In the budget that has been approved by Congress, and is expected to be signed by President Obama, we are pleased to share that the majority of programs that United Way has prioritized have stayed intact or even increased in funding. Given the conomic and political landscape, this is good news. Please see below for highlights of FY2012 program funding in our building block areas. Note: There is an additional 0.189 percent across the board cut to all programs not reflected in these numbers.

INCOME

• Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP): $120 million – the same as FY2011. (A special thank you to the nearly 700 advocates who spoke up for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program in the past couple of weeks. Given the 40% cut xperienced last year, we consider it a win that the EFSP maintained funding).
• Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) matching grants: $12 million – the same as FY2011
• Workforce Investment Act (WIA) adult training, youth training and dislocated worker grants: $2.61 billion – down $55 million (2.07%) from FY2011
• Workforce Innovation Fund (created last year with the input from several United Ways and written testimony from United Way Worldwide): $50 million – down $75 million from FY2011
• Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): $3.48 billion – down $1.22 billion from FY2011
• Individual Development Account Initiative: $19.91 million – down $4.07 million from FY 2011
• Child Care and Development Block Grant: $2.28 billion – up $60 million from FY2011
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): $80.4 billion – up $15.19 billion from FY2011 (Passed November 18, 2011 in H.R. 2112)
• Section 8 Housing Vouchers: $17.24 billion – up $474.6 million from FY 2011  (Passed November 18, 2011 in H.R. 2112)
• Community Development Block Grant: $3.3 billion – down $192.9 million from FY2011 (Passed November 18, 2011 in H.R. 2112)

HEALTH

• Healthy Start: $104.78 million – up $415 million from FY2011
• Medicaid total grants to states: $184.28 billion – up $11.14 billion from FY2011
• Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion: $760.7 million – down $53.29 million from FY2011
• Women, Infants and Children (WIC): $6.6 billion – down $130 million from FY2011 (Passed November 18, 2011 in H.R. 2112)
• Child Nutrition Programs: $18.15 billion – up $830 million from FY2011 (Passed November 18, 2011 in H.R. 2112)
• Community Health Centers: $1.58 billion – the same as FY2011
• Maternal and Child Health Block Grant: $646.32 million – down $10 million from FY2011

EDUCATION

• Head Start: Funded at $8 billion – $424 million above FY 2011
• Title I Grants: Funded at $14.5 billion – $60 million above FY 2011
• Special Education programs: Funded at $11.6 billion – an increase of $100 million above FY 2011
• School Improvement Grants (SIG): Funded at $534.6 million
• Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Program: Funded at $160 million – this is a restoration from FY 2011
• Investing in Innovation Fund (i3): Funded at $149.7 million
• Race to the Top: Funded at $550 million, and continues to allow those funds to be used for the Early Learning Challenge competition
• 21^st Century Community Learning Centers: Funded at $1.151 billion
• Promise Neighborhoods Initiative: Funded at $60 million – $30 million above FY 2011

For more about the important work that United Way of King County does in our local community please click on the following link: http://www.uwkc.org/our-focus/children/.

To find out more about the statewide WaKIDS program, please check out this website: http://www.k12.wa.us/wakids/.

Bonnie reading at Grace Children's Center

“What are we reading today?” Bonnie Rosalind asks the small pupils at Grace Children’s Center. Her favorite response is for a child to select a book that Bonnie herself loved to read while growing up; she believes that is “a true testament to the timelessness of books.”

Bonnie signed up for the Volunteer Reader Program on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2009. President Obama had declared that date a National Day of Service, and Bonnie took it as a call to action. Since then, she has been sharing her passion for books by reading every Tuesday at Grace Children’s Center. Bonnie does much more than read; she asks the children questions, encourages them to use their imagination, and makes friends. She watched a shy little girl blossom and become bold enough to speak up when Bonnie skipped a word in a familiar story! While reading Chalk, a wonderfully illustrated wordless book about magic chalk that brings drawings to life, Bonnie and the kids together create a story to accompany the book. She smilingly remembers one little boy’s response to the question of what he would draw with magic chalk: “a brother!”

Each August of Bonnie’s three years as a Volunteer Reader has been bittersweet. While she is sad to say goodbye to the graduating children she also shares that, “it’s exciting because I see the skills that they are walking away with.” Those skills will help them thrive in kindergarten and beyond. One of her favorite moments each week is when she walks into the classroom and hears a chorus of little voices calling, “I want to read, I want to read, I want to read!” Bonnie sums it up: “there is nothing sweeter than that.”

The children at Little Eagles Child Development Center are delighted when Miss Kitty, a well-loved puppet cat, comes to visit. Accompanying this now-famous puppet is another popular visitor, Volunteer Reader Joan Davis. Although Miss Kitty occasionally finds the kids’ exuberance a bit trying, Joan’s reason for volunteering is clear: “I am not their regular teacher, I am not their mom or dad or grandma or grandpa- I am a friend whose only mission is to show them great books, to read to them and to assist them in their own reading journey.”

