2011 Policy Agenda: Ensuring our children are ready to learn and lead

The Board of Directors of Michigan’s Children has established the following policy agenda for our legislative and administrative advocacy during the 95th Legislative and 112th Congressional sessions.

The single best predictor of economic prosperity is a state’s success in educating and preparing its workforce. To ultimately thrive in school and the work place, children need:

Michigan ’s Child ren will work to:

• Support federal and state health care reforms guaranteeing that all children are insured and have access to health care and a medical home.
• Ensure adequate outreach for Medicaid and MIChild programs, and adequate funding for comprehensive coverage for all eligible children and young adults.

• Expand public funding for evidence-based health programs that promote prenatal care access, reduce rates of teenage pregnancy, and reduce high mortality and morbidity rates for African American and other at-risk infants and children.

To be raised by parents or caregivers who have the supports they need to be their children’s first and best teachers.

Michigan ’s Child ren will work to:

• Provide access for at-risk families to proven family support programs including home visiting services.
• Establish incentives for schools to create community partnerships aimed at strengthening educational opportunities and increasing parent involvement.
• Ensure that at least 20 percent of all new funding for Michigan’s state-funded preschool program is used to support evidence-based services for children ages 0 to 3 and their families.

Michigan ’s Child ren will work to:

• Increase access to high quality early learning programs, including child care and preschool programs for at-risk four-year-olds.
• Create a prenatal to age 20 (P-20) council or task force that can develop and maintain a high quality cradle to career education system.
• Support innovative after-school programs in middle and high schools, including credit recovery programs and apprenticeships.
• Provide incentives for schools to establish effective discipline alternatives, and support truancy prevention and credit recovery initiatives that utilize strong out-of-school time, higher education and workforce development partners.
• Support multiple pathways to high school graduation, including alternative and community education options and partnerships between community colleges and workforce development agencies.
• Commit to meaningful education reform by supporting consistent funding for schools and programs in order to see real improvement in school success for those most challenged schools, communities and young people.

Michigan’s Children will work with legislators, public officials, corporations, community leaders and other nonprofit partners to put forward this agenda. We also will give community leaders, parents and youths the tools they need to advocate on their own behalf by providing timely information on budget and policy issues affecting children, informing communities of opportunities to influence decision making, training community leaders and youths to be effective advocate, providing forums for children and youths to share with legislators and policymakers their perspectives on the problems they face growing up, and providing communities with necessary data about how local children are faring.

Go to www.michiganschildren.org to see hou YOU can help advance our 2011 agenda!