When it comes to supporting the lives of children and youth in Vermont, there are real reasons to celebrate. What follows is a rundown of policy priorities and emergent issues for Voices advocacy that either passed or made some amount of meaningful progress during the 2021 legislative session.

Voices has been busy this session in the legislature. Whether we’re advocating for an Office of Child, Youth, and Family Advocate, weighing in on unemployment benefits for families with kids, or helping to center equity in the Community Schools bill, we’re always fighting to ensure that the needs of kids and families are heard and reflected in Vermont policy. Read on for important updates about our work and ways for you to get involved.

When a group of business lobbyists captures the headline of one of Vermont’s publications just before the session directing the Legislature to operate in a certain way – we should all pause. It is true that we need an economy that works for the people — one that meets basic needs. This cannot happen solely with economic recovery. It requires economic reform.

The crossover deadline in the legislature is typically the last day for a bill to be voted on and passed by the chamber in which it is introduced in order for it to continue on and be considered by the opposite legislative body, although exemptions can be made. Although crossover is a meaningful point in the legislative process, passage out of a chamber doesn't guarantee that a bill will make it into law. It is also a time for advocates to take stock of the progress of our legislative priorities and consider the work that lies ahead for the duration of the session and beyond.

In 1964, a government economist named Mollie Orshansky multiplied the estimated cost of a household’s most basic food budget (per USDA estimates) by 3 (having noticed that most households were spending about three times the cost of food on their overall expenses) and the Federal Poverty Threshold was created. Despite the many changes that have shifted the economic landscape in the past 58 or so years, this is still how we calculate the Official Poverty Rate. It’s a longstanding approach, with good data continuity, but with very little basis in reality anymore.

Last week, a violent mob of armed insurrectionists attempted to overtake the U.S. Capitol and overturn the lawful results of the presidential election. The aggressive white terrorism at the core of this act, rooted in a history of oppressive violence and white supremacy as old as our country, has been intentionally cultivated at the highest levels of our government over the past 4 years. Read our full statement.

A new report by the Annie E. Casey foundation places Vermont first in the nation on indicators of family housing stability and health insurance(where it is tied with Maine), but presents more worrisome figures for mental health and food security. Read about the findings and their implications for future policy.

The global pandemic has laid bare major long-standing inequities in our public education system that affect everything from remote access, to responsive curriculum development, to student and mental health support, and beyond. As the national conversation around schools becomes increasingly rife with polarization and misinformation, Voices is embarking on an endeavor to tackle educational inequities head-on in the form of a new podcast.

Last week, the U.S. Census Bureau released several important annual estimates about economic security in 2019 in the United States. A commonly used and long-standing indicator is the estimate of how many people have incomes below the official federal poverty threshold, usually called simply the “poverty rate.” In 2019 the Official Poverty Rate for children in Vermont--those in households with incomes below the poverty threshold--was estimated to be 10% - about 11,000 kids.

Back in February we issued a budget brief highlighting the good, the bad, and missing investments in Governor Scott’s proposed 2021 budget. Fast forward seven months to the middle of a pandemic that has revealed the substantial limitations of our family and economic support systems - the tools families need to raise healthy, thriving kids.

Right now, the legislative process has never been more accessible. To help you navigate the live streams for the House and Senate Committee meetings, we'll be sharing what we're tuning into each week.

Vermont has been in a public health crisis for years - a crisis caused by stagnant wages, the erosion of the social safety net, and a steady decline in public investment in children. We can’t go back to business as usual- it’s time to shore up the foundation of our state for today’s children and generations to come. 

The governor and legislature have an opportunity to partner with our schools and communities to do more than simply reform and instead reimagine and transform so that we can truly, as the Governor stated, “emerge from this crisis on a path toward having one of the best education systems in the country.”

To claim the unprecedented nature of this situation - which in many ways it is - gives us a chance to create new responses. But there are also layers of precedent and relevant context so embedded in our reality that much of what is happening and will happen has already been written. Our systems, pre-pandemic, never worked well for everyone; they still don’t - and the number of people for whom they aren’t working has begun to exponentially grow.

As we know, the safety and wellbeing of children is dependent on the safety and well being of their family unit.  While working to ensure that families of origin have the resources that they need to gain stability and safety, we also have to be aware of the families the children and youth are placed in.  Jeopardizing their safety sets the entire unit up for failure.  

n a little over a month, COVID-19 has exposed extraordinary needs as well as inequities across almost every sector of society. In many ways, this crisis has revealed that government can act boldly and decisively when the urgency of the challenge is undeniable - an approach that should be maintained after the current public health threat subsides. But while acting with all due speed, we must also take the time to ask hard questions about unintended consequences that could be putting our most vulnerable at greater risk.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the census—and the funding it dictates—couldn’t come at a more important time. But in 2010, The undercount of Vermont’s children in the census resulted in a loss of $2,300 per child per year in federal funding, more than any other state. In addition to funding for schools, hospitals, and roads, more than 300 federal programs use census data to determine how federal funds are allocated to state and local governments. We cannot afford to lose out this time.

Yesterday, Voices sent out a policy memorandum to the Governor and Senate and House Leadership. We believe the challenge before us is two-fold: to take immediate, effective action to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable people, followed by a redesign of our broken safety net. Here are our recommendations.