Contact:
Ed Walz
(202) 657-0685 (office)

Washington – The Foundation for Child Development (FCD) released its Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI) today at a briefing on Capitol Hill. The CWI compares a 168% increase in America’s gross domestic product GDP from 1975 to 2010, against a measurement of quality of life for American children that has risen only 3% over the same 35-year period. FCD’s findings validate the beliefs of a majority of Americans, who responded to a First Focus public opinion survey conducted earlier this year and indicated that they believed the lives of children in America have gotten worse during the last ten years. The CWI report cites key First Focus policy priorities as imperatives to strengthen the future of America’s children, including:

  1. Increasing the share of the federal government’s budget invested in children
  2. Strengthening the nation’s commitment to public education, especially early education
  3. Covering uninsured children through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program

In response, First Focus president Bruce Lesley released the following statement:

“A nation where corporations are doing well and children are doing badly is no parent’s definition of progress. We know what we need to do to make life better for America’s children, and the American people will support a children’s agenda. With real leadership in Congress and the states, we can make 2012 the year we start turning the Child Well-Being Index upward again.”

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First Focus is a bipartisan advocacy organization dedicated to making children and families a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.firstfocus.net.