All children are special; they are not a special interest. But because the presidential nomination process is awash in money from special interests, it’s easy to push aside the needs of children, youth, and families.

That’s why we invite you to join our initiative to spotlight children’s issues during the Iowa Presidential Caucus as part of Every Child Matter's non-partisan campaign to make investments in kids a national political and budget priority. 

We know that most Iowa kids are doing fine, but thousands are not. 109,000 live in poverty, more than 260,000 receive government-funded health care, 38,000 have no health insurance, 11,200 were victims of child abuse and neglect last year, and many do not have access to pre-school education, child care, or afterschool programs. Millions of children across the country are facing the same problems.  And a recent UNICEF report found that among 24 rich countries the U.S. ranked 23rd in child well-being. It doesn’t need to be this way. Smart national investments in our kids and families can turn it around. 

Every Child Matters has had operations in Iowa for many years. This year we are expanding our operations to engage the public and the presidential candidates on children’s issues. Among our planned activities:

1. Polling
2. A ‘Presidential Campaign 2012’ webpage
3. Meeting with the candidates
4. Recruiting volunteer county coordinators
5. Asking candidate’s their views on children’s needs at public events
6. Planning special ‘Step Up for Kids Day’ events in Des Moines 
7. Building a comprehensive database of supporters8. A newsletter dedicated to Iowa readers

We hope you will visit this website regularly as well as our national site and that you will help bring attention to children’s issues by participating in some of the volunteer opportunities described above or others.

Find Out How to Make Your Vote Count!

Ask the Candidates Where They Stand on America’s Kids

Make sure to ask the candidates where they stand when it comes to the well-being of our nation’s children. Too often the well-documented needs of children are crowded out of political debate and the budget process because of stronger competing interests. Be a voice for children. Ask candidates the tough questions. Here are some for starters.

• Children with Medicaid are far more likely than those with private insurance to be turned away by medical specialists or be made to wait more than a month for an appointment, even for serious medical problems. How would you improve the program to address these issues without causing children currently receiving coverage through Medicaid to be dropped from the program?
• What changes would you make to the Affordable Care Act and State Children’s Health Insurance Program to guarantee that the 8 million children currently uninsured will receive coverage when the law is slated to be fully implemented in 2014?
• What level of overall federal spending, as a share of gross domestic product, do you support which would guarantee quality education, health care, and safety to every American child?
• Overall family income has dropped for middle and low income families since 2000. What policies do you support that would increase the income of these families?
• Nearly 3 million children nationwide are reported abused and neglected each year. What are your plans to keep all children safe from violence in their homes, schools and communities?
• What steps would your administration take to help guarantee that every child who enters kindergarten is prepared to start learning from day one?
• Recent presidential administrations have passed major legislation to improve the educational performance of children. What changes would you make to the No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top programs to improve educational achievement?
• Tuition at both public and private universities has increased substantially in recent years. The largest Pell Grant award covers only 72% of tuition costs for in-state residents at the University of Iowa and 36% at the University of New Hampshire. That share has declined over the last decade. What will you do to make college affordable to more lower and middle class families?
• 5. 2 million children have a parent in prison. How would you address the special needs of these children?
• 20,000 children in New Hampshire receive support from the Social Security program, either through payments for disability or survivor benefits when a parent has died. What are your proposals to secure the future finances of this program and how would that impact children who benefit from the program?

And when you ask the questions, use your phone or camera to capture both the questions and the answers. And most importantly, send the video back to us so that we can place it on the web site and send it to our constituents. Thanks in advance for helping to educate us all on the candidates’ stand on issues affecting kids.

Mark Your Calendars Now for Your Step Up for Kids Event

Every Child Counts, Every Child Matters in Iowa, and the Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children are partners once again this year on Step Up for Kids events. Thank you to all who were involved in the campaign last year. We are at it again!

Join us for Advocacy Training, “How to Make Your Vote Count, “ Media Event, & Free Lunch!

All events will begin at 10:00 a.m. and end by 1:30 p.m.

Save the date for the location nearest you:

Monday, September 17 – Clinton
Happy Joe's Pizza
408 South First Street, Clinton, Iowa

Tuesday, September 18 – Iowa City
Iowa City Public Library
123 South Linn Street, Iowa City, Iowa

Wednesday, September 19 – Marshalltown
Marshalltown Public Library
105 West Boone Street, Marshalltown, Iowa

Thursday, September 20 - Des Moines
Plymouth Congregational Church
4326 Ingersoll, Des Moines, Iowa

Friday, September 21 – Storm Lake
Lake Shore Cafe
1520 North Lake Avenue, Storm Lake, Iowa

To register for any event, please send your name, home address (including zip code), email address, organization name, and which city you will be attending to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Last year, upwards of 150 children’s advocates attended Step Up for Kids Week events in five communities across Iowa.

