Through research, publications, media campaigns, and advocacy, CAA seeks to influence policies and decisions affecting the lives of Arizona children and their families on issues related to health,child abuse and neglect, early care and education, budget and taxes, juvenile justice, children and immigration, and working families. CAA works toward a future in which all children have health insurance, no child is raised in poverty and hunger, every child enters school ready to learn and succeed, no child endures the ravages of abuse and neglect, every child has a place to call home, and struggling teens have the support they need to become responsible adults.
Watch our video to learn more about CAA, the work we do, and what we have accomplished:
WE COMMUNICATE the needs of children. Through research, publications, media campaigns and advocacy, Children's Action Alliance ensures that children’s needs are known and acted upon.
WE INFLUENCE policies and decisions, making our children’s best interests our state’s priority.
WE DEMAND progress from our leaders and elected officials. There is no excuse for Arizona to be ranked among the lowest in the nation in child well-being.
WE INFORM the public about the voting records of Arizona politicians, holding them accountable for their campaign promises to our kids.
WE IMPROVE children’s lives, by combining policy expertise with the power of strategic communications and advocacy to achieve real results.
WE SHARE common goals:
That all children have health insurance
That no child is raised in poverty and hunger
That every child enters school ready to learn and succeed
That no child endures the ravages of abuse and neglect
That every child has a place to call home
That struggling teens have the support they need to become responsible adults
Because of Children's Action Alliance, Arizona’s children are safer and healthier. Families are receiving the resources they need to better care for their young children. Kids from working families have access to health coverage through KidsCare. Thousands more children are benefiting from safe, affordable child care. And fewer children are victims of abuse and neglect.
Successfully promoted use of federal stimulus funds for child care to allow parents of 15,000 children to keep their child care assistance and continue to work and support their children.
Coordinated advocacy efforts to prevent enormous, overnight increase in child care license fees; the resulting pilot project reduces the fee increase and promotes better nutrition and public health practices in child care centers and homes.
Assisted First Things First state board to create emergency child care scholarships to allow 8,400 children in working families to stay enrolled in child care.
Working Families
Successfully promoted use of federal stimulus funding to extend unemployment insurance benefits for 34,000 Arizonans who were still looking for jobs. This change brought $97 million into Arizona’s economy with no cost to the state, helping families pay for rent, groceries, and other necessities.
Defeated legislative proposals that would have endangered vital services for children: income tax cuts, an unfair “flat” income tax that would have raised taxes for many hardworking Arizonans; raids on voter protected funds for kids, education, and health care; and a reduction in the state appropriation limit designed to slash human services.
Children's Health
Increased children’s health coverage through technical assistance and private fundraising for community partners assisting families with AHCCCS/Medicaid and KidsCare applications.
Improved continuity of health care coverage for children and families through partnerships with state agencies; clarified notices sent to clients, streamlined procedures, put new federal law to work for KidsCare.
CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT
Worked with lawmakers to protect children by refining the definitions of abuse and neglect.
Developed and successfully promoted legislation that improves stability for children in foster care and prevents the trauma caused when plans for adoption or guardianship are disrupted; new law requires parents whose children are placed in foster care to immediately provide names of any relatives or other people who might want to care for the child.
LINKING FAMILIES WITH SERVICES
Led coalitions in Pima and Maricopa Counties to link families with health care coverage and assist them in the application process.
Co-sponsored a KidsCare Telethon and Radio Phone-a-Thon that together will result in more than 8,000 children enrolling in KidsCare or other health care coverage.
Led the Southern AZ Earned Income Tax Credit task force efforts which resulted in more than 9,000 tax returns filed and $5.2 million refunded to Arizona working families through the EITC.
Coordinated efforts to help foster youth attend and succeed in community college and university.
RESEARCH
Collected updated data on more than 60 indicators of conditions for kids at the state and county levels; data is available for interactive use on the on-line Kids Count Data Center.
Provided ongoing, updated information on budget issues to community groups, citizens, the media and lawmakers through publications, budget charts, and alerts.
Published Digging the Hole Deeper: Too Many Tax Cuts are Hurting Arizona with information about trends in continuous tax cuts and recommendations to strengthen Arizona’s tax base.
Published Federal Stimulus Dollars are Working for Arizona to highlight the positive impact of stimulus funds on Arizona jobs and state services.
Published Arizona Does Have Budget Choices with revenue alternatives to spending cuts in order to balance the budget.
Published KidsCare: an Arizona Success Story for 10 Years to highlight how successful KidsCare has been in improving health coverage and health care for kids.
COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION AND ENGAGEMENT
Produced five short videos with interviews of Arizona parents discussing the impact of state budget cuts on their children and families. We emailed the videos to legislators and community partners and posted them on You-Tube.
Conducted 30 budget advocacy trainings for more than 700 people.
Secured 164 print, radio or TV placements mentioning CAA.
Brought in an average of 2,480 unique visitors per month to our website with an average of 126 visits per day.
Added 1,466 members to our e-mail network, bringing the total number of participants to 5,455.
Created the CAA Leadership Academy in March and held a second class in October. Through these six-class programs, we trained 18 emerging leaders for children.
Spearheaded two Days at the Capitol with more than 100 participants meeting with their state legislators and learning about the legislative process.
Co-founded the Arizona Budget Coalition, providing leadership to more than 50 organizations for responsible options to balance Arizona’s budget.
