Campaign Update
Friday, December 1, 2006

Inside This Issue:

Yesterday, children's advocates, business representatives and religious organizations came together at the State Capitol to urge Governor Schwarzenegger to make health coverage for all children the top priority in his health care reform plans for 2007. With 763,000 uninsured children and local children's health initiatives struggling to keep pace with demand, Californians for Healthy Kids – led by the 100% Campaign and PICO California – called on the Governor to act now to create a long-term, statewide solution for uninsured children across the state. Click here for the press release and fact sheet. United Way also presented polling data indicating strong voter support for moving forward on covering all kids – more details to follow.

The Sacramento Bee (Kids' Health Care Backed), Stockton Record (State Exploring Kids' Health Care), Fresno Bee (Push Begins to Insure Children) and ABC 7 (Governor to Expand Child Health Care) covered the event, among others.

We need your help to ensure the Governor hears our call. Please write a letter today asking Governor Schwarzenegger to be a champion for children's coverage this year. We greatly appreciate the Governor's steps to date in advancing coverage for children. Now we are calling on the Governor to put forth a plan for covering all kids in his January State of the State address, and back it up with funding in his 2007-2008 state budget proposal.

Send your letter to:

The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger
Governor of California
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Fax: 916-445-4633

You can use this sample letter as a starting point for your own personal message to the Governor. Feel free to contact Kelly Hardy at 510-763-2444 x 126 or khardy@childrennow.org for assistance. Please send Californians for Healthy Kids a copy of every letter you send – via fax: 916-443-1204, email: acridge@childrennow.org, or mail: 1127 Eleventh St, Suite 452, Sacramento, CA 95814. Also, please encourage your colleagues, friends and family to write letters to the Governor as well!

At yesterday's press conference, we announced the launch of a new website to focus attention on the call to the Governor to cover all children: www.fulfillthepledge.org. Please take a look, and watch the Governor's State of the State speech on January 9th to hear his plan for covering all kids! Visit often as we continue to update and improve the site.

Thank you for your continuing efforts to cover all California children!

The 100% Campaign, a collaborative effort of Children Now, Children's Defense Fund and The Children's Partnership, was created to ensure that all of California's children obtain the health insurance they need to grow up strong and healthy.
www.100percentcampaign.org

The PICO California Project is the united effort of 20 California congregation-community organizations affiliated with the PICO National Network. Collectively, we represent 350 congregations and 400,000 families statewide and are actively organizing in over 70 cities in Northern and Southern California.
www.picocalifornia.org