Moving Policy, Making Progress
Illinois Kids Count 2013: “Moving Policy, Making Progress”

Illinois Kids Count 2013 — “Moving Policy, Making Progress” — focuses on  25 years of achievements and challenges in early childhood education, health care coverage, access to child care services, and seven other featured policy areas. Illinois has made significant strides in improving the lives of children and families, but that progress is now at risk, jeopardizing the health, safety, and well-being of our children and threatening efforts to build a more prosperous future for the state as a whole.

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“Where’s the Love?” — Foster Kids Want to Know

“Where’s the Love?” is a hard-hitting message from the Foster Kids Are Our Kids campaign about how bad things can happen to kids who aren’t given enough love and support. The campaign illustrates how kids in foster care are more likely than their peers to become homeless, drop out of school, or become incarcerated because they often don’t receive the love and support that all kids need in order to help them live up to their full potential.

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Help Prevent Child Abuse — Take the Parent Pledge Today

Affirm your dedication to children and families by joining Voices for Illinois Children, Prevent Child Abuse Illinois, Foster Kids Are Our Kids, Children’s Home + Aid, Be Strong Families, and Gov. Quinn by taking the Governor’s Pledge to End Child Abuse and Neglect. Together, we can prevent child abuse by building communities that are committed to families and to the support and services they need to raise strong, healthy children.

Issues In Focus

Chicago Magazine: The Regular Citizens’ Guide to Illinois’s State Budget
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By Adam Doster
Members of the Illinois House, back in their home districts this week, have 25 days remaining in the spring session, and a lot on their plates. There’s public pension reform, concealed carry legislation, and a potential gaming expansion.

Last but not least, there’s the annual, depressing ritual of crafting a state budget.
Help Us Celebrate Our 25th Anniversary!
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Join us to celebrate the progress we’ve made in creating opportunities for all children to fulfill their potential, and to affirm our shared vision to build better lives – and brighter futures – for the children and families in our state.
Crain’s Chicago Business: At edge of fiscal cliff, hard landings ahead for some
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By Larry Joseph, director, Fiscal Policy Center at Voices for Illinois Children
Crain’s should be commended for raising the issue of maintaining current state income tax rates (“Will state budget problems force the income tax increase to become permanent?,” March 4). Illinois is rapidly approaching a steep fiscal cliff: The income tax rates enacted in January 2011 are scheduled to drop sharply at the beginning of 2015.
Pension Funding Crisis Worsens: Rising Costs Continue to Crowd Out Other Priorities
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All Illinois residents — including the youngest among us — are paying the price for Illinois’ decades-long failure to make adequate contributions to the state-funded pension plans. As elected officials try to dig the state out of this enormous pension hole, they are undermining the very foundations of the state’s prosperity.