Publications

General Publications

Advocacy Manual This comprehensive guide describes advocacy and the Virginia legislative process and gives specific instructions on how to communicate with elected officials.

Annual Reports

Newsletters

 

Early Care and Education

Family Economic Success

    • In May 2009, Voices’ executive director, John Morgan, joined thought leaders from a variety of disciplines and backgroundsand participated in the “Rethinking Poverty- Exploring Economic Opportunity for All Virginians” summit in Richmond. Recommendations in the Poverty in Virginia report are a result of this analysis. The primary areas of focus are: children and education, workforce readiness, returns on work, and the public safety net.
    • Predicting Poverty in the Commonwealth – This report released by Voices for Virginia’s Children and the Commonwealth Institute predicts that the recession could push an additional 73,000 children in Virginia into poverty. This would represent up to a 30-percent increase in the number of children in poverty in the state. Evidence indicates that many kids pushed into poverty during a recession will remain poor for years, exposing them to the very harmful consequences of prolonged poverty. (pdf, January 2009)
    • Child Care Development Fund (CCDF): Virginia’s Child Care Subsidy Program (pdf, November 2008)

Foster Care

      • Voices for Virginia’s Children has just released a new report, A Portrait of Virginia’s Child Welfare System. The report highlights the latest Virginia data on child maltreatment and foster care, including data on foster care children with disabilities as well as racial disparities in Virginia’s foster care system. The report also evaluates the Children’s Services System Transformation, a multi-agency initiative implemented in December 2007 to streamline Virginia’s foster care placement system and increase community- and family-based placements for foster youth in care. Finally, the report outlines domains where more and better data are needed to fully understand Virginia’s foster care population and to offer data-driven policy recommendations for improvement.

In 2008 and 2009, Voices, the Virginia Poverty Law Center, FACES of Virginia Families, and ART 180 hosted VOICES for Change, an art initiative to amplify the voices of youth in foster care. Youth were encouraged to submit an original essay, poem, painting, illustration or photograph expressing their feelings about transitioning to adulthood. A panel of expert judges reviewed the submissions and selected winners in writing, photography, and two-dimensional art.

Health

KIDS COUNT

NORTHERN VIRGINIA

    • Portrait of Children in Northern Virginia – This report examines the critical needs of 530,000 children in Northern Virginia.The study finds that overall the region’s children have relatively positive well-being. However, the study also highlights “pockets of poverty” in the region, where large numbers of children are exposed to multiple risk factors that threaten their development and functioning. See the related appendix of tables and charts. (PDF, May 2010)
    • Self-Portrait of Youth in Northern Virginia – This report released by Voices for Virginia’s Children shows that, overall, Northern Virginia youth exhibit a relative advantage in general well-being over their peers nationwide. Compared to youth nationally, youth in Northern Virginia show somewhat lower rates of drug use, violence and other health risk behaviors. The report also cautions that each locale has large numbers of at-risk youth, and urges community leaders to identify sub-groups and neighborhoods with higher rates of health risk behaviors and to promote community initiatives to address these risks. (PDF, July 2009)
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