The mission of this organization is bring about public awareness of child development issues and readiness for school.

Smart Start Georgia is a statewide organization partnering to improve the quality of care and education for all children ages birth through five by:
collaborating with State and Federal government and early learning experts in communities throughout Georgia; educating parents, caregivers, and the public on the critical need for quality early learning for all children; and promoting lifetime lear

Today, President Bush submits his FY2006 budget proposal to Congress. The administration has said it plans to halve the deficit within five years, despite declining federal revenues. In his State of the Union address, the president called for cutting or eliminating 150 domestic government programs—among them anti-poverty programs like housing, food stamps and Medicaid. Children's advocates are also watching for cuts to USDA food and nutrition services. Concerned adults can use President Bush's FY2006 budget as common ground to jump start discussion about public service programs, and how America might balance federal spending and deficit reduction.

The Coalition on Human Needs' Opportunity For All Campaign examines the budget from a community advocacy standpoint.

America's Second Harvest and the Food Research and Action Center offer information and action steps on the FY2006 budget.

Nonprofit and non-partisan, Voices for Virginia's Children is a persistent voice of reason in advocating for better lives and futures for children. The Commonwealth's only statewide multi-issue organization advocating for children and youth, Voices promotes sound, far-reaching program and policy solutions, focusing on early care and education, health care, family economic success, and foster care and adoption.

Voices for Utah Children promotes sound, far reaching program and policy solutions that focus on early care and education, health care, child welfare and violence prevention.

Advocates often note that high-quality, comprehensive early childhood development programs are cost-effective in boosting outcomes for children. New data from the Economic Policy Institute offers proof. According to this report, investments in these programs would pay for themselves in 17 years and, in 30 years, would give taxpayers a $2 savings for every $1 invested. Within 25 years, the offsetting budget savings for all levels of government combined would reach $31 billion.

At age 13, Becca Robison dreams of becoming an astronaut. In the meantime, she's sharing her dream with hundreds of young girls in Utah. Connect for Kids intern Abigail Holt explains.

Want to brief lawmakers on new findings or policy options? Our elected officials have little time to investigate a lot of topics in depth, so come prepared to grab their attention and provide them with good one or two-page summaries. Jack Tweedie, of the National Conference of State Legislatures, says: "Talk to them like you would to your mother or brother, not your dissertation advisor. In writing, use plain language, graphs, and illustrations. Real-life examples that demonstrate conclusions are best." Learn more in the spring 2004 issue of the Harvard Family Research Project.

"Babies are born to be breastfed" is the slogan for the new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' campaign that encourages first-time mothers to breastfeed exclusively for at least six months. The National Women's Health Information Center's free breastfeeding help line is at 1-800-994-WOMAN.

To promote high quality research in child care and early education and its use in policymaking, the National Center for Children in Poverty, the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan, and the Child Care Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have launched the National Center for Child Care and Early Education Research Connections Web site. Designed to serve researchers and policymakers, the site is built on a relational database and includes a searchable research collection, data sets for secondary analysis, specially developed syntheses, and a 50-state data tool to compare policies within and across states.