National Campaign Seeks to Replace Holiday Spending with Giving
For years, retailers benefited from national shopping days organized around the holidays such as "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday." It's time to replace those shopping days with our ability to give back to our communities. That's why #GivingTuesday, Dec. 3, is the first-ever national day of giving. We don't usually ask you for money, but if you're planning on joining this national movement to change the calendar year and help make history, please consider giving to Generations United or your local children's organization.
Nebraska
Advocates Hold Candidates' Feet to the Fire for Quality Early Childhood Experiences & Environments
As the Governor's race heats up, the Nebraska Early Childhood Network is making sure that promoting quality early childhood experiences and environments is on every candidate's agenda. Over the next several months, the Network is looking for bloggers and writers to help spread their information on how Nebraskans can make issues impacting youth a priority for Gubernatorial candidates. For starters, when a campaign volunteer greets you, ask them what their candidate's plans are for ensuring quality early experiences for the youngest Nebraskans. The Network is planning a meeting for next year. If you would like to help, or if you're interested in writing about why quality early experiences matter to you, please contact Diane Rolfsmeyer.
Colorado 
Voting Open for Colorado's Literacy Program
One Book 4 Colorado, a collaborative effort between the Office of Lt. Governor Joe Garcia and other partners, aims to close the vocabulary gap between Colorado's low-income children and their affluent peers by getting a book into the home of every 4-year-old while fostering a culture of reading. Vote now to select the 2014 One Book 4 Colorado!
Kentucky
Kentucky's Youth Advocates Convene at State Capitol
Seniors and social workers are among the youth advocates from more than 50 counties that will gather Jan. 16, 2014 at the Capitol in Frankfort for Children's Advocacy Day. Last year's event brought out nearly 1,000 teachers, judges, doctors, public health experts and therapist among others to ask elected officials to invest in kids. This year's convening will likely center around the
Clearing the Air for All Kentucky Children, a report that revealed Kentucky has one of the highest rates of smoking during pregnancy in the nation. Among its highlights is a comprehensive, statewide smoke-free law to protect children -- alive and unborn -- from harmful secondhand smoke.
Read the full report or
register now!
New Jersey
New Jersey Advocates to Release Special Kids Count Report
Join Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) on Dec. 11 for the release of their new report: Meeting the Child Care Challenge: A Special Kids Count Report, which highlights the state of child care in New Jersey that specifically looks at cost and quality. ACNJ will offer recommendations to make child care more affordable to New Jersey's working families, and ways to improve the quality of care, especially for young children. Learn more and register.
Pennsylvania
Two New Reports Focus on Access to Early Learning Programs
New reports by both the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) and Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC) make the case for greater state and federal investments in pre-kindergarten and other high-quality early learning programs. Among them is the PPC's 2013 School Readiness report that found as many as tens of thousands of Pennsylvania children lacking access to effective programs. A similar finding by the AECF's latest KIDS COUNT� policy report, The First Eight Years: Giving Kids a Foundation for Lifetime Success, revealed that 3 in 5 low-income Pennsylvania children lack access to preschool, despite evidence that high-quality early childhood programs have a "powerful and lasting impact" on children throughout school and into adulthood. Read the full 2013 School Readiness report or The First Eight Years....
Bi-partisan Leadership Succeeds in Introducing Early Childhood Bill
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