Voices for America's Children

Last updated
Voices for America's Children
Founded1984
DissolvedJune 2013 (2013-06)
TypeChild Advocacy
Location
Area served
United States
Members
60
Key people
Tamara Copeland, president (1996 - 2006)

William Bentley, CEO (since 2007)

Deborah Stein, federal policy director

Joe Theissen, vice president
Revenue
$2,723,275 (in 2009)
Website http://www.voices.org
Formerly known as the National Association of Child Advocates (renamed in 2003)

Voices for America's Children(Voices) was a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Washington, DC. Voices was a U.S. nonpartisan, national organization that advocated for the well-being of children at the federal, state and local levels of government. It addresses areas such as early childhood education, health, juvenile justice, child welfare, tax and budget decisions. [1] It was renamed from National Association of Child Advocates in 2003.

Contents

Voices for America's Children officially closed its doors in June 2013, although groups of former members continue their work at the state and local level. [2]

History

Voices for America's Children began when child advocates from the US met for the first time in 1981 and formed the National Association of State-based Child Advocacy Organization (ACA) in 1984. In 2003, ACA changed its name to Voices for America's Children.

In 1996 the National Association of Child Advocates established its annual Florette Angel Memorial Child Advocacy Award in memory of Florette Angel and her efforts to improve the lives of West Virginia children. [3]

In 2004, the organization prepared and published a report named “Early Learning Left Out: An Examination of Public Investments in Education and Development by Child Age". [4] The report was based on a comprehensive analysis of public investments in education and child development. It covered three age groups - early years (0-5), school age (6-18) and college age (19-23) - across 12 states. [5] The report was updated the following year [6] and then again in 2010. [7]

Voices for America's Children received two grants from Atlantic Philanthropies, a $1.8 million grant in 2006 [8] and a $3 million three-year-grant in 2008. [9]

In 2011, after reviewing ten Republican candidates' debates and campaign websites, [10] Voices found that only 2.2% of the debates referenced children-related issues. [11]

In 2012 Voices sent letters to Democratic candidate President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney urging them to clarify their stance on child and family issues and to formally seek the advice of child advocates. [12]

In 2013 Voices was dissolved after a vote by the board of trustees. In September of the same year President Obama appointed William Bentley, former CEO of Voices, to head Family and Youth Services Bureau. [13]

Members

Voices had 62 member organizations in 46 states of the US, as well as in The US Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia (DC).. A member was defined as an organization that belonged to the Voices network and was a nonprofit organization that is either: a provider coalition with an advocacy component to its overall agenda; or the state or community affiliate of a national single-issue child advocacy organization; or a state or community-based organization focused primarily on public awareness, resource or referral or direct services, with child advocacy as part of its mission; or a KIDS COUNT grantee without child advocacy as any component of its agenda.

Funding

Financial backing is provided by membership fees and grants from the following foundations: [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation</span> Private foundation founded by Bill and Melinda Gates

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported as of 2020 to be the second largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $69 billion in assets. On his 43rd birthday, Bill Gates gave the foundation $1 billion. The primary stated goals of the foundation are to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty across the world, and to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology in the U.S. Key individuals of the foundation include Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, Warren Buffett, chief executive officer Mark Suzman, and Michael Larson.

Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material gain; and with government endeavors that are public initiatives for public good, such as those that focus on the provision of public services. A person who practices philanthropy is a philanthropist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tides Foundation</span> American public charity and fiscal sponsor

Tides Foundation is an American public charity and fiscal sponsor working to advance progressive causes and policy initiatives in areas such as the environment, health care, labor issues, immigrant rights, LGBTQ+ rights, women's rights and human rights. It was founded in San Francisco in 1976. Through donor advised funds, Tides distributes money from anonymous donors to other organizations, which are often politically progressive. It manages two centers in San Francisco and New York that offer collaborative spaces for social ventures and other nonprofits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consumer Federation of America</span> Consumer group

The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1968 to advance consumer interests through research, education and advocacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnegie Corporation of New York</span> United States trust

The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic Philanthropies</span> Private philanthropic foundation

The Atlantic Philanthropies(AP) was a private foundation created in 1982 by Irish-American businessman Chuck Feeney. The Atlantic Philanthropies focused its giving on health, social, and politically left-leaning public policy causes in Australia, Bermuda, Ireland, South Africa, the United States and Vietnam. It was among the largest foreign charitable donors in each of the countries in which it operated, and was the single largest funder of programs that encouraged the civic engagement of older people and of comprehensive immigration reform in the United States. With the single largest advocacy grant ever made by a foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies committed $27 million to win passage of the Affordable Care Act in the United States. About half of the Atlantic Philanthropies' grants were made in donations that allow lobbying.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Pew Charitable Trusts</span> American non-profit, non-governmental organization

The Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO), founded in 1948.

Patient advocacy is a process in health care concerned with advocacy for patients, survivors, and caregivers. The patient advocate may be an individual or an organization, concerned with healthcare standards or with one specific group of disorders. The terms patient advocate and patient advocacy can refer both to individual advocates providing services that organizations also provide, and to organizations whose functions extend to individual patients. Some patient advocates are independent and some work for the organizations that are directly responsible for the patient's care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Community Foundation</span>

The California Community Foundation(CCF) is a philanthropic organization located in Los Angeles, California. Foundation Center, an independent nonprofit organization, ranks it among the top 100 foundations in the nation by asset size and total giving. Among all community foundations, CCF is 5th by total giving and 7th by asset size, as of the fiscal year that ended 6/30/12.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brennan Center for Justice</span> Nonprofit law and public policy institute at New York University School of Law

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law is a liberal or progressive nonprofit law and public policy institute. The organization is named after Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. The Brennan Center advocates for public policy positions including raising the minimum wage, opposing voter ID laws, and calling for public funding of elections. The organization opposed the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, which held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent political expenditures by nonprofits.

