When Congress completed work on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act they passed a major highway and road construction bill but there are important ‘human service” components that go beyond just the potential jobs created. The most significant human service need are the new provisions on drinking water, particularly with the removal of lead but
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will provide some relief for an important human service need, reducing children’s exposure to dangerous lead in our drinking water. In the middle of the last decade, the country saw close-up the havoc lead contamination can mean to a city and more importantly the families that live there.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will provide a great deal of help to address a need that was exposed during this pandemic, access to the internet for remote and poor areas. The pandemic has highlighted the need for Broadband technology for work, school, and health resources. Broadband technology is defined as a “high-capacity transmission
On November 2nd, 2021, First Focus on Children hosted a Congressional briefing, “Covering all Children – the Path Forward.” Panelists included, Kelly Whitener, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center for Children and Families, Dr. Glenn Flores, Holtz Children’s Hospital and Dr. David Rubin, Population Health Innovation at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The panelists
On Thursday, November 4, 2021, Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-CA) introduced 21st Century Children and Families Act (HR 5856). The bill bans discrimination in placement and recruitment of foster and adoptive parents and places added emphasis on kinship care. It requires states to substantiate with clear and convincing data and analysis that the child welfare agency
On October 27, 2021, The American Bar Association (ABA) and Women’s Refugee Commission conducted a briefing on The Impact of Increased Immigrant Enforcement on Child Welfare. As of 2016, out of the 70 million children under the age of 18 in the U.S. more than 18 million reside with at least one immigrant parent. The
On November 3, 2021, First Focus on Children hosted the Children’s Budget Summit to highlight the release of their 15th annual Children’s Budget Analysis. Over the last 10 years, the Children’s Budget analysis has documented federal spending for children. Typically, this means watching federal spending for children be cut at a high rate. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic caused devastation across the world, Congress was compelled to make investments in early childhood, child care, education, family
CWLA joined over 300 other state and national organizations in calling on Congressional leadership to support the historic inclusion of the child care and pre-kindergarten expansions in the Build Back Better plan. The groups tell Congress: “The historic investment and policies outlined in the framework would support the transformative work of building a strong,
Last week the Urban Institute released an analysis of what they see as a census undercount with certain states suffering from that undercount. One potential impact of the 2020 pandemic was the impact on the 2020 Census. According to the analysis the undercount was not as severe as expected, but there were problems as far
Early on Thursday, October 28, 2021, the White House released a new final framework for the reconciliation bill, the President’s Build Back Better agenda. The rest of the day was spent working out details and strategies with the end game still not finalized. The good news for the President was that the House Progressive Caucus