Legislative Updates from the Covenant with North Carolina's Children

Provided by Stacey Massengill, NCSPA Legislative and Public Policy Committee Member



Originally Submitted by Rob Thompson, Executive Director of the Covenant with North Carolina's Children

Happy 2010, Covenant Members!

The advent of a new year (and a new decade) is a good opportunity to reflect on the past and to look to the future. I've written up a short end of the year report below. As always, please send me any thoughts or feedback - mailto:rob@nccovenant.org.

2009 - End of Year Report
2009 was an extremely difficult year for North Carolina's children and families. The 'Great Recession' has left us with nearly 20% of the workforce unable to find adequate employment (unemployment + underemployment) and more than 20% of our state's children living in poverty. The brutal economic conditions have also resulted in a dramatic decrease in revenues, which has decimated much of our health and human services infrastructure.

Despite these brutal economic conditions, the Covenant and our allies were able to achieve some significant public policy victories. Below is a partial list of Covenant agenda items that were implemented during the 2009 legislative session:

Raising Revenue
The Covenant, along with the NC Budget and Tax Center, created and led the Together NC Coalition ( http://www.togethernc.org/), which was composed of over 100 service providers and advocates from each corner of the state. Through town hall meetings, phonebanks, press events, and rallies, we pressured the legislature to raise nearly $1 billion in new revenue to offset some of the worst cuts to child and family programs.

Bullying Bill
Working with a dedicated coalition of advocates, the Covenant helped to pass the School Violence Prevention Act. The new law requires all school districts to adopt an anti-bullying policy that explicitly extends protections to those students most likely to be targeted by bullying and harassment.

Smoking Ban
Holy Cow...it is now illegal to smoke in any bar or restaurant in North Carolina! This is a major public health victory, and will ensure that kids and their parents can eat, recreate and work in smoke-free environments. Major kudos to the NC Alliance for Health, the Cancer Society and the Heart Association!

Sex Education
The Covenant also played a supporting role in passing the Healthy Youth Act, which replaces ineffective abstinence-only sex education with a comprehensive sex education program.

Building the Covenant
In addition to our programmatic achievements, we also were able to strengthen the Covenant in 2009, thereby laying the groundwork for more profound social change in the future.

In 2009, we:

-Launched a new web-site and began using a new logo ( http://www.nccovenant.org/).
-Raised $35,000 in new foundation grants from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and the Triangle Community Foundation.
-Convened three fundraising events (special thanks to Jennifer Mahan, Covenant Board Chair and chef extraordinaire!).
-Recruited and retained member organizations from Hendersonville to Wilmington and all points in between.

Looking forward to 2010
Like 2009, we expect 2010 to be another tough year for our children and families. Unemployment will likely remain high and revenues haven't yet begun to recover, leaving the state less able to provide a safety net and other vital services. Once again, the Covenant will need to play a leading role in the fight to push lawmakers to take a balanced approach - an approach that involves new revenue in addition to spending cuts - to the state budget.

We will also work closely with Action for Children NC to end the unfair and ineffective policy of prosecuting all 16- and 17-year olds as adults; we'll continue our ongoing efforts to ban corporal punishment in public schools; and, we'll work to implement 'paid sick days' legislation so that parents can take care of their sick children.

Most importantly, with your continued support and involvement, we can continue to present a unified voice for children in North Carolina. Thanks for all you did in 2009 and all you will do in 2010.
Sincerely,

Rob Thompson
Executive Director