March-April Children's Advocate

Check out our latest Children's Advocate issue -- now available and online in English, Spanish, and Chinese! In this issue:

• Grassroots snapshot: Fresno families push for healthy food and safer streets
• Hot topic: “The very last thing that should be cut!”
• Early care and education--Learning through play: “Forget about the facts and remember the wonder”
• Raising kids: “I don’t want my daughter to feel like she has to sacrifice something”
• Hot topic: “I need money for my family”
• News from the California Child Development CORPS: “We’re in the trenches”
• News from Parent Voices: “We wanted to be someone to be reckoned with”
• Bookbasket: Beyond sugar and spice, snakes and snails

In English at http://www.4children.org/issues/2009/march_april/
(for Spanish or Chinese, click on the link at the top of that page)

Push for paid sick leave

Action: Let your state legislators know your views on whether California should guarantee all workers a certain number of paid sick days.

Background: The bill to guarantee paid sick days got stuck in the legislature last year, but the Work and Family Coalition is back with an energetic campaign to make California the first state in the nation with paid sick days for all workers to use to take care of themselves or sick family members. (Now almost 40% of California workers have no paid sick days). The coalition promoting paid sick days includes the Labor Project for Working Families, ACORN, Parent Voices, the California Labor Federation, the Family Caregiver Alliance, 9to5 National Association of Working Women, and more. Coalition members will be visiting legislators and collecting endorsements and letters of support.

More info: 510-643-7088, http://www.paidsickdaysca.org/

Read more news like this in the Mar-Apr Children's Advocate's Roundtable report, http://www.4children.org/issues/2009/
march_april/childrens_advocate_roundtable/ (for Spanish or Chinese, click on the link at the top of the page)

Upcoming advocacy days

May 6: Stand for Children Day is an opportunity to rally with hundreds of other parents in support of affordable, quality child care. Sacramento. For more info, contact Parent Voices, 415-882-0234

May 20: Hunger Action Day is an opportunity to join anti-hunger advocates in educating legislators about hunger issues. Sacramento. For more info, contact the Hunger Action Coalition, Steve Diaz, 213-388-8228 or Betsy Edwards, 510-635-3663 x307

State budget update

Governor Signs Budget Plan, from the California Budget Project, reports on the Feb 20th spending bill signed by the governor, which includes tax cuts, new revenues, and steep spending cuts to state programs.

May 19 special election: As part of the budget process, the legislature put several propositions on the ballot, including:

• Prop 1A, which would establish a state spending cap
• Prop 1B, which would send more funds to school districts and community colleges
• Prop 1C, which would authorize the sale of $5 billion in bonds backed by lottery proceeds
• Props 1D and 1E, which would divert funds from First 5 (Prop 10) and mental health (Prop 63) to fund existing state programs.

(Stay tuned for our coverage of the ballot measures in the May-June Children's Advocate!)