Global Action for Children (GAC) was a highly effective nonpartisan coalition dedicated to improving the lives of orphans and vulnerable children in the developing world active from 2004 - 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youth rights</span> Equal rights movement

The youth rights movement seeks to grant the rights to young people that are traditionally reserved for adults, due to having reached a specific age or sufficient maturity. This is closely akin to the notion of evolving capacities within the children's rights movement, but the youth rights movement differs from the children's rights movement in that the latter places emphasis on the welfare and protection of children through the actions and decisions of adults, while the youth rights movement seeks to grant youth the liberty to make their own decisions autonomously in the ways adults are permitted to, or to lower the legal minimum ages at which such rights are acquired, such as the age of majority and the voting age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afterschool Alliance</span>

The Afterschool Alliance is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization in the United States whose mission is "to ensure that all children have access to affordable, quality afterschool programs." It uses communications and advocacy strategies to increase public and private investments in afterschool programs. The Alliance serves as both a central resource center for afterschool programs, as well as a public advocate. The Afterschool Alliance has more than 25,000 afterschool program partners and its publications reach more than 65,000 interested individuals every month.

Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is a political advocacy group of more than 1,000 organizations that joined together in 2008 in a successful effort to promote legislation to reform the United States health care system and extend medical benefits to most of the population that is currently uninsured. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010, and HCAN was credited with being a "major contributor" to its passage. After enactment of the law, HCAN shifted its activities to defending the law from opposition attacks and advocating for the law before Congress and state regulatory agencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alliance for Early Success</span> U.S. nonprofit organization

The Alliance for Early Success is a 50-state early-childhood advocacy nonprofit that provides connections, expertise, technical assistance, and targeted investments to help state policy advocates achieve pro-child state policies. Because many of the programs that contribute to early childhood development and success are administered by states, the Alliance focuses on connecting, equipping, and funding state advocates who push for policy that improves and scales early childhood success.

Lynn Schusterman is an American billionaire philanthropist. She is the co-founder and chair of Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and founder of several other philanthropic initiatives including Schusterman Family Philanthropies – Israel, the ROI Community and Jerusalem Season of Culture.

Arnold VenturesLLC is focused on evidence-based giving in a wide range of categories including: criminal justice, education, health care, and public finance. The organization was founded by billionaires John D. Arnold and Laura Arnold in 2010.

Invest in US is an early childhood education initiative and public awareness campaign spearheaded by the bi-partisan, non-profit First Five Years Fund and funded by foundations, corporations, and individuals. The initiative works to expand high quality early childhood programs and research, as well as to offer resources to community leaders working to increase access to early learning.

<i>The 74</i> American education news website

The 74 is a nonprofit news website that focuses on and supports school-choice issues in the United States. Co-founded by former CNN host and education reform activist Campbell Brown, the organization's name refers to the 74 million children in America under 18 years of age. Romy Drucker, who previously worked for the New York City Department of Education under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is co-founder and CEO.

The TransLatina Coalition, stylized as the TransLatin@ Coalition, is a national, Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity advocacy group that works on behalf of transgender Latina women who are immigrants to the United States. It established and runs the Center for Violence Prevention and Transgender Wellness and works with policymakers and organizations to advance advocacy and resource support for transgender Latinas. Its staff consists of leaders from across the United States who have specific experience in meeting the needs of transgender Latinas intersecting with public health, education, and social justice, with representation in over 11 U.S. states, Washington D.C., and Mexico City, with over seven organized chapters.

References

  1. "About Us". Voices for America's Children. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  2. In 2014 these members formed a new organization, Partnership for America's Children, www.partnershipforamericaschildren.org. Voices for America’s Children Closes National Office. Youthtoday.com.
  3. Staff, P. B. N. (2007-10-09). "Bryant honored as national child-advocacy leader". Providence Business News. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  4. "Early Learning Left Out: An Examination of Public Investments in Education and Development by Child Age". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  5. "An Examination of Public Investments in Education and Development by Child Age" (PDF).
  6. "Closing the Investment Gap for America's Youngest Children, 2nd Edition" (PDF).
  7. "Building an Early Learning Childhood System to Secure America's Future, 3rd Edition" (PDF).
  8. Kelly, John (2006-03-01). "Newsmakers for March 2006". Youth Today. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  9. Center, Foundation. "Atlantic Philanthropies Awards $3 Million to Voices for America's Children". Philanthropy News Digest (PND). Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  10. "Advocacy group finds focus on children in presidential race lacking". Iowa Caucuses. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  11. Service, ROD BOSHART, Courier-Lee News. "Advocates complain: Issues pertaining to children getting little attention in campaign". Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. Retrieved 2019-01-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. "Child advocates ask presidential candidates: What about kids? » ChildWise Institute". 28 August 2012. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  13. Kelly, John (2017-10-27). "Trump Taps William Wubbenhorst to Lead Family and Youth Services Bureau". The Chronicle of Social Change. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  14. "Annual Report 2006" (PDF). Voices for America's Children. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  15. "Pew Trust (Vol.7 #1)" (PDF).