Voices for Illinois Children

Description

In 1987, a dedicated group of civic, business, community, academic and philanthropic leaders established Voices for Illinois Children to develop and promote strategies which improve conditions for all children throughout the state. As a privately funded organization, Voices for Illinois Children seeks to educate opinion leaders and policymakers on all issues facing children and families.

Over the years, Voices has grown into a powerful and well-respected advocate, uniting community leaders and people who care passionately about children into a statewide network helping to establish new policies and implementing innovative programs to improve education, health care and family economics. Now, Voices celebrates 20 years of hard and fruitful work that has yielded many noteable accomplishments in building better lives for all the children of Illinois, including:

• 1991: The Early Intervention program, which provides therapies for young children with developmental delays or disabilities, is created.
• 1994: Healthy Families Illinois, a program that offers voluntary home visits to help new families learn how to have healthy relationships with their children, is created.
• 1998: The KidCare program is created to provide health insurance for low-income children. Also, the Early Childhood Block Grant is established to fund preschool for at-risk young children.
• 2000: The Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit is created to benefit low-income, working families. Read a story about a family who benefited from the EITC.
• 2002: The FamilyCare program is established to offer health insurance to low-income, working parents.
• 2003: The Children's Mental Health Act is approved, paving the way for work on a comprehensive children's mental health system.
• 2006: Preschool for All is approved, making Illinois a national leader in its plans to provide voluntary, quality preschool to all 3- and 4-year-olds.