First Focus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
First Focus is a bipartisan children's advocacy organization, launched by America's Promise. The stated purpose of the organization is "making children and their families a priority in federal policy and budget decisions."[1]
Funding support for First Focus comes from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.[2]
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[edit] Core Advocacy Issues
First Focus has established three core issue areas for advocacy:
Children’s Health. First Focus advocactes for critical federal programs like the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Healthy Start, and advancing federal efforts addressing childhood obesity.
Education. First Focus supports efforts to raise high school graduation rates.
Family Economics. First Focus is working to strengthen two effective, bipartisan tax measures that have already lifted millions of children out of poverty - the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.
[edit] Leadership
Former Congressman John Edward Porter is the first Chairman of the First Focus Advisory Board and previously served for 21 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and chaired the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.
[edit] Research
First Focus also conducts research through what is called the First Focus Fellows Program. The program is a two-year fellowship that houses policy thinkers and researchers on children and family issues at organizations, such as the Brookings Institution, Urban Institute, New America Foundation, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and the Ethics and Public Policy Center.[3]
[edit] Published Research References
Published research by the Fellows and think tanks funded by First Focus include:
Capretta, James (First Focus Fellow) and Yuval Levin, "The Health of the States: The Real Lesson of the Romney Health Care Plan," Ethics and Public Policy Center, published in The Weekly Standard, December 18, 2006[4]
Carasso, Adam, Gillian Reynolds, and Eugene Steuerle, "Share of Federal Domestic Spending on Children Falls by 17 Percent Since 1960" (Press Release), Urban Institute, January 31, 2007[5]
deLone, Sarah (First Focus Fellow), "Administration Policy Change Threatens Health Care Coverage for Poor Infants," Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, December 11, 2006[6]
Isaacs, Julia (First Focus Fellow), "Cost-Effective Investments in Children," The Brookings Institute, January 2007[7]
[edit] External Links and Citations
America's Promise website link
Alliance for Health Reform Sourcelist on SCHIP
PR Newswire, "Children Squeezed Out of Federal Budget," February 1, 2007[8]
National Association of Community Health Centers, Inc., "Reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)," January 8, 2007[9]
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, "Emergency Care Dissemination Workshop," December 11, 2006[10]
Mort Kondracke, Roll Call, "Partisan Fights Likely Over Health Care," December 8, 2006[11]
AcademyHealth, Panel Discussion: "The Economics of Child Health: Making Children the Nation's First Focus," June 24, 2006[12]
Kaiser Family Foundation, "Ask The Experts: Children's Health Care," April 4, 2006[13]
