benefit from childcare tax credits, while those who are economically stressed face multiple and complicated eligibility requirements that leave them stranded. Worse, early educational programs exist in most states, but they too have insufficient funding and long wait lists. You may find more information here.

Please let your elected officials know that all of our children need an ambitious investment in early education now. Ask our candidates for office: “How do you plan to give all children access to quality early education?”

Or you can write or email candidates at statewide or federal offices. “We are failing our youngest citizens and our own future by not providing all our youngest children access to quality education and child care. We need quality care for all of our children whose parent(s) are either trying to find work or are working. Are you committed to early education and childcare for all? How would you pay for this?”

Here is more information on contacting your elected officials through ground mail, email or social media.

The post Quality Early Childhood Education and Childcare for All appeared first on Promise the Children.

Supporters of Promise the Children would like to think that our country values all families and children, no matter what country they call home.

During the holiday season, an image that is often in our minds is that of the birth of Jesus. It is during this time of year that The Three Kings are said to have followed the star of Bethlehem to visit The Holy Family. Perhaps the Magi came from nearby areas now known as Iraq, Iran or Saudi Arabia. They may have even come from Yemen.

This is the time of year we honor families.

Today Yemen has been turned into a modern battlefield with very limited access to food and medicine for innocent Yemeni families and children. We have all seen images of some of the 85,000 children who are dying of starvation and know that there are thousands more suffering and dying every day. “Currently Yemen is suffering from what is being called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in the last 100 years, with many people not having the essentials that they need to survive, like food, water and shelter.” — BBC Report | December 2018

What’s happening in Yemen and how did we get here? 

Despite joining together as a country in 1990, the north and south of Yemen disagree on how the country should be run, and fighting has almost always existed between the government and anti-government fighters (called the Houthi and also known as the rebels). The situation reached a peak at the end of 2014 when the country descended into civil war, when the rebels—backed by Iran—took over the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. The former President of Yemen fled to Saudi Arabia, which today leads a coalition of 10 countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal, and Sudan) in support of the Yemeni government. The United States has pressed Saudi Arabia and its allies to end the war against the Houthi, but our government continues to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia meant for its pro-government forces—which enables the fighting to continue.

The U.S. also supports the coalition with refueling and intelligence.

“We are horrified that 85,000 children in Yemen may have died because of extreme hunger since the war began. For every child killed by bombs and bullets, dozens are starving to death and it’s entirely preventable.” — Save the Children | November 2018 Report

The United States continues to play a role in this humanitarian crisis.

There are additional reports that the Saudis killed 40 Yemeni children in a school bus with a bomb supplied by the United States. This is senseless cruelty, yet our government continues to support this terrible, pointless war. After increased pressure, our legislators have started to respond. In late fall, a majority of our U.S. Senators voted to end the U.S. support of the war in Yemen, but the House refused to join them.

But now we have new members in our House of Representatives. With your phone calls, perhaps our Representatives would now vote to end our participation in the Yemeni war. Please call your legislators today—as we have seen, our voices can make a difference! Thank your Senators for their vote to end the war in Yemen, and ask your Representatives to support a bill to end our participation in the Yemen tragedy.

Call My Congress | Enter your zip code to find the phone number of your representatives.

The post Stop Death in Yemen: Ask Your Legislators to Act! appeared first on Promise the Children.

Christmas is supposed to be about the beautiful birth of Jesus in Bethlehem that inspires us to be generous, loving, and forgiving. Jesus was born a refugee whose parents fled from Nazareth because the Roman King Herod, threatened to kill all male newborns there. Herod killed many newborns, because one of them was said to become king and perhaps to steal his thrown. Jesus, Mary and Joseph were refugees in Bethlehem from this threat. Fortunately their family didn’t suffer the separation and detentions that plague immigrants in our country today.

In the past, we have honored children and families at Christmas time. We collect toys, share meals, and join together in song. But now we are declaring war on children. We are adding hundreds and maybe thousands of children to imprisonment in detention camps around about the country including a camp in the southern dessert call Tornillo. At least 2,000 children, perhaps toddlers as well as teens, are imprisoned in Tornillo. Did the Grinch steal Christmas?

In this Christmas season we have succeeded in restricting access to health care. As a result many children may suffer illness and lose their lives. We have also failed to pass common sense gun laws regarding the use and storage of guns. Death of children and adults is commonplace on our streets. Yet we have failed to take action.

Perhaps we should reflect on that special birth in Bethlehem. We should empower our better side. Let’s take action in the New Year and tell our legislators that we want a safer, kinder place for our immigrant children and our own citizen children grow up to become a vibrant part of our country. Let’s chase that Grinch away. Let’s make peace with all our children and ensure them a loving childhood.