Joan Davis reading at Little Eagles

Joan is a Senior Vice President at Umpqua Bank and since October 2010 she has been sharing her enthusiasm for reading. She has observed the children peering carefully at letters and words as she reads aloud, beginning to understand that the squiggles on the page contain mysteries, discoveries and stories. Joan remembers, “The minute that you see them really get it…that’s a big deal.”

Joan’s commitment is also a big deal. She has learned from her experience at Little Eagles, including the fact that her knowledge of dinosaurs, ballerinas, snakes, sharks and whales is woefully lacking. As the children and Joan learn together, she has noticed a shift in the way the kids think about books. Instead of seeing them as foreign, adult objects, the books become part of the kid’s world. While Joan was reading to a little girl from a home where English is not spoken, the girl suddenly took the book from Joan’s hands, and “read the book” – not the words on the pages, but she mimicked the English sounds she learns and hears while Joan reads to her. Joan and Miss Kitty return every week for one special hour, and when they arrive, Joan shares that, “…their happy smiles tell me all I need to know. I am needed.”

Want to be a Volunteer Reader? Find out how.

Learn more about our efforts to give kids an equal chance.

• The president will be allowed to raise the debt ceiling in three stages up to $2.4 trillion through the end of 2012
• The federal budget will be reduced by at least $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years
• The bill imposes spending caps that will reduce the deficit by $917 billion over the next 10 years
• A bipartisan budget committee with equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats will be created to seek up to another $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction.  Should the Congressional committee members not agree to an additional $1.5 trillion in reduced government spending by November, that would set off automatic across-the-board cuts of $1.2 trillion over a decade, with about half coming from the military.
• Congress will be required to vote on a constitutional amendment requiring it to balance its budget.

Even though the compromise allowed the federal government to keep its doors open and bills paid through 2012, the jury is still out about whether the arrangement will result in the federal government and some local governments being able to keep their triple A credit rating.  The Moody’s agency said late Tuesday it will maintain the U.S.’ top AAA rating, but warns that the outlook for the country is negative and that it could downgrade the rating of local governments and the University of Washington .  A downgraded credit rating would increase the government’s cost to borrow money, and could raise interest rates on many consumer loans.

While some analysts say that downgrading to double A status will not seriously affect the economy, others believe that a downgrade will cause serious complications.  Washington state treasurer, Jim McIntyre recently shared his view of the possible fall out of a downgrade on the state.

Karla reading with a child at Petite Daycare & Preschool

This was written by guest blogger, Volunteer Reader Program Intern, Andrea Alvarez. 

We recently had the pleasure of attending a site appreciation at Petite Daycare & Preschool for outstanding Volunteer Reader Karla Thomas.  She has been a marvelous and committed volunteer for the past 4 years!

The staff and children were excited to see Karla when she arrived for her weekly visit. The celebration began as the site supervisor presented her with a bouquet of flowers.  Next, one of the teachers handed a gift to an adorable preschooler who enthusiastically strolled over and handed Karla a book that the students had created for her.

The students were beaming as she marveled over the present—which contained a collection of each of their handprints.  Karla was incredibly moved by the entire celebration—and so were we!

Thank you, Karla, for being such a committed and caring Volunteer Reader!

Khushbu reading to a child at Little Eagles Child Development Center

This was written by guest blogger, Volunteer Reader Program Intern, Andrea Alvarez. 

For the past two years, Volunteer Reader Khushbu Vyas has been commuting from Ballard every Monday and reading to the children at Little Eagles Child Development Center in downtown Seattle.

Today, we had the opportunity to meet and catch up with Khusbu. Her warm personality made our visit extra-special, and her face lit up as she sang the praises of the Little Eagles Center staff and its children. For her, volunteering has been such a rewarding experience, but it’s also bittersweet. She explained how much she misses the youngsters when the year ends and they move up to the next class. 

The children were returning from Art Class when Khushbu’s volunteering session began. A young child peered through the window on the door, beamed enthusiastically and announced to her classmates:

 “YAY! Look who’s here! It’s Khusbu!” 

It was truly heartwarming to witness the excitement from both the children and Khusbu as they came together for their weekly reading session. 

Thank you, Khushbu, for being a great volunteer and for your continued commitment to the children at Little Eagles!

 Volunteers were asked to sign on to a letter thanking our King County Legislature for its outstanding bipartisan effort to support early learning in Washington. We were very excited when enthusiastic and highly positive responses came flying in. In all, a total of 35 Volunteer Reader Program volunteers signed on with response like “yes!’” and “of course!”

Once our e-mail was sent out, the very first response we received was from Representative Ruth Kagi. Here’s what she had to say: Thank you so much for this inspiring letter.  I seldom hear from people who volunteer to help kids, and the difference that makes in a child’s life.  I greatly appreciate hearing the perspective of many individuals dedicated to young children, and am very proud that the legislature did such a good job of supporting your efforts this year.

 You can only imagine how proud we are of our Volunteer Readers!  Thank you for sharing your time and energy on a weekly basis and for advocating to ensure each child in King County has an equal chance to be successful and thrive in school and in life.

 2011-2013 Budget Outcomes

Updated as of June 17, 2011

Information subject to revision as we further analyze a very complex set of budget provisions.  For more information contact UWKC Public Policy Director Carol Wood, cwood@uwkc.org