Wednesday's adventures in Washington DC

I started my day today by attending a Congressional Briefing titled Children in the Federal Budget which was sponsored by First Focus. At the briefing they released the newest edition of their comprehensive guide to all federal spending on children. The guide includes information for past years as well all the way back to fiscal year 2005 to the present proposal by President Obama for fiscal year 2010. If you would like to check out their data you can find it by going to www.childrensbudget.org. The report for the most part includes spending for children birth to 18. It is very interesting. Congressman Danny Davis was in attendance and spoke about the bill that he plans to re-introduce later this week that will require the President to submit a children's budget to help direct greater attention ton the needs of our youngest citizens. The "Children's budget Act" would require a detailed account of all the federal funding for children and children's programs, including a detailed breakdown of spending by agency.

I then attended a the Children's Leadership Council meeting in the National Association of Education for Young Children's building. This is the second time I have been in their building and I love visiting it! They have statues of children in fun poises right outside their front door. The Children's Leadership Council is VERY exciting! It is a group of over 50 children's organizations that have come together with the purpose of having the early childhood community speak with one voice to the powers that be in the Federal Government. Today they were talking about a meeting that they have coming up in October where they will be meeting with an individual from the Presidents office. This is exciting because for many years the legislatures and senators have been saying that the early childhood community needed to come together and decide what they wanted. The Children's Leadership Council is helping these agency develop a consistent message that all of the agencies can share when they visit the hill.

Next I attended a CLASP meeting that was held in the office of the National Women's Law Center. CLASP's mission is to develop and advocate for policies at the federal, state and local levels that improve the lives of low income people. In particular, we seek policies that work to strengthen families and create pathways to education and work. Today they were talking about possible options for increased funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant. The Child Care and Development Block Grant is the money that is used for multiple programs in Indiana. It is the money for Voucher dollars, Paths to QUALITY and many training opportunities for Child Care Providers among other things.

The meetings that I attended today were also attended by agencies such as Zero to Three, NAEYC and Head Start. It was exciting to see the national organizations all work together. It makes me feel good to know that these wonderful individuals are in Washington DC working for polices that support children and families.

Tomorrow is my last day of work before returning home on Friday. I hope that you have enjoyed hearing about my adventures. I will post again tomorrow.

Have a great night!
Mindy