Our Future Depends on Our Children
By Mayra E. Alvarez, president of The Children’s Partnership
Summer is often a time for play, pools and popsicles – especially if you have a young child, like I do. But for too many families, this summer is filled with worry about the future and their ability to support their children’s basic needs.
Like so many others, I know raising my little girl is not possible in isolation. The concept that “it takes a village to raise a child” emphasizes communal responsibility in nurturing and cultivating the next generation – and the idea that all children are our children. This philosophy underscores the need not only for familial support but also for societal structures that champion the well-being of children. However, we have seen a shift in the national narrative regarding who is responsible for raising our children. With the passage of the 2025-26 budget bill HR1, the Trump administration has made clear their commitment to prioritizing economic gains for the few over humanitarian needs for the many, weakening the village’s ability to elevate children. In doing so, young lives are put in precarious situations, threatening the foundational structure that should nurture and protect them.
These budget decisions will have negative impacts across our country. In California, millions of people will be pushed into poverty, health inequities will widen, and critical support for families raising children will be ripped away. Up to 3.4 million people on Medi-Cal and 660,000 on Covered California are projected to lose health care coverage. Up to 395,000 will lose nutrition benefits. And with billions of dollars invested in immigration enforcement, fear and uncertainty will only grow, causing a chilling effect that will limit usage of health and nutrition services for up to half of California’s 9 million children that are part of immigrant families.
Globally, children are too often collateral damage in conflicts, denied access to nutrition, education and basic health care. Nowhere is this more evident than in the killing and mass starvation of children and families in Gaza. Both at home and abroad, our children demand urgent attention. Our country is complicit in undermining our collective future and moral obligation to ensure a just world for coming generations.
Drawing upon writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin’s eloquent insight, “For these are all our children, we will profit by or pay for whatever they become,” the fates of today’s children are intrinsically linked to our shared destiny. It is our duty to embrace policies and attitudes that nurture, rather than threaten, our children’s lives and potential.
At The Children’s Partnership, we are proud to work alongside you – our partners, friends and community – for the well-being of children and their right to grow up secure and healthy. Thank you for being with us as we earnestly continue our work in guaranteeing a thriving future for all our children.
