Our Children Our Future campaign Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Children & Family Advocacy Groups Push Legislative Agenda

Children of all ages from across West Virginia gathered at the Capitol yesterday for the Our Children, Our Future campaign’s fourth ‘Kids and Families Day.’ Created in 2014, the group puts together an annual legislative platform which this year includes 12 policies they think would improve the lives of West Virginia working families. Here’s a look at three of those proposals:

State Earned Income Tax Credit:

This year, the Our Children, Our Future Campaign wants the state to create an earned income tax credit. The federal government already offers a similar tax credit for working, low-income families. It comes in the form of a refund that comes around tax time every year. It’s meant to provide families with a lump of cash that could help them get ahead financially. Advocates say a state version would not just help families, but also the economy since most families use that money to purchase necessities.

Carry Jo Grace is the Regional Organizer for the West Virginia Healthy Kids & Families Coalition, and she’s also a mom. She spoke at the Our Children, Our Future event at the Culture Center Tuesday. She explained how much the federal earned income tax credit has helped her family.

“Getting a few hundred or a thousand dollars from the federal government, because we were a hard working family, meant that we could do things like buy our own washer and dryer and not have to truck off to the laundromat every week,” Grace said, “It meant that we could do things like pay for our kids to go to a day camp in the summer time when I was taking classes, instead of trying to find neighbors who could babysit the kids while I went to class.”

Grace says other families like hers would benefit even more if West Virginia had its own version of the tax credit.

300 Rural Community Centers:

The Our Children, Our Future Campaign also wants state lawmakers to use public schools to help create community centers throughout the state. The proposed legislation looks for ways to provide extra money for staffing, so community schools could remain open and provide resources for local children in the afternoon and the evenings. Advocates say the community centers would help kids stay more engaged in their communities and away from drugs or other illegal activities.

Second Chance for Employment Act:

Our Children Our Future Campaign is also reintroducing the second chance for employment act. The act was introduced into the House last year. It provides a way for some convicted felons to have their record cleared after serving their time in prison.

Democratic Delegate Mike Pushkin of Kanawha County is the lead sponsor of the bill. He says the bill will allow people to go back to work and provide for their families

“When you’re talking about these folks that need to get back to work, a lot of them have kids, and they’re better able to provide for their kids, you know, with better jobs,” Pushkin noted.

Chris Kimes is the Government Relations Director for the Our Children, Our Future Campaign.

“Sometimes people get kind of caught off guard when we talk about tax or jobs or different things with child poverty, you know, all this funnels in, because this is opportunity,” Kimes explaines, “We know in West Virginia, if we’re gonna increase our workforce participation rates, if we’re gonna increase companies and jobs in West Virginia, education’s a key to that, and right along with education is the fact of a healthy workforce.”

In the past four years, 21 pieces of legislation advocated for by the Our Children, Our Future Campaign have passed out of the West Virginia Legislature.

W. Va. Commissioner of Public Health Worried About Immunization Law Changes

At the legislature today, the Commissioner of West Virginia’s Bureau of Public Health has concerns with a bill changing the way immunization exemptions are granted in the state. We’ll talk with Dr. Rahul Gupta. And constitutional questions are debated in both chambers. In the Senate, lawmakers take up a resolution calling for a national convention of the states. In the house, delegates debate second amendment gun rights. The fireworks in both chambers tonight on The Legislature Today.

Our Children, Our Future Campaign Reveals 2015 Legislative Agenda

According the 2013 American Community Survey, one in three children in West Virginia under the age of 5 lives in poverty. It’s something the Our Children, Our Future Campaign to End Child Poverty in West Virginia is focused on. The group met at the state capitol yesterday to reveal the top ten priorities it will tackle during the 2015 Legislative Session.

There was an air of confidence from each presenter at the Our Children, Our Future Campaign’s announcement, as high expectations were expressed for continual support from lawmakers during the 2015 Legislative Session.

The top ten priorities of the campaign were revealed, and of those top ten, the top five were spoken about at length. The biggest focus was on funding for family support programs and early childhood services.

Shane Brown is a father from Doddridge County and a member of the Doddridge County Starting Points Center. He stood holding his young daughter in front of supporters and media to express how imperative it is to fund family and children’s programs in the state.

“West Virginia as a whole needs this,” said Brown, “Our communities need this, you know. I know probably a lot of you have kids here. What would you do if you didn’t have a resource to go too? If you didn’t have some[one] say, hey, you know, we have something that could help you, we got your back. And I don’t know about everyone else, but I like having my back…someone having my back don’t you?”