“It was very interesting and informative!” and “What a great campaign!” were just a sampling of the comments shared with presenters, Sheila Hansen of Every Child Counts and Tom La Pointe of Every Child Matters/Iowa during the Step Up For Kids week in Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Mason City, Sioux City and Des Moines.

The interactive 3 hour sessions, including time to talk over lunch, provided great opportunities to share information on How To Make Your Vote Count for Iowa’s Children during the current election season. The “It’s About Our Kids” website – www.itsaboutourkids.org, a one stop shopping experience for kids’ issues during the current Iowa elections, was demonstrated and an advocacy session outlined the “How To” of lobbying during the upcoming legislative session at the Statehouse in Des Moines. The Iowa General Assembly website was demonstrated and shown to be a useful tool for Iowa’s children’s advocates.

The re-occurring theme in all the Step Up For Kids events in all five communities was improving on our collective advocacy on behalf of Iowa children and families with all elected officials in Washington, D.C. or at the State Capitol in Des Moines.

This year’s Step Up For Kids week was built on five similar events in Iowa last year.

All participants learned about the advocacy in elections and the legislative process, how to reach their own legislators and how to become a more complete and effective advocate on behalf of children. All in all, according to Every Child Matter’s Tom LaPointe, “We learned much from each other, so as to become better advocates for children”.

Step Up Publicity

Child advocacy leaders make local stop

Candidates should focus on child poverty, health care, education

• There are 724,370 children under 18 in Iowa
• Children Living in Poverty (2010) - 115,000
• Children Living with a Single Mother (2010) - 151,000
• Children Not Covered by Health Insurance at Any Time (2010) - 53,000
• Share of Medicaid-enrolled children not getting dental care (2009) - 46.2%
• Additional Children Covered by Expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program - 23,700

Child Abuse and Neglect

There are over 3 million reports of child abuse and neglect a year. Thousands of children are killed and severely injured. Abuse and neglect take a long-term physical and emotional toll on individual children, their families, and the communities in which they live.

• In 2008, 11,200 Iowa children were victims of child abuse and neglect.
• Child abuse and neglect costs America $109.1 billion a year and contributes to poverty, crime, and alcohol and drug abuse.
• For every dollar spent by the federal government in subsidies for the out-of-home placement of children, 14 cents is spent on prevention and protective services.
• From 2005 to 2009, Congress cut federal funding to states to treat and protect abused and neglected children by 17%.
• The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided $1 billion to states for child protection. This funding will end at the end of the year.
• Despite receiving some federal support, Iowa cut nearly $145 million from the Department of Human Services 2010 budget.

Presidential Election

Barack Obama, Democrat

Mitt Romney, Republican

Click here for further details about the Presidential election.

2012 Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates

All debates will take place from 8:00-9:30 p.m. Central Time.

First presidential debate:
Wednesday, October 3
University of Denver, Denver, CO
Moderator: Jim Lehrer, Executive Editor of the PBS NewsHour

Vice presidential debate:
Thursday, October 11
Centre Col, Danville, KY
Moderator: Martha Raddatz, Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent, ABC

NewsSecond presidential debate (town meeting format):
Tuesday, October 16
Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
Moderator: Candy Crowley, Chief Political Correspondent, CNN and Anchor, CNN's State of the Union

Third presidential debate:
Monday, October 22
Lynn University, Boca Raton, FL
Moderator:  Bob Schieffer, Chief Washington Correspondent, CBS News and Moderator, Face the Nation

Current US Senators

Senator Tom Harkin

Senator Chuck Grassley

Current Congressmen

CD 1: Congressman Bruce Braley, Democrat

CD 2: Congressman David Loebsack, Democrat

CD 3: Congressman Leonard Boswell, Democrat

CD 4: Congressman Tom Latham, Republican

CD 5: Congressman Steve King, Republican

Iowa lost a seat in the House of Representatives following the 2010 Census. There are currently four seats being contested in the 2012 election.

Congressional Candidates

CD 1:
Bruce Braley (D)
Ben Lange (R)

CD 2:
Dave Loebsack (D)
John Archer (R)

CD 3:
Leonard Boswell (D)
Tom Latham (R)

CD 4:
Christie Vilsack (D)
Steve King (R)

General Assembly

Find your district.

Find your candidate:

• Senate
• House

Judicial Retention Elections

In Iowa, we do not elect our judges. They are appointed by the Governor, but Iowans still have a vote. At the end of their appointed term, judges are on the general election ballot in what is called a retention election. In a retention election, judges do not have opponents. Instead, voters decide whether or not to keep the judge in office. If a judge receives a majority of "yes" votes, the judge may serve another full term. If not, the judge will leave office and the Governor appoints a new judge.

Judicial Retention Voter Guide

Pocket Guide on Voting for Judges

To find out which judges are up for retention this year - click here.