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Many states across the U.S. currently have very flexible laws and minimal enforcement for gun licensing. Licensing laws are a simple way to make sure guns are purchased and used by responsible Americans, however the federal government—and too many states—have yet to put many of these smart gun laws in place.

Gun licensing has been proven to reduce gun violence and trafficking, and it remains a necessary component to crafting comprehensive, effective gun laws.

Another way to save lives is through the safe storage of firearms. Safe storage laws promote responsible gun-owning practices by requiring gun owners to keep their firearms out of the reach of others, such as children or prohibited persons, who could use the weapon to deadly effect. These laws help prevent tragedies due to unintentional discharges, suicide, and gun theft by creating an environment that helps to ensure firearms are only used by the their rightful owners.

Presently Massachusetts is the only state in the nation that requires that firearms be stored with a locking device in place in all cases when they are not in use.

Join us in working to expand these requirements across the U.S.!

During the month of December, while many of us will be fortunate enough to be surrounded by family and friends, Promise the Children will remain focused on gun licensing laws and the safe use and storage of guns. Please help us spread the word or consider a donation to our cause.

Our new legislators will take office on January 3, 2019. Please consider contacting your representatives to ask for:

– Stronger enforcement of gun licensing laws;
– Improved records that keep track of all gun purchases;
– Better training requirements for using and storing guns;
– Increased education in gun training and gun safety; and
– Stricter gun laws that keep firearms out of the hands of those who should not have them.

Thank you for your continued support on behalf of our youngest citizens. Wishing you and yours all the best during this holiday season.

Becky Richardson
President
Promise the Children

The post Licensing Laws and Safe Storage: Essential Steps to Reducing Gun Violence appeared first on Promise the Children.

We need more publicity for those who speak out about rape and assault. We must believe in what the victims tell us. Regardless of their income, we must demand investigation and then punish  those who engage in this behavior.

The Catholic Church is a good example of a group  that is beginning to take responsibility for the rape and assault of children. Finally, this kind of criminal behavior is being made public and punished. On the whole, our society, fails to support these victims.  There is still a whiff of the idea that the victim is at fault, especially if the victim is a woman.

What happened to Dr. Ford during the Kavanaugh hearings is an example of failure to punish the perpetrator, and even of blaming the victim. We did not believe Dr. Ford enough to identify the perpetrator and to punish that person.

Recently I have learned more about the rape and assault of young people, small children and even oral rape of babies. The latter was in the news a while ago exposing an international ring of male criminals who were raping babies. The particulars of rape and assault of very young people include the victim’s self blame that results in hiding the crime for many years, as did the Catholic victims. The victim is afflicted with acute stress, even mental illness while growing up and keeping the crime a secret. When the crime is revealed, public belief is in short supply as happened to Dr. Ford. Holding all men and women accountable for the crime of rape or assault of children has not yet happened.

However, Planned Parenthood (PPL) is committed to the prevention of sexual assault. One wonders if that is why our legislators, who are mostly men, are working to prevent funding for this organization.  RAINN offers a 24 hours a day and 7 days a week hot line for victims to call for help after experiencing a rape or assault. RAINN is interested in improving public policy and providing public education. #MeToo is also a very important resource for reporting personal experiences even if they occurred long ago.  Darkness to Light gives the following facts and urges that you watch their video.

• Experts estimate that 1 in 10 children are sexually abused before their 18th birthday, and about 35% are 11 years old or younger.
• 30% of children are abused by family members. As many as 60% are abused by people the family trusts.
• Nearly 40% are abused by older or larger children.

The post Rape and Assault appeared first on Promise the Children.

Promise has written a recent news articles about the decrease in public school funding and the increase in students that is making teaching so difficult today. Fortunately, there are many charities that have dedicated themselves to helping with homework and strengthening the literacy skills of our nation’s children. You may know about such charities as Girl’s and Boy’s clubs, Girl’s inc., the YMCA’s and the YWCA’s. Our partner REAL is a small charity that works closely with Lynn’s Brickett elementary school children and offers them literacy training outside the school day. REAL offers early education for PreK children, and English as a 2^nd language courses for parents. The REAL program involves parents in their children’s education, and offers social gatherings for families. The goal of Promise the Children is to support funding for the education of our young children. That is why we are in Partnership with REAL.

The REAL program has moved recently and their new location needs work so as to meet licensing regulations. Promise The Children, in partnership with REAL raised a salary for a part time outreach worker. Working together, we celebrated our partnership and raised $3,500+. We offered a raffle with prizes of $100, $300 and $500 and raised another $1,700+ from ticket sales. This $5000+ matches a grant of $5000 from the Bailey Family Trust to the Real Program. The part time outreach worker has been hired! We have more work to do. You may donate here.

The post The REAL/Promise The Children Partnership appeared first on Promise the Children.