Speaking of Kids...

In this episode, hosts Bruce Lesley and Messellech Looby chat about the the importance of children’s issues in the upcoming election. Despite children making up over 20% of the population, children’s issues are often overlooked and ignored in policymaking. Lesley and Looby outline some of the major disparities in policies between the candidates, particularly focusing on the child tax credit, children’s health, and funding for public education. Learn more about children’s issues in the election:Blog: Children on the 2024 Ballot: Where do Harris/Walz and Trump/Vance stand? By Bruce Lesley Analysis: Project 2025, First Focus on Children staffTo join the conversation, follow First Focus on Children on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Send us comments on thoughts via email: SpeakingOfKids@firstfocus.orgFind us on Twitter/X: @SpeakingOfKids, @BruceLesley and @First_FocusWant to be a voice for kids? Become an Ambassador for Children here. To support our work and this podcast, please consider donating to First Focus on Children here.

In this episode, hosts Bruce Lesley and Messellech Looby chat with Miriam Calderón, Chief Policy Officer of Zero to Three. Miriam has dedicated her life to ensuring that all children have access to essential resources such as child care, nutrition programs, and maternal health services. In today’s episode, Miriam addresses the importance of the first 1000 days of a child’s life and highlights the need for holistic approaches to early childhood policies, including policies that support mental health services, reproductive rights, and economic security. She also discusses the flaws of our current child care, health, and education systems, where opportunity and outcomes are often determined by zip codes. Learn more about Zero to Three’s work: Resource: Building Strong Foundations:Advancing Comprehensive Policies for Infants, Toddlers, and Families, By Zero to Three and Center for Law and Social Policy’s (CLASP) Article: Why is child care so expensive? By Zero to Three Follow Miriam Calderón on X and LinkedIn. To join the conversation, follow First Focus on Children on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Send us comments on thoughts via email: SpeakingOfKids@firstfocus.orgFind us on Twitter/X: @SpeakingOfKids, @BruceLesley and @First_FocusWant to be a voice for kids? Become an Ambassador for Children here. 

In this episode, our hosts Bruce Lesley and Messellech “Selley” Looby chat with pollster and political strategist Celinda Lake. Lake is President and Founder of Lake Research Partners, a national public opinion and political strategy research firm.Lake walks our hosts through public polling that shows voters strongly favor investing in children and centering them in public policy. The data contradicts lawmakers’ inclination to treat children’s issues as an afterthought. Lake outlines the unique challenges facing child advocates and ways to increase public attention to the needs of children and families.To see the full results of the Lake Research Partners poll for First Focus on Children, go to https://firstfocus.org/blog/fact-sheet-voters-support-investments-in-kids. As a pollster, Lake hears every variety of opinion on contentious political issues. Yet, she’s found that Americans are more united than they seem and she’s passionate about using that information to fight the rising problem of political polarization. Be sure to check out Lake Research Partners and follow on Twitter at @celindalake and @lake_research. Lake's recent book with Ed Goaes, A Question of Respect, can be found at https://www.amazon.com/Question-RESPECT-Bringing-Together-Divided/dp/1636980406/. To join the conversation, follow First Focus on Children on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Connect with our hosts and tell us what you would like to hear on the podcast at: Email: SpeakingOfKids@firstfocus.orgTwitter: @SpeakingOfKids @BruceLesley and @First_Focus And please rate and review this podcast and share it with friends and family.Want to be a voice for kids? Become an Ambassador for Children here. Connect with First Focus Campaign for Children for easy training on how to be a powerful advocate for children. Please consider donating to First Focus on Children here.

We are past Labor Day and just 62 days from the 2024 election and children are on the ballot. We wanted to bring back this very relevant podcast for a SECOND LOOK. In this episode, our hosts Bruce Lesley and Messellech “Selley” Looby chat with pediatrician and former congressional candidate Dr. Annie Andrews and political strategist Renee Harvey about their new political action committee (PAC) for children, Their Future. Our Vote. Dr. Andrews, a children’s hospital doctor, highlighted the invisibility of children in policymaking during her recent run for Congress. When the race didn’t end the way they’d hoped, Harvey and Dr. Andrews created the PAC to offer financial support to urgently needed kid-first policies, such as improving the Child Tax Credit, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and child care while also opposing efforts to ban books in our public schools and libraries.Learn more about the political and policy challenges faced by children: Blog: The Invisibility of Children: The Other Form of Neglect, by Bruce LesleyArticle: ​​Pediatrician launches new PAC focused on children, by Daniela AltimariStay up to date Dr. Annie Andrews and Renee Harvey on social media. Be sure to check out their PAC website and follow them on Twitter, @HReneeHarvey, @annieandrewsmd, and @Their__Future. To join the conversation, follow First Focus on Children on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Connect with our hosts and tell us what you would like to hear on the podcast at: Email: SpeakingOfKids@firstfocus.orgTwitter: @SpeakingOfKids, @BruceLesley and @First_FocusAnd please rate and review this podcast and share it with friends and family.Want to be a voice for kids? Become an Ambassador for Children here. Connect with First Focus Campaign for Children for easy training on how to be a powerful advocate for children. Please consider donating to First Focus on Children to support our work and this podcast here.

