Position Papers


In This Year's Election Debates:Where Were Our Children?

The Children's Alliance of New Hampshire is one of fifty state partners in the nationwide KIDS COUNT Network. This article, authored by Children's Alliance President Ellen Shemitz, in collaboration with other members of the KIDS COUNT Network, first appeared as an op ed piece in local newspapers in New Hampshire.

Working but not thriving. According to a report recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau, many families in our new economy are working hard at jobs that do not pay enough to cover basic needs. At the same time that news reports highlight "dot com" millionaires and ever growing incomes, over 250,000 people in New Hampshire (and 82 million people nationwide) cannot buy food, fuel, clothing, shelter, or health care without public or private help.

This election year, why didn't the candidates debate how best to meet the needs of the working poor and their children? Today in New Hampshire, almost 67,000 children live in families with an income below 200% of the poverty line, equivalent to a family of three with an annual income of about $26,500. That's almost 24% of our state's children under the age of 18. That's almost one in every four New Hampshire children - and that's one in four too many.

Who are these "working poor" families? They include many of our child care providers, nursing aides, teachers, firefighters and others whose presence in our communities is vital but who are being priced out of family homes, health care, colleges for their kids, and retirement savings. They include families in the North Country where average annual wages have risen slower than increases in the consumer price index. They are individuals and families who work hard, obey the law, and pay their taxes. They are asking why the economy that seems so strong for some is so unsteady for others. And they want to know what policy and community leaders are going to do to push this economy forward for everyone.

What should our policy leaders be discussing? They need to talk about how to harness the new economy so that all families have a real opportunity to get ahead and raise their children in strong communities. They must create access to economic opportunities, neighborhood networks, and quality family support services. Research from across the country tells us how to meet those goals.

• Build up local business and commerce so all working citizens can find and keep decent jobs in all labor markets across the state;
• Support early childhood education and after-school programming that help working families raise healthy, active children;
• Invest in public education so that our children become adults prepared to meet the social, educational and economic challenges of the next decades.

We at the Children's Alliance, as statewide child advocates and as members of the national KIDS COUNT Network, urge you to tell our leaders that you care about our children's fu-ture. We ask you to make two phone calls to those public officials recently elected in your area.