Vermont
  |
 Voices for Vermont’s ChildrenMission Statement:The mission of the Voices for Vermont’s Children is to promote public policy that enhances the lives of children and youth in Vermont. Organization Purpose: Voices for Vermont’s Children is a statewide children’s research and policy advocacy organization dedicated to improving children’s wellbeing by focusing a majority of its efforts on Vermont’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged children and youth. Voices’ purpose is to advocate for children and youth, to provide reliable and up-to-date data and research about Vermont children and families, to increase public awareness of their needs, and to organize and work with individuals and organizations across Vermont concerned about their wellbeing. Voices’ independence, credible research, and grassroots connections have made them Vermont’s most trusted leader for children and youth. Recent News: Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law a bill that sets Vermont on a course to provide health care for all of its 620,000 citizens through a European-style single payer system called Green Mountain Care. Key components include containing costs by setting reimbursement rates for health care providers and streamlining administration into a single, state-managed system. Part of implementing the law as soon as possible is a plan to ask the Obama administration for a waiver in order to start putting the new system in place by 2014. |
For many kids, Vermont is a great place to grow up. National child well-being profiles consistently rank our state in the top 10 in the nation. This success is not luck or magic, it is the result of our collective effort to enact forward-thinking laws and to invest in programs and services that help to give our kids a healthy, safe, and economically secure start in life. For 27 years Voices for Vermont’s Children has been an integral part of this effort by helping the public and policymakers understand what helps kids and families thrive. Yet like the rest of the nation, poverty and low-income are a serious threat to the health and wellbeing of Vermont children and youth. Far too many children are growing up in families struggling to meet their most basic needs. In 2008, over 13% of children in Vermont were poor and nearly half (47%) of these children were living below 50% of the poverty threshold. Child poverty rates have fluctuated throughout the past decade, but in recent years, the trend in Vermont has headed in the wrong direction. Compared to our other New England neighbors, Vermont’s child poverty rate is higher than that of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Vermont’s rural communities have become economically fragile – rural Vermonters experience higher rates of unemployment and under-employment than non-rural residents. Compared to non-rural counties, child poverty rates are higher in Vermont’s most rural counties and the median incomes for Vermont’s rural counties are well below the state average. Across Vermont, homeless families with children are on the rise and housing costs are taking a huge bite out of a majority of Vermont’s low-income families’ budgets. Hunger continues to plague Vermonters: Vermont ranks 14th highest in the nation for the number of people per capita who do not have enough food.
The vision and promise of the Child Poverty Council presents an opportunity to make real progress in reducing child poverty in Vermont. To do this requires focus and resources. Unfortunately, the Council receives no funding for dedicated staff, for analysis to measure progress, or for communication and outreach. As an independent member of the Council, representing the concerns of children and youth, Voices is in a unique position to further the goals of the Council by working with Vermont’s State Fiscal Analysis Initiative (SFAI) organization (Public Assets Institute) in providing that analysis, by involving its allies in community outreach and communication and by advancing policies through its relationship with administration officials and legislators.