2005 Annual Report
Advancing Solutions to Strengthen Families

Statement from the Director

As one of the nation’s leading public policy centers dedicated to promoting the economic security, health, and well-being of America’s low-income families and children, we are proud of the successes we have had this year in advancing solutions to strengthen families.

Over the last year, NCCP has developed a young child health agenda, thanks in large part to a five-year grant from the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau that we successfully competed for. The Project THRIVE grant allows us an opportunity to jump-start our work on children’s health and related issues and to promote our vision for addressing the “whole child” across all areas of development and in the context of family and community. The new initiative focuses on helping states learn from each other to build comprehensive early childhood systems that join health and mental health with other school readiness strategies.

During a year of policy upheaval and disaster in the Gulf Coast region, NCCP stepped up its capacity to provide important information quickly and accurately. In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we released Child Poverty in States Hit by Hurricane Katrina to provide a clear picture of the realities faced by low-income families in the region even before the storm. Earlier in the year, NCCP issued a report entitled, Whose Security: What Social Security Means to Children and Families , to make sure that children were considered as policymakers and the media heatedly debated the issue of privatization.

Our work with the Family Resource Simulator has also expanded, and we have developed new partnerships with groups in three states (Illinois, Connecticut, and Texas) around using this innovative tool to promote their state-level policy agendas.

With support from several foundations, NCCP has also been able to expand our work on policy solutions to address the social, emotional, and behavioral challenges facing children and youth across the developmental age spans. Although these issues affect families of all ethnicities and incomes, we especially focus on variation in state policies for children and youth who interact with public agencies.

While NCCP has been successful over the last year, the magnitude of our task looms large. In 2005, the federal poverty level for a family of four was $19,350. Over the last five years, the number of children in low-income families—defined as having an income of less than twice the poverty level—has increased by close to 2 million. More than 29 million children are now growing up in families that live dangerously close to the edge.

With images that shocked, sickened, and saddened the world, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath exposed to the rest of America what we have known about poverty for quite some time. Sadly, the policy response thus far will create even greater hardships and burdens—with treacherous cuts to health care, child care, and other supports that help families and their children thrive. It is our hope that the work of the National Center for Children in Poverty is able to advance policy solutions that will combat these alarming trends and improve the odds for all of America’s low-income families and children.

Jane Knitzer, Ed.D.
Director