Voices for Utah Children Articles

  • Vote for Kids’ Health: Questions We’re Asking Candidates and Future Elected Officials (and You Can too!)

    As Utahns return their ballots and engage with candidates, we want to make sure all Utahns are informed and understand where our future elected officials stand on issues central to Utah kids and families. Here are some questions we are asking- and will...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Questions?
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • New Data Finds Number of Utah Uninsured Children Increasing at Alarming Rate

    Analysis shows 39% increase in the number of uninsured Utah children between 2016 and 2019 An estimated 82,000 Utah children were uninsured last year, a number that has increased by 39 percent since 2016, according to a new report released by the...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Jessie Mandle
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • Voices for Utah Children announces opposition to Constitutional Amendment G

    (view this as a pdf here) The state's leading child research and advocacy organization Voices for Utah Children announced its opposition to Constitutional Amendment G in an online press conference today (Monday, October 5, 2020). Constitutional...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Matthew Weinstein
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • 10,000 More Utah Kids

    More Utah Children Lost Health Insurance in 2019, According to Latest National Survey Last week, the Census Bureau released its annual health insurance data from the American Community Survey (ACS). The alarming top line news is that children’s health...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Ciriac Alvarez Valle
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • Utah Job Quality Report 2020

    In Honor of Labor Day, Voices for Utah Children releases Utah Job Quality Report 2020 Salt Lake City -- This morning Voices for Utah Children released the "Utah Job Quality Report 2020." The report was released four days before Labor Day, the annual...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Matthew Weinstein
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • My Internship Reflection | Liliana Tapia Bolanos

    Utah’s Latinx Community Has Been Heavily Hit By the COVID-19 Pandemic and this is what it means to me. It is no question that the Latinx community has been hit heavily by the COVID-19 pandemic all over the nation. There is a fear that exists in the...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Liliana Bolaños
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • Riding the Wave of the Public Charge Rule

    A few weeks ago we released a statement about the Trump Administration’s Public Charge being halted. Unfortunately, a judge from the 2nd Circuit narrowed the injunction and now it will only apply to states within this circuit: New York, Connecticut,...

    • Type: Article
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • Great news, the Public Charge rule has been halted!

    Great news, the Public Charge rule has been halted! Earlier this week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a new temporary injunction that bars the DHS Public Charge rule. What does this mean? It means that the Public...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Ciriac Alvarez Valle
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • Report: Striving for Equity in Utah's Juvenile Justice System

    While racial and ethnic disparities in the system have always been part of the reform conversation, equitable treatment and representation of all children (regardless of race and/or ethnicity) was not an explicit goal. So, four years later, how has our...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Anna Thomas
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • LEFT OUT: Adding Up the Cost of Excluding Undocumented Utahns from State and Federal COVID-19 Relief

    Voices for Utah Children and Comunidades Unidas Release New Report: "LEFT OUT: Adding Up the Cost of Excluding Undocumented Utahns from State and Federal COVID-19 Relief" Salt Lake City - This morning, July 28, 2020, two Utah nonprofit organizations,...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Ciriac Alvarez Valle
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • Let's Just Say It: Child Care is School, and School is Child Care.

    For years, advocates (like me) have avoided mentioning the fact – at least, in the presence of legislators – that Utah families rely on school not just for education, but also for reliable and high quality child care. Similarly, until very recently,...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Anna Thomas
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • Childhood Obesity, Social Determinants and COVID-19

    Part 2 in a series on Utah's new KIDS COUNT childhood obesity indicator In the context of COVID-19, it is especially critical to highlight the underlying structural and systemic indicators behind Utah’s childhood obesity rates. The COVID-19 crisis has...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Terry Haven
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • What the New KIDS COUNT Childhood Obesity Indicator Can Tell Us About Utah Children’s Well-Being…and What It Cannot

    Part 1 in a series on Utah's new KIDS COUNT childhood obesity indicator The annual KIDS COUNT report now includes a new measure of childhood obesity. This new indicator looks at the percent of teens ages 10 to 17 who are overweight or obese. Utah...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Terry Haven
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • Utah Ranked 4th in Overall Child Well-being according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation

    The Annie E. Casey Foundation 2020 KIDS COUNT Profile

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Terry Haven
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • Voices' Statement on Supreme Court's ruling regarding DACA

    “We commend the Supreme Court’s decision finding the current administrations rescission of DACA as unlawful. We fully support the diverse group of more than 700,000 young immigrants (Dreamers) who are instrumental to our society including the...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Moe Hickey
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • Investing in Early Care and Education Professionals Will Strengthen Utah Child Care

    Utah leaders should be investing in child care professionals through paid training and educational opportunities, refundable tax credits for people who provide care and learning opportunities directly to young children, and other direct incentives that...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Anna Thomas
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • Voices' Statement on Racial and Ethnic Disparities

    We all want what’s best for our children. We want them to be happy and healthy and have everything they need to succeed in life. All children deserve these things. However, the wellbeing of children of color and their families is too often left out of...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Moe Hickey
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • It’s Time for the Child-Centered Child Care System that Utah Families Deserve

    For too many years, child are policy – in Utah and nationally – has been shaped primarily by economic and political forces. These forces have shaped our perceptions of early care and education: “People need childcare because they should be working....

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Anna Thomas
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • Rural Counties Need Help Counting Kids in the 2020 Census

    COVID-19 has impacted Utah in a variety of ways. One that you may not have thought of is the impact it has had on the 2020 Census. Especially in Utah’s rural areas, the pandemic has slowed response rates to this important fact-finding endeavor. But why...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Terry Haven
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • 2020 Election Guide to Issues Affecting Children

    2020 Election Issues Guide American psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner formulated the Ecological Systems Theory to explain how the inherent qualities of children and their environments interact to influence how they grow and develop. As Utah grapples...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Questions?
    • Category: Updates & Blog