A damn tough year in America

After a roller-coaster ride of bad policies, the federal government capped off the year with a billionaire tax cut that says private planes are more important than kids living in poverty.

This is a shocking and terrible reality of today’s politics. But there are good reasons to be determined and hopeful about 2018.

This year, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1520—the Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Act—which established a statewide Task Force to reduce child poverty in our state.

This is a critical first step.

In December, the Task Force met for the first time to work on a comprehensive plan. The 35 members represented important perspectives: people with direct experience living in poverty, state and local service providers, state agency leaders, and criminal justice and local government representatives.

The same fact-based, expert-led strategy that has reduced California’s greenhouse gas emissions and made our state a world leader in environmental protections is now being focused on child poverty.

So, in spite of the bad news from Washington, we have every reason to be optimistic. 2018 will be a milestone year in the fight to end child poverty in California. We will elect a new governor and 100 state legislators. Let’s make sure our incoming leaders make our most vulnerable children a priority.

Updates will be coming your way throughout the year. It is your involvement that will make the difference. Let’s get this done.

Together let’s make 2018 count!

Conway Collis
CEO, GRACE