Coalition Says Government Not Meeting Kids' Needs

By Claire Kellett, Reporter

Tools

By Shannon Booth

Story Created: Oct 11, 2006 at 11:30 AM CST

Story Updated: Oct 11, 2006 at 4:57 PM CST

A coalition of groups in Iowa says the government is falling short when it comes to the needs of kids.

In Iowa 98,000 children under the age of 18 are living in poverty.

It is numbers like this that is the driving force behind a statewide push for Iowa leaders to stand up for programs that help children and youth.

Groups like the Iowa Citizen Action Network want to bring awareness to the labor, health and human services budget.

It's a broad national budget, but it covers a lot of issues that deal directly with kids like child welfare services, head start programs and daycare funding.

Ultimately the money would provide support for Iowa welfare families and the groups says that's important because in the past seven years the percentage of poor children in Iowa has grown by more than 90 percent.

Without this funding the coalition says there will be less services available for children and fewer staff at head-start programs.

Next Article Steel Rising From The Ground at Cedar Rapids’ New Convention Center

Conversation Guidelines

Be Kind

Don't use abusive, offensive, threatening, racist, vulgar or sexually-oriented language.
Don't attack someone personally. Keep it civil and be responsible.

Share Knowledge

Be truthful. Share what you know and what you are passionate about.
What more do you want to learn? Keep it simple.

Stay focused

Promote lively and healthy debate. Stay on topic. Ask questions and give feedback on the story's topic.

Report Trouble

Help us maintain a quality comment section by reporting comments that are offensive. If you see a comment that is offensive, or you feel violates our guidelines, simply click on the "x" to the far right of the comment to report it.

read the full guidelines here »

Commenting will be disabled on stories dealing with the following subject matter: Violent crime, sexual abuse, Amber Alerts, Operation Quickfinds and suicides.