Mission
Voices for Utah Children advocates and advances policies and practices that are good for all of Utah’s children.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement
At Voices for Utah Children, diversity, equity, and inclusion and belonging are at the core of who we are. Our commitment to these values is unwavering – across all our work in the State of Utah. They are central to our mission and to our impact. We know that having varied perspectives helps generate better ideas to solve the complex problems of a changing and increasingly diverse state. We are dedicated to working internally as a staff and board to honor our commitment.
What Makes Us Unique
Big wins for kids don't just happen by accident. They happen because of advocacy – when skilled professionals backed by thoughtful funders show policymakers that government can and should act to keep kids safe and help them grow. As a multi-issue child advocacy organization, Voices for Utah Children is making a difference in our kids' lives by:
- Raising awareness. Through research, media campaigns and advocacy work, we continue to communicate the most vital needs of Utah's children.
- Influencing policy. By having a voice in decisions made by policymakers, we help ensure that the needs of children are raised in every policy debate.
- Uniting our community. By bringing the power of a community together – legislators, business executives, private funders, government agency representative, nonprofit directors, and ordinary citizens – we help identify and resolve the tough problems facing Utah's children and families.
History
1985
Utah Children was formed by the anti-poverty organization Utah Issues Information Services and funded by the Junior League of Salt Lake City. One of the group's first projects was to create a 'State of Utah Children' book that examined the broad range of issues children face and provide relevant data.
1991
Utah Children advocates for increasing child support award guidelines to reflect the actual cost of raising children, as well as for enhanced state enforcement of child support orders
Utah Children becomes a KIDS Count State Organization reporting and promoting data on the well-being of children in Utah.
Utah Children aimed to enhance public systems for protecting abused, neglected, and foster children, ensuring they received adequate nutrition, health care, and financial support from absent parents. In partnership with the University of Utah Graduate School of Social Work, the Children’s Defense Fund, and the National Association of Child Advocates, Utah Children sponsored a child advocacy summit conference titled "Stand Up for Children: New Visions, New Voices". The conference focused on innovative approaches and new perspectives in child advocacy.
2007
The Spring 2007 issue of the "Stanford Social Innovation Review" called Voices for Utah Children "the state's best-known advocate for children's issues, and the go-to source for the media, state agencies, and elected officials on issues affecting children."
2017-2021
In 2017, Utah passed landmark juvenile justice reform legislation (HB 239) that Voices supported and worked to protect in subsequent years. In 2019, we released an initial report on the lack of legal representation for kids appearing in court. That report was used to advocate for and help successfully pass SB 32, aimed at ensuring that kids would not appear in hearings without counsel. By 2021, we released a report tracking whether these legislative efforts had been successful, and we were pleased to report that they had. In 2018, Voices launched the 100% Kids Coverage Coalition and the Cover All Kids Campaign to address Utah’s high rate of uninsured children.
Voices holds a child care advocacy gathering at the Capitol with local partner organizations, child care providers, and parents. The following year, we launched our Care for Kids advocacy group and released the Mapping Care for Kids report, which examines licensed child care availability across the state and highlights the urgent need for child care reform.
Following collaborative efforts with partners to expand access to full-day kindergarten, the legislature passed HB 477, which provides increased funding for its expansion across the state. In the same year, SB 217, the Children’s Health Coverage Amendments, was also passed, allowing more immigrant children to qualify for coverage under the State CHIP Program.
Tribute to Irene & Roz
We would like to acknowledge the work of Irene Fisher, who in 1983 attended a national conference sponsored by the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF). She was impressed by CDF's effectiveness in advocating for child care, child health, child nutrition, prevention of child abuse, and other issues affecting children whose parents were least able to advocate for them. Irene believed that a similar state-level organization could play a crucial role in Utah, given its young and vulnerable population. In 1985, Utah Children was created as an advocacy group under the Utah Issues Information Services organization, with the intent of providing a voice for Utah's children in public policy decisions rather than direct services.
In 1988, Roz McGee became Utah Children’s first Executive Director. Over the next 13 years, she transformed an organization with virtually no budget, no staff, and no history into a professional and powerful voice advocating for children and families. We are immensely grateful for Roz. Her passion and vision have left an enduring imprint on this organization and our staff, continuing to inspire and guide our work. Roz’s spirit, which earned her the “Hell Raiser of the Year Award” for leading the charge for children in Utah, lives on in the hearts of the current generation of Hell Raisers here at Voices for Utah Children.