In this episode, hosts Bruce Lesley and Messellech Looby chat with Dr. Glenn Flores,  Professor and Chair of Pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Glenn Flores explains that the most important lesson in child health research and policy is that children are not little adults - they have vastly different anatomy and physiology depending on their age, which requires taking a developmental perspective. Dr. Flores also discusses several pressing health inequities that children face, caused by racial, financial, and geographic disparities. There is also a discussion of the current most pressing concerns facing child health, such as medicaid unwinding and the rise in mood disorders. Learn more about current challenges in children’s healthcare: Blog: Children Are Not Little Adults: Ensuring Adequate Pediatric Emergency Care in U.S. Hospitals, By Bruce Lesley  Webinar: 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline - One Size Does Not Fit All, By Averi Pakulis and Elaine Dalpiaz Blog: Nearly 5 Million Children Have Lost Health Care Due To “Unwinding,” By Abuko Estrada and Tim Smith To join the conversation, follow First Focus on Children on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Send us comments on thoughts via email: SpeakingOfKids@firstfocus.orgFind us on Twitter/X: @SpeakingOfKids, @BruceLesley and @First_FocusWant to be a voice for kids? Become an Ambassador for Children here. To support our work and this podcast, please consider donating to First Focus on Children here. 

In this episode, hosts Bruce Lesley and Messellech Looby chat with Dr. Cynthia Osborne, founder and executive director of the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, about the importance in investing in our youngest: infants and toddlers. Bruce and Selley also highlight the recent vote on the child tax credit and their disappointment with the bill failing, despite the credit previously cutting child poverty in half. Cynthia shares that the earlier we invest in children, the better the impact is for both our children and society as a whole. This includes efforts like child care, home visiting programs, and paid family leave. In fact, she found that every dollar invested in a paid family medical leave program has an $18 benefit back to the community. Throughout the episode, Cynthia emphasizes that economic stability is the crux for the well-being of families. Learn more about the importance of investing in our youngest: Resource: Babies in The Budget 2024, by First Focus on Children Report: Early Investment, a Lifetime of Returns: Articulating the Value of Early Childhood Investments in Virginia, By Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center Resource: Community-Based Home Visiting: Fidelity to Families, Commitment to Outcomes by Averi Pakulis and Nadia Gronkowski Blog: Babies in the Budget: The Case for Investing Toward a Brighter Future by Bruce LesleyTo join the conversation, follow First Focus on Children on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Send us comments on thoughts via email: SpeakingOfKids@firstfocus.orgFind us on Twitter/X: @SpeakingOfKids, @BruceLesley and @First_FocusWant to be a voice for kids? Become an Ambassador for Children here. To support our work and this podcast, please consider donating to First Focus on Children here. 

 In this episode, hosts Bruce Lesley and Messellech Looby chat with Dr. Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, a nonprofit watchdog for Kentucky's kids. Dr. Brooks has successfully worked with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to make necessary improvements for the lives of children across the state, such as supporting kinship caregivers and kids in foster care. Dr. Brooks tells our hosts that Kentucky’s children, like those around the country, are at a crossroads. Society has accepted issues such as child poverty as normal, he says, and he shares his efforts to press policymakers to focus on issues such as child care and child poverty, rather than on distractions like the culture wars. Dr. Brooks also discusses the complexities of a Kentucky ballot initiative that would allow the general assembly to use public money for private schools. Learn more about Kentucky Youth Advocates: Resource: Kentucky KIDS Count, By Kentucky Youth Advocates Podcast: The American Rescue Plan & Efforts to End Child Poverty, By Kentucky Youth Advocates, Featuring Bruce LesleyTo join the conversation, follow First Focus on Children on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Send us comments on thoughts via email: SpeakingOfKids@firstfocus.orgFind us on Twitter/X: @SpeakingOfKids, @BruceLesley and @First_FocusWant to be a voice for kids? Become an Ambassador for Children here. To support our work and this podcast, please consider donating to First Focus on Children here. 

Check out one of our favorite episodes! Our hosts Bruce Lesley and Messellech “Selley” Looby welcome Dr. C. Kirabo Jackson, a researcher, professor, journal editor, and member of President Biden’s Council of Economic Advisors. Dr. Jackson discusses his findings that research with respect to investing in both early childhood and K-12 education consistently demonstrates a high return on investment, particularly for low-income children, and sets future generations on a path to greater success. Dr. Jackson also discusses the role that investments in education can play in reducing disparities in educational outcomes and the well-being of children in both the short- and long-term.Learn more about the crucial need to invest in our future generations: Academic Journal: “Do School Spending Cuts Matter? Evidence from The Great Recession”, By C. Kirabo Jackson, Cora Wigger & Heyu XiongBlog: “Money Does Matter After All”, By C. Kirabo Jackson, Cora Wigger & Heyu XiongBlog: “Congress is Shortchanging Children,” By Bruce LesleyTo join the conversation, follow First Focus on Children on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Connect with our hosts and tell us what you would like to hear on the podcast at: Email: SpeakingOfKids@firstfocus.orgTwitter: @SpeakingOfKids, @BruceLesley and @First_FocusAnd please rate and review this podcast and share it with friends and family.Want to be a voice for kids? Become an Ambassador for Children here. Connect with First Focus Campaign for Children for easy training on how to be a powerful advocate for children. Please consider donating to First Focus on Children here.