Greetings, Faithful Child Avocates
Inspiration:
Recently I read a little story about an aged grandma who looked into the eyes of her two young granddaughters, patted their hands and spoke to their father, her son, saying, "You take good care of these two sweet Souls. God lives in your children." Michael Gurian, The Soul of the Child I was reminded of the sacredness of childhood and the privledged responsible I have to do my part in creating a nurturing world for each little Soul.

Background: The 2005 Legislative Session ended. But as you know a special session was immediately called as the legilature failed to do their work of balancing the budget. You have done a great job. Children's issues were brought forward and legislators can't say they didn't hear from child advocates.

The Shaken Baby Bill that you made calls about passed through and will be adopted which means every Minnesota woman, after giving birth, will be required to watch an educational video, as well as every child care provider.

Perhaps the biggest step forward we made was raising the minimum wage a dollar an hour ($6.15)! This will make a good difference for children living in low-income homes. Share the joy of this victory knowing your calls and letters/post cards helped make this happen.

But, the child care and early education supports that so many of our children rely on for a strong start in life are still in jeopardy of being cut back, underfunded, or not funded at all. The only thing to do now, is keep on being the voice for our children...but even more timely NOW.

Action Needed: (Same as last week) The leadership needs to hear from you. They need to know what you think the spending priorities should be. We need to generate a LOT of noise about child care and early education...make your calls and ask others to also...write letters to your local papers, talk to your own legislators (hopefully they can influence the leadership).

Call or email: (if you only have time to make one call, call the governor)
•Governor Tim Pawlenty, 651-296-3391 or tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us

Senate Majority Leader, Dean Johnson, 651-296-3826 or sen.dean.johnson@senate.mn

Rep. Steve Sviggum, Speaker of the House, 651-296-2273 or
rep.steve.sviggum@house.mn

Message: (Be strong. Express your emotion about children's needs being so low on the soending priority list.) Minnesota cannot afford NOT to invest abundantly in our youngest children. They are now and have always been our highest priority. Please expand the child care assistance program so that every working family can access quality child care, remove the freeze on child care provider rates, and invest in ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education), Head Start, School Readiness, and the MELF (MN Early Learning Foundation).

••This will be the last Wednesdays4Kids until something changes... Keep in touch. Let me know how your advocacy experience was for you this session.

Thanks!
Norma Bourland
Director
Congregations Concerned for Children
612-870-3670