Voices for America's Children

Project Background

The mission of Voices for America’s Children is to improve the lives of children throughout the United States by advocating at the community, state and federal levels for effective public policies.

We are a Washington, DC-based national, nonprofit, nonpartisan network of child advocacy organizations committed to speaking out for children at the local, state and federal levels of government.  Celebrating 25 years of advocacy for kids in 2009, VOICES now has 60 member organizations in nearly every state.  We support member organizations advocating for children in their states, advocate directly for effective national public policies, and lead national campaigns to improve public policies affecting children throughout the United States. 

Project Brief

Our project, “Improving the Healthy Development of Children by Strengthening Broad-based Child Advocacy Networks,” reflects our commitment to working on critical child health and child abuse issues in the coming year(s).
Over the next year, VOICES wants to sustain this work in the states and take leadership at the federal level in continuing to work for health insurance coverage for all children with a health coverage model that meets children’s needs for healthy development.
VOICES believes that this focus on both expanding health insurance coverage and improving children’s healthy development can be used as a powerful message in achieving the further changes needed to provide comprehensive health coverage for all children.
2009 and 2010 will be critical years for federal child health policy.  SCHIP will likely be one of the first issues to be addressed by the new President and the 111th Congress, and billions of dollars and the health care for millions of children will be at stake.  Furthermore, actions taken on SCHIP may or may not set the stage for future efforts to expand and improve health coverage.  Strong state-based advocacy, in addition to national advocacy, will be essential to developing a strong SCHIP reauthorization both in terms of securing expanded funding and in terms of developing quality improvements that increase the provision of primary, preventive, and developmental health services.
Actions need to continue on securing a strong early reauthorization of SCHIP that can enable states to continue to move forward in covering more children and that can set the stage for further advances when broader health care reform is initiated. Select VOICES members also will be involved in state-level activities to expand child health coverage that may serve as flagships for diffusion, expansion, and development.  To do so involves, but is not limited to, the following actions to be undertaken by VOICES as part of the project to ensure comprehensive, quality, child health services.
• Dialogue and work with national partners in incorporating provisions for comprehensive, quality health services as part of expanding child health coverage.
• Provide member trainings and briefing materials on comprehensive, quality child health services.
• Work at the federal level to promote further development of Congressional proposals to strengthen the content of child health care.
• Support state-level VOICES member actions to build or strengthen coalitions at the state level that focus upon primary, preventive, and developmental health services.

As part of this project VOICES will continue to support legislative proposals that focus on preventing child maltreatment.  A true commitment from lawmakers at all levels working in partnership with community officials will be necessary to ensure that all children are safe, secure, and have the opportunity to thrive into adulthood.

Impact of Voices for America’s Children

For over two years, the VOICES network has actively pursued the federal reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in order to meet one of our top organizational goals: to ensure that all children receive affordable, comprehensive, high-quality health care that meets their developmental needs.  Specific examples to this end include:

• VOICES and its members were able to accomplish a great deal during the 2007 SCHIP reauthorization debate, educating members of Congress and mobilizing public will in support of substantial expansions to children’s health coverage.  As a result, health coverage for children has become a front page issue in many states and for the first time in many years a child policy issue has received prominence at the federal level. 
• VOICES member, Rhode Island’s KIDS COUNT has held several exchanges with their Congressional staff on the implications of the CMS regulations and SCHIP directive on their state program. Since April 2008, Rhode Island’s KIDS COUNT, along with state partners, has held a monthly call with the health policy staffers of the Rhode Island Congressional delegation in order to facilitate discussion and disseminate information on state and federal health issues.
• VOICES member, Voices for Utah Children has been engaged in improving the state’s outreach efforts to enroll more children. The 2008 state legislative session concluded with significant improvements for the children’s health. Legislation was enacted that requires three state agencies to work together to coordinate their outreach and enrollment efforts. In addition, legislation was enacted that lifts the enrollment cap so that all children who are eligible to enroll in SCHIP are able to secure health care coverage.
• VOICES member in Florida, Children’s Campaign, Inc. is a leader and collaborative member of the Florida Health Care Coalition. In partnership with the coalition and other state partners, the Children’s Campaign, Inc. called for an expansion of their state SCHIP program, KidCare, during the 2008 legislative session. The Children’s Campaign, Inc. continued to participate and organize statewide conference calls and e-mail alerts to continue advocacy support for improvements in children’s coverage.

Scope and Reach of the VOICES Network

The VOICES network includes the national office and 60 members in 46 states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands.
• The aggregate budget of the VOICES network in 2007, with 57 member organizations reporting, brought nearly $53 million to child advocacy efforts.  On average, their boards have 16 to 17 members.
• In VOICES’ 2007 Annual member survey, 57 member organizations reported the cumulative efforts of 806 child advocates working throughout the country.
• In 2008, 48 out of VOICES’ 60 members indicated they are active or very active in expanding health care coverage for children.

For more information about VOICES, please visit www.voices.org

Grant Amount: $ 25,000