Bipartisan Leaders Launch Congressional Baby Caucus

To help ensure that infants and toddlers receive much needed attention by federal policy, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT) formed a Congressional Baby Caucus in early May. The goal of the caucus is to create a forum to highlight the cross-cutting and cross-jurisdictional policy issues that affect the lives of infants, toddlers, and their families and to educate members of Congress and their constituents about the role of federal policymaking in the healthy development of very young children.

ZERO TO THREE worked closely with Congresswoman DeLauro and Congressman Rehberg to help create and launch the Baby Caucus. We look forward to our continued work with them, as requested, to host briefings and public events promoting infant and toddler issues, provide leadership across policy disciplines and legislative communities, issue White Papers and publications to inform congressional discussion on infant and toddler issues, identify champions as co-chairs within specific committees of jurisdiction, and recruit colleagues to the cause.

In addition to Congresswoman DeLauro and Congressman Rehberg, thirteen other members have joined the Baby Caucus: Congressman Dennis Moore (D-KS); Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI); Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH); Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD); Congressman Tim Walz (D-MN); Congressman Vic Snyder (D-AR); Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-CA); Congresswoman Madeline Bordallo (D-GU); Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX); Congressman Robert Brady (D-PA); Congressman Mike Ross (D-AR); Congressman John Yarmuth (D-KY); and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). Thank you to all those Members of Congress who have joined their colleagues as Baby Caucus members, and a special thank you to Congresswoman DeLauro and Congressman Rehberg for their bipartisan leadership on behalf of young children and their families!

Federal Policy Update

On May 7, the President released his detailed budget request for Fiscal Year 2010, which runs from October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2010. After making unprecedented investments in young children through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the President's FY2010 budget request largely sustains FY2009 funding levels for the majority of programs serving infants, toddlers, and their families. The President's request did include increases for a few programs such as:

• $7.2 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start, an increase of $122 million above the FY2009 level;
• $27 million for Child Welfare Research and Training, an increase of $20 million over the FY2009 level; and
• $7.8 billion for WIC, an increase of $917 million over the FY2009 level.

The President has also proposed several new programs which will benefit very young children and their families, including:

• Early Learning Challenge Fund - $300 million to provide competitive grants for the "development of a statewide infrastructure of integrated early learning supports and services for children, from birth through age 5….Grants would enable States to raise their standards, build systems that promote quality and ensure the effectiveness of their early learning programs, and monitor all publicly funded early childhood programs' performance against the State's standards."
• Title I Early Childhood Grants - $500 million for the Department of Education to distribute through formula grants to States to "provide matching grants to Title I Local Education Agencies (LEAs) that agree to invest Recovery Act funds in early childhood education. LEAs would use grants to expand existing pre-K programs or to develop and implement new ones serving economically disadvantaged students."
• Promise Neighborhoods - $10 million for funds to "support competitive [1-year] planning grants to nonprofit, community-based organizations to develop programs that address the needs of children in poverty, from birth through college. Awards will enable grantees to complete a comprehensive needs assessment, establish partnerships, and develop a comprehensive plan for the program, in preparation for future awards to support program implementation."
• Home Visitation - $124 million ($8.6 billion over ten years) in mandatory funding for a new program that would provide grants to States for the "establishment and expansion of evidence-based home visitation programs for low income families and pregnant women….The initiative will primarily fund models that have been rigorously evaluated and shown to have positive effects on critical outcomes for children and families. At the same time, a portion of the funds will be used to support promising models requiring additional evaluation."

The President's budget request serves as a guide to the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees as they determine final funding levels for individual programs. The Appropriations Subcommittees will continue to hold hearings over the next few weeks in order to move forward with final spending bills. The House of Representatives is scheduled to complete consideration of appropriations measures by June 30. The Senate traditionally follows with consideration of the bills, and a final conference between the House and Senate is expected by September 30.

Please visit the federal policy section of our website for funding details and descriptions of all the programs listed above, as well as many others.

State Policy Update
Washington Advances Evidence-Based Home Visiting Programs

During the 2007 session, the Washington State Legislature showed its commitment to prevention by approving $3.5 million for Evidence-Based Home Visitation Programs for young children and their families. The funds were allocated to the Council for Children & Families (CCF) over a two-year period to support a variety of home visiting programs proven to achieve outcomes related to child abuse and neglect prevention and early school readiness. Click here to read the full state policy update, including information on CCF's work to define the level of evidence required of the funded home visiting programs.

Publications & Resources

New Policy Platform for Teens with Young Children
The Healthy Teen Network recently released A Policy Platform to Promote Health and Success among Young Families, a set of federal policy recommendations and action steps aimed at establishing or reforming programs and systems that influence whether or not young families may achieve health and success after a teen birth. The report offers recommendations in the areas of health and human services, housing, education, workforce and life skills development, child welfare and development, income security, and knowledge development and transfer.

Federal Expenditures on Infants and Toddlers
A new report, Federal Expenditures on Infants and Toddlers in 2007, by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution examines more than 100 programs through which the federal government spends money on children and calculates the amount spent on children under age 3. The calculations provide baseline information to inform the national conversation about how the investments we make in young children compare to research on proven investments in the early years.

Download ZERO TO THREE's ARRA Interactive Tool
Recently Updated with Office of Head Start Expansion Announcements!
ZERO TO THREE's Navigating the Opportunities for Families with Young Children in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is an interactive tool intended to help decision makers and advocates navigate the ways in which ARRA funds may be used to positively impact the healthy development of our youngest children. The tool is organized around the needs of the whole child - Good Health, Strong Families, and Positive Early Learning Experiences and is simple to navigate. For each featured program, just click on the links within the tool to explore the programs and funding opportunities of interest. The interactive tool is updated regularly to include new information and guidance as it is released.