Our Role

How We Support Missouri's Children

Our priority issue areas are child protection, early care and education, health and mental health care, and youth development. We also monitor the state budget and revenue, tobacco tax proposals, and push for adequate resources to finance needed children's services. Learn more about our initiatives in our 2005 Key Achievements, Children's Chronicle, Action Alerts and Advocacy in Jefferson City.

Click here to view our 2008 Legislative Priorities.

Raising Public Awareness

We are a valued source of information for newspapers and professional journals statewide. We provide media interviews statewide, help shape opinion through commentaries and letters to the editor, and market promotional items that raise awareness of the needs of Missouri's children.

Educating

We publish a informational and research reports each year, including:

• The annual KIDS COUNT in Missouri Data Book
• Special, in-depth issue reports
• Annual voting records of the Missouri General Assembly, U.S. Senate and House of Representatives

We also initiate task forces that address urgent children's issues, host conferences, seminars, and policy briefings, and provide diverse information on our web site, including legislative updates, research and recommendations, media archives, and easy-to-download data and photographs.

Mobilizing Citizens

We monitor pending federal and state legislation and seek to hold public officials accountable. We provide opportunities for citizen action through alerts and lobby days, and partner with nonprofit, public and nontraditional sectors to improve policies and programs.

Partnering to Create Positive Change

Our staff participates in more than 40 coalitions, committees and task forces that directly impact children's policies in Missouri. We have led a statewide coalition to win a fair share of Missouri's tobacco settlement for children and youth. We have also partnered with state agencies, community groups and foundations to produce statewide video conferences exploring the impact of welfare reform, and collaborated with the Department of Social Services to improve its child abuse and neglect protocol.