According to policy analysts at the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, investing in early childhood development programs is likely to have major payoffs in terms of decreasing rates of incarceration, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, and other symptoms of poverty that are pervasive throughout the state.

This past May, the Our Children, Our Future Campaign was able to bring both Democrats and Republicans almost unanimously together and agree to restore funds to family and child service programs which had been cut from the state budget by Governor Tomblin. This year, the Our Children, Our Future Campaign hopes that support will continue.

Jim McKay is the State Director of Prevent Child Abuse West Virginia.

“We worked across the aisle. We worked with Republican leaders, Democratic leaders, we worked with the Governor’s office as best we could to try to find any solution possible,” said McKay, “and we were very pleased to have just grassroots support that the Our Children, Our Future Campaign was able to mobilize from all across the state who kept coming to the capitol, kept meeting with lawmakers, and we were pleased to have Republican support, Democrat support, and ultimately the support of the Governor in affirming the importance of these programs.”

McKay says the campaign was able to access some limited revenues from the lottery proceeds and sustain the programs at the previous levels. He says this saved over 50 jobs and services to thousands of West Virginians.

McKay hopes support from lawmakers will continue in 2015.

“We hope the Governor will propose a budget that preserves that funding,” McKay said, “We know that there are declining state revenues and access to the state’s Rainy Day Fund is a concern, but we hope the Governor will continue the agreement that was made last year and we want to just fortify that.”

The other top five issues presented were Juvenile Justice Reform, Drinking Water Protection, and expanding Medicaid Access to Mental Health Therapy.

Keys to Grassroots Policy Success: Wide Net, Narrow Focus

If you spend any time at the West Virginia state capitol during the annual 60-day legislative session, you’ll notice many voices clamoring for the attention of our state’s part-time lawmakers. All citizens are welcome to approach legislators with ideas and requests, but average citizens generally don’t have the time or the know-how to impact state policy decisions. One grassroots initiative has been working to change that.

In Lewisburg, Clarksburg, Hurricane and Martinsburg, citizens are meeting this month to celebrate policy success, learn how to advocate for the issues they care about and craft initiatives to champion in the upcoming legislative session.

The Our Children Our Future Regional Policy Workshops, co-sponsored by the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, the West Virginia Healthy Kids and Families Coalition and the West Virginia Community Development Hub, are an effort to build momentum and consensus for this year’s legislative agenda.

The initiative casts a wide net to solicit ideas, narrows the focus to a manageable list of priorities and then works collaboratively to engage state government officials.

Chris Kimes is Political Director for the West Virginia Healthy Kids and Families Coalition. He says these workshops provide an avenue for people from around the state to learn about the issues, get energized and to believe they can participate in the process.

“As an active community member I can come, learn the skills that I need to begin working on policies and actually learn about specific policies that groups are thinking about advancing in the next session.”

And they have experienced success. This past year alone, seven of the group’s top ten priorities became law or were implemented into public policy.

Funding was restored to Family Resource Networks and other programs that help children and families.
The minimum wage was increased.
The state board of education approved a policy to increase daily physical activity in public schools.
A pilot for a parent mentor program was launched.
Cities and counties will now have a new tool to combat the problem of abandoned properties.
New protections for pregnant workers were put in place.
And the West Virginia Future Fund was established to set aside a portion of natural gas severance taxes to create an endowment fund.

Senate President Jeff Kessler says his hat’s off to this group, whose grassroots groundwork can be a real help to lawmakers as they try to stay in touch with the needs of their communities.
“I represent 110,000 people in my district. I can’t shake all their hands and ask them all face to face, but when you get having a series of forums throughout the entire state where people that do have issues can come forward, present them, collect them, and put them in some type of rational agenda that we can now understand why they’re important,” says Kessler. “Sure it helps to pass policy and pass legislation that does have a direct and immediate impact on improving the lives of our people in our communities, so yeah, this is the way to get it done.”

House Speaker Tim Miley agrees that it’s an effective approach to advocating for public policy issues.

"So they have learned to come together as a large group with various interests, but a common theme to strengthen our communities. And by doing so they have created a very loud voice in Charleston for the legislators to hear and listen to and recognize by way of their agenda items. So it is very effective." – House Speaker Tim Miley

Not all of the group’s initiatives made it through the process. But Kimes says, even in defeat, there are lessons to be learned. That’s the case with last year’s effort to pass a prescription pseudophedrine bill and that group of citizens will try again.

