Wisconsin schoolchildren are slinging on their backpacks and getting ready to head back to school. We often think of schools as safe places for children, but unfortunately, schools cannot block out all harmful influences on children. The Youth Risk Behavioral Survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, shows that for many...
Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families (WCCF) have worked together to provide a treasure trove of data on Wisconsin children on the revised easy-to-use KIDS COUNT website: http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data#WI/2/0Tips for Using the KIDS COUNT WebsiteThe website allows users to see Wisconsin...
A news release on 8/14 highlights a new UW-Madison study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Wisconsin Partnership program Education and Research Committee, that confirms the link between exposure to lead and school suspensions. Specifically, the study found that "Our study found that children exposed to lead were more...
We have seen in Wisconsin this week two youth sentenced to very long prison sentences - albeit not life without parole - that raises the question of what constitutes effective justice in these tragic situations. Does a 30-40 year sentence really meet the spirit of the Supreme Court's intent? Should the opportunity for parole come...
Revised Waiver Makes One Improvement, but Contains Harmful Changes to Transitional MedicaidOn Friday, August 9, the Department of Health Services (DHS) submitted a request to the Obama Administration for a waiver to implement the changes to BadgerCare prescribed by the recently enacted budget bill. The DHS request, which is amended only...
One of the most disappointing things about Wisconsin’s 2013-15 budget bill is that it shifts state resources from low-income Wisconsinites to the those who are very well off. As I said about a month ago in a long Q and A format interview in the Capital Times, the bill employs a “Robin Hood in reverse” strategy for allocating resources....
Initial OIC Release Lacks Info on Rates and Coverage AreasWisconsin got some good news relating to health care reform today when the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) released a list of insurance companies that plan to participate in the new insurance Marketplace created by the federal health care reform law. A broad field of...
National Poll: The First Five Years Fund released poll results showing strong support for early learning. Conducted by the bipartisan research team of Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research, the national telephone survey of 800 registered voters found that 70 percent of Americans favored providing all low- and moderate-income...
Milwaukee is among the big cities with the least income mobility, according to a new study that calculates the likelihood that a child born into poverty will successfully climb to a higher rung of the income ladder.Among the 50 biggest cities, Milwaukee ranks 41st in terms of income mobility, meaning that only 9 big cities had fewer...
County Board Resistance Shortchanges More than 1,200 Adults Losing Their BadgerCare CoverageThe Barron County Board was unable to muster enough votes last week to accept funding for two new positions to help people sign up for coverage under the health care reform law. It appears to be the only county to balk at accepting the state and...
Join us to build a Wisconsin where every child & family thrives.
Your address helps us identify your legislators and the most relevant messages to send you.