August/September 2006

Message from the Executive Director:

Focus on Kids and Political Campaigns

by Charity Eleson

The state and federal election campaign season is heating up, and with that come opportunities for children's advocates to let candidates know that they must develop serious responses to children's needs for a good education, health care, economic security and safety.

There are now nearly 180,000 Wisconsin children living in poverty--that is, in households where earnings are at or below $1,383 a month for a family of three; and there are 84,000 children living in families living at 50 percent of poverty or below (at or below $692 a month for a family of three).

Recent news of the continuing growth in the number of children living in families who fall below the poverty line, and the dramatic spike in the number of children in families living at 50 percent of the poverty level or below, has prompted the Council to make visits with the editorial boards of the major newspapers around the state. We've been discussing our concerns and possible policy solutions, and encouraging editorial boards to raise questions with the gubernatorial, legislative and congressional candidates about their ideas to substantively address the rapid growth in the number of Wisconsin children living in poverty.

Poverty has multiple tentacles, jeopardizing the safety, health and well-being of the children it touches. Compared to children in moderate- and higher-income families, low-income children are more likely to be neglected or abused, more likely to struggle academically, more likely to live in unsafe housing and neighborhoods, more likely to end up in the juvenile justice system, and more likely to be poor as adults. While it is one of the most significant risk factors for children, it also has solutions, and it's essential that Wisconsin's three candidates for Governor and all of our legislative and congressional candidates be asked by voters this fall how, if elected, they will work to enact policies and make public investments that will mitigate the effects of poverty on children, and how they will work toward eliminating poverty.

To help you advocate for children with this year's spate of candidates, the staff at the Council has developed a new publication, "Vote for Kids: A Guide for Children's Advocates in Wisconsin-Election Year 2006." The guide provides an array of facts and excerpts of research on child poverty, early education, health care, juvenile justice and educational achievement, along with suggested questions voters may wish to pose to candidates in town hall meetings, candidate forums and other venues at which candidates appear. We've also prepared a voter's guide that's easy to download and use to encourage first-time voters to register and vote. It can also be found at our website. You can find these materials, and other information on voting and elections, on our website at http://wccf.org/projects/voteforwiskids.html.

We hope you will use this tool to remind political candidates that kids do have a voice in Wisconsin, and that people like you are raising tough questions, expecting good answers, and voting for kids come this November.