“We literally were outspent there,” notes Kimes. “Big Pharma came in and made their voice known, but an interesting thing about that, is just last week at Lewisburg that team is back again. And they’ve learned from those lessons and they’re gearing up and they’re broadening the base and getting more people involved in the discussion and I think they may have a better try at it in this next legislative session.”

Two workshops remain – Thursday, July 24, 2014 in Hurricane and Tuesday, July 29, 2014 in Martinsburg. Organizers say walkups are welcome.

On September 9-10, 2014, groups from across the state will gather in Charleston for a Policy Symposium and in November, this year’s legislative agenda will be set.

Groups Offer Workshops on Shaping State Policy

A group working to change policy in West Virginia to improve communities and end child poverty in the state is hoping to get input on how to do it, from residents. Organizers at the Our Children Our Future campaign are hosting four workshops this month.

The Our Children Our Future Campaign is conducting day long trainings in four separate towns across West Virginia. The group touches on issues like policy advocacy, healthy lifestyles, voter education, and more.

The group wants residents to attend the events and is encouraging them to get involved in decision-making for West Virginia from the bottom-up.

Policy Workshops:

Southern Region in Lewisburg on July 17

Construction of Energy Efficient Affordable Housing
Juvenile Justice Reform
Substance Abuse Policies: Umbilical Cord Testing
Domestic Violence Unemployment Compensation
Substance Abuse Policies: Prescription Psuedophed
Mandatory Video Cameras for Police Officers

Northern Region in Clarksburg on July 22

Ramp It Up: A Healthy Foods Initiative
Funding for Family Resource Networks & Centers
Worker-Owned Cooperative Businesses
Parent Engagement & PTA
Workplace Bullying
Voluntary Employment Retirement Accounts (VERA)
In-Home Visiting Program Expansion
Solar Hollow: Logan Co. Solar Panel Installation Pilot Project

Central Region in Hurricane on July 24

Erin’s Law: Child Sexual Abuse Prevention
Sustained Funding for Children’s Trust Fund
Farmers’ Market Policy Issues
Workforce Development: Job Training & Job Placement
Ban the Box:
Paid Sick Days / Family Leave
Substance Abuse Policies: Parental Drug Abuse
Solar Hollow: Logan Co. Solar Panel Installation Pilot Project

Eastern Region in Martinsburg on July 29

Medicaid Mental Health Therapy
Foster Kids’ Bill of Rights
Buy American
Erin’s Law: Child Sexual Abuse Prevention
Tobacco Tax
Perinatal Oral Health Policies
Substance Abuse Funding

Child, Family Advocates Continue Fight Over State Budget

Child and family advocates are not giving up their fight to restore more than $800,000 in funding cut from service programs across the state. A vigil, spearheaded by the Our Children, Our Future campaign, took to the State Capitol Tuesday morning to have their message heard.

Executive Director for the Healthy Kids and Families Coalition Stephen Smith stood in the lower rotunda of the Capitol surround by fellow social service advocates holding signs. Some contained countless purple ribbons representing families expected to lose services if the cuts aren’t restored, others with 80 pink slips representing the number of jobs expected to be lost.

“We want commitments from our legislators and from that the state that we’ll never be in this position again,” Smith said.

The cuts came as part of a line item veto by the governor in March. Of the approximately $1 million cut, Gov. Tomblin has since restored about $200,000, but advocates and even some lawmakers say that’s not enough, including Senate President Jeff Kessler.

“I don’t anticipate these cuts are going to be restored before we leave this week, but my message to you is don’t give up on our children and I pledge to you I have not, I will not,” Kessler said.

Senate President Jeff Kessler at Tuesday’s rally.

Kessler said if these groups want to see the change in funding, they have to make a commitment to educate the governor and his staff about what they do, that the services they provide are not duplicative.

House Speaker Tim Miley didn’t attend the vigil, but joined Kessler in his backing of the services.

“If these services aren’t being provided than what services are? How does intervention occur if not through these services?” Miley said Tuesday.

But Miley said for the administration, it’s not a question of are these programs important, it’s a question of being able to afford them in an incredibly tight budget year.

“The governor’s fiscally conservative which is not a bad thing, but when you have to make cuts, do you make them generally across the board or make some additional or greater cuts in certain areas and less in others? So, the governor with his line item veto chose to make cuts to these programs as well as cuts across the board in many others and his position, at least as its been explained to me, is that if he starts opening the door to restore some of the cuts to the line item veto, it creates a slippery slope to then decide: are the other cuts to these other programs not worthy of restoration?”

Two hundred supporters met with their senators and delegates at the Capitol following the vigil, asking their lawmakers to commit to restoring the funds by July and to finding a more stable source of funding for the future.