STARTING IN THE 2023-2024 SCHOOL YEAR, ALL COLORADO FAMILIES WILL HAVE ACCESS TO SCHOOL MEALS BECAUSE COLORADANS VOTED ‘YES’ ON PROPOSITION FF!

This program, which will take effect starting in the 2023-2024 school year, will support the development of Protective Factors that are proven to strengthen families and communities and prevent child maltreatment. When kids are well-fed, their physical, mental, and social well-being increase and families are able to build Parental Resilience and Social & Emotional Competence of Children, two of the Protective Factors that support the prevention of child maltreatment and set the foundation for kids and families to thrive.

Healthy School Meals for All will also incentivize the purchase of ingredients from local food systems, increasing wages for individuals employed by school meal programs, and providing healthier meal options to students by offering:

• An option to participate in a local procurement grant program that will provide schools with funds to purchase food from local farms and ranches,

• An option to participate in a grant program that will enable schools to increase pay for the staff who serve and prepare meals for students, and

• Funding for equipment and training to provide students with healthier meals.

THANK YOU, COLORADO, FOR VOTING TO PROVIDE HEALTHY SCHOOL MEALS FOR ALL OF OUR STATE’S STUDENTS!

 Follow the campaign on social media to learn more & keep up with next steps! 

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OTHER RESULTS OF THE 2022 ELECTION AND HOW THEY WILL IMPACT KIDS AND FAMILIES?

See below for recaps from some of our partners on other election results that impact Colorado’s children and families, including measures related to affordable housing and income tax rates:

• Colorado Children’s Campaign
• The Women’s Foundation of Colorado – through a gender, racial, & economic lens.
• From Colorado Coalition for the Homeless: 
  • Proposition 123 passed and will provide $300M per year for housing affordability and homelessness resolution across Colorado without raising taxes also passed. 
  • Denver voters overwhelmingly supported Question 2K to allow the city to keep excess revenue from a .25 percent sales-and-use tax approved by voters in 2020 for homelessness resolution.
  • Unfortunately, the news is not all good. Coloradans voted in favor of Proposition 121 to decrease the state income tax rate from 4.55% to 4.40%, reducing state funding for critical public services and putting more money in the pockets of very wealthy taxpayers and corporations.
• Alliance for Early Success– includes insights about election results across the nation.

Want to stay updated on state and federal public policy that impacts children and families?

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It Takes All of Us to Ensure that Families in Colorado Have What They Need to Be Well and Thrive.

What is Colorado Voting On?

By voting this year, you can ensure all of Colorado’s kids have access to healthy school meals, weigh in on housing issues, decide who will represent you as governor and in the state and U.S. Senate and House, and more! Find more information about what’s on the table this year by exploring The Colorado Health Foundation’s Local Ballot Measure Tracker and learning about which candidates are running for elected office on Ballotpedia.

Here Are Some Key Dates in Colorado: 

• Monday, October 17th – Counties began mailing ballots to registered voters. 
• October 24th-November 8th – Drop boxes are available and polling centers are open.
• Monday, October 31st – Last day to submit or update a voter registration and still receive a ballot in the mail.
• Tuesday, November 8th – Election Day! Polls will be open 7am-7pm. In Colorado, you can register to vote and vote in person up to 7pm on Election Day. If you filled your ballot out at home, be sure to turn it in at a dropbox by 7pm!

Voting lets us weigh in on the issues that are most important to us and that will make and keep Colorado a great place to live. Be a role model for your community and vote! 

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Proposition FF: Healthy School Meals for All

 Make access to school meals free for all students in Colorado starting in the 2023-2024 school year.

Weighing in on the Conversation

In September, Illuminate Colorado’s Strategic Initiatives Manager, Cassie Davis, sat down virtually with the Healthy School Meals for Colorado campaign to discuss why Illuminate Colorado supports this critical measure. Watch the recording to learn more about the program’s capacity to strengthen families and prevent child maltreatment.

How Can I Help to Ensure that Colorado Provides Healthy School Meals for All of Its Students?

Vote YES on Proposition FF on Colorado’s November ballot 

• • • Make sure you’re ready to vote on this November’s ballot! In Colorado, you can REGISTER TO VOTE and vote in person until 7 p.m. on Election Day, November 8th. In order to receive a ballot in the mail, the deadline to register to vote or update your registration is October 31.
    • You can also sign up for BallotTrax – a system promoted by the Colorado Secretary of State that will allow you to track your ballot from sent to accepted. Sign up for BallotTrax here!

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Continuing and improving this support to families cannot wait

Despite the proven success and critical nature of these programs, existing Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) funding is both insufficient to meet the needs of all families who need these services and is set to expire on September 30th. 

The unmet need for these services in Colorado is significant: While some level of home visiting services is available in all counties, according to the Child Fatality Prevention System’s 2020 Annual Legislative Report, “Not a single county in Colorado… has home visiting programs to meet the overall needs of families in the county.”

Hope is here!

Thanks to the advocacy of the Home Visiting Coalition, Prevent Child Abuse America, and home visiting advocates around the country, a critical piece of legislation that would both reauthorize and make drastic improvements to federal MIECHV funding– the Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act– was recently introduced and unanimously passed by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee.

This exciting bill would:

• Bolster the capacity of existing evidence-based programs that are proven to reduce child abuse and neglect by increasing funding for program implementation 
• Advance equity by doubling the amount of funding that is set aside for Tribal home visiting programs
• Enable programs to support families in the way that works best for them by continuing to allow visits to be conducted virtually 

Learn more about the proposed legislation here.

What can we do to help? 

Illuminate staff had a chance to meet with Senate and House offices in DC last week to reiterate the importance of this funding for Colorado families– but you don’t have to go to DC to support getting this bill passed!

The Home Visiting Coalition suggests the following key actions in support of this legislation:

• Reach out to your representative about the need for bipartisan reauthorization. The House Ways and Means Committee’s vote is a big step forward, but Congress needs to enact these policies to realize the opportunity they offer. Meet with, call, and email your Members of Congress to urge them to prioritize a bipartisan MIECHV reauthorization that lifts up the priorities of increased funding, doubling the Tribal set-aside, and allowing virtual home visits.

• Not sure who your representative is? Find out here.

• Reach out to U.S. House members requesting their co-sponsorship. Further co-sponsors will help demonstrate the broad bipartisan support for this bill to Congressional leadership. You can see a list of current co-sponsors here.
• Engage policymakers on social media using this toolkit. Please use these sample messages and tag your Members of Congress to thank them for supporting and co-sponsoring, or to encourage them to do so.

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