Every 44 seconds, a baby is born into poverty. Every minute, a baby is born without health insurance. Every 11 minutes, a child is neglected or abused. Here are some compelling reasons to act now. The federal government has a projected 10-year budget surplus of 5.6 trillion dollars.
States hold hundreds of billions of dollars in unspent tobacco settlement funds.
Furthermore, child advocates and experts know what kinds of programs work. Early education programs, for instance, provide benefits that last for decades. Preventive health-care efforts reduce teen pregnancies, increase vaccination rates, discourage dropping out of school. Awareness of the problem is an essential first step, says Susanne Martinez, the Children's Defense Fund's senior vice-president for policy. And so the fund is mounting a national public-education campaign to put a face on child poverty and get out the facts.