First Focus staff and partners attempted to raise awareness around children’s issues in a number of ways in 2013. Yesterday’s blog focused on congressional testimony, reports, and fact sheets that First Focus prepared or commissioned in 2013.
Below are blogs that First Focus staff and our partners published in 2013 on our own website (www.firstfocus.net) or that First Focus staff wrote for Huffington Post or MomsRising on critical policy issues of importance to our nation’s children.
First Focus Blogs
- “The Affordable Care Act’s Impact for Former Foster Youth” – Cara Baldari (Child Health and Child Welfare)
- “Pre-K for Every Child: A Matter of Fairness” – Kevin Lindsey (Early Childhood):
- “Unemployment: A Children’s Issue” – Christina Kelly (Family Economics)
- “Public Pre-K by the Numbers” and “Private Pre-K by the Numbers” – Kevin Lindsey (Early Childhood)
- “New Family Unity Waiver Rule Will Help Keep Families Together” – Kevin Lindsey (Immigration)
- “The Changing Face of Homelessness in America” – Cara Baldari (Family Economics and Housing)
- “Keeping Kids in Nursing Homes: Florida’s Practice of Institutionalizing Children with Disabilities” – Brianna Gross (Child Health)
- “More Than One in Five Kids Would See a Parent Get a Raise if the Minimum Wage Were Increased to $10.10” – Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute (Family Economics)
- “Too Much Evidence to Ignore on Preschool” – Kevin Lindsey (Early Childhood)
- “Making Medicaid Work for Children in Child Welfare” – Taylor Hendricks, Center for Health Care Strategies (Child Health and Child Welfare)
- “What About the Children?” – Carrie Fitzgerald (Child Health)
- “The Minimum Wage: A Children’s Issue” – Kevin Curran (Family Economics)
- “Obamacare Offers a “Welcome Mat” to Get Eligible Kids into Coverage” – Lisa Shapiro (Child Health)
- “A Government Shutdown Hurts America’s Kids” – Jared Solomon (Federal Budget)
- “The Time Has Come for Pre-K for Every Child” – Kevin Lindsey (Early Childhood)
- “Not Knowing Your Rights is Like Having No Rights At All – Oregon’s Foster Youth Bill of Rights Demonstrates the Power of Youth-Led Advocacy” – Pamela Butler, Children First of Oregon (Child Welfare and Child Rights)
- “Message Discipline: Ignore It at Your Own Risk” – Ed Walz (Communications)
- “ICE’s Parental Interest Directive: Helping Families Caught Between the Immigration and Child Welfare Systems” – Emily Butera, Women’s Refugee Commission (Immigration and Child Welfare)
- “Raise Parents’ Low Wages and Raise Their Children’s Opportunities”: Emily Dodson, Boston College and Randy Albelda, University of Massachusetts Boston (Family Economics)
- “Big News: AP Drops Use of the I-Word” – Madeline Daniels (Immigration and Communications)
Blogs by First Focus Staff on Huffington Post and MomsRising
- “Don’t Gamble With Our Children’s Health” – Bruce Lesley via Huffington Post (Child Health)
- “Renewing Our Vision for America’s Children” – Bruce Lesley via Huffington Post (Child Advocacy)
- “Children and American Leadership: What Would the Roosevelts Do?” – Bruce Lesley via Huffington Post (Child Advocacy)
- “Protecting Child Health by Embracing Its Success” – Bruce Lesley via Huffington Post (Child Health)
- “A Matter of Basic Fairness and Opportunity” – Bruce Lesley via Huffington Post (Early Childhood)
- “Immigration Reform: Building Fences With Shadows or Bridges With Hopes and Dreams?” – Bruce Lesley via Huffington Post (Immigration)
- “Medicaid Block Grants: A Zombie Idea with Lipstick in Texas” – Bruce Lesley via Huffington Post (Child Health)
- “Equity, Testing Madness, and the Ongoing School Wars” – Bruce Lesley via Huffington Post (Education)
- “Actually, Failing Our Children is What’s Unflippingbelieveable” – Bruce Lesley via Huffington Post (Child Advocacy)
- “Gun Safety, Gridlock, and the Demise of Congress” – Bruce Lesley via Huffington Post (Child Safety)
- “Youth Sports, Adult Conduct Disorders, and One Shining Moment” – Bruce Lesley via Huffington Post (Youth Sports)
- “How Did Children Fare in the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) Immigration Reform Markup?” – Wendy Cervantes via MomsRising (Immigration)
- “Celebrating DACA’s Anniversary” – Wendy Cervantes (MomsRising)
- “Diverse Children: Improving Outcomes for America’s Non-Majority Child Population” – Wendy Cervantes (MomsRising)
- “There’s Still Time to Keep Children From Falling Off the Cliff” – Jared Solomon via MomsRising (Budget)