Fresh Updates from RAC

A month ago, I tempted you with a taste of current fiscal policy (warning: please read Sequestration Part 1 before this, or you will be very confused, not to mention less informed!). You learned what sequestration is, where it came from and how it affects you and the programs you care about. So now let’s talk about the future. What are the options for avoiding the fiscal cliff? Will it be a cliff, or a slope? But most of all, why should you care?

If sequestration takes effect and the fiscal cliff hits, here is a snapshot of what is at stake:

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Last month, the Obama Administration announced that youth who are eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival status would not qualify for benefits extended under the Affordable Care Act. This excludes these young immigrants from accessing crucial preventative services, acquiring health care through the new exchanges, or receiving assistance from federal programs such as Medicaid or CHIP.

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Every year, 250,000 youth are tried, sentenced or incarcerated as adults. In 23 states, seven-year-olds can be prosecuted and tried in adult courts and tonight alone an estimated 10,000 children will be held in adult facilities, with more than three quarters of them awaiting trial. Even more troubling, African-American youth are nine times more likely than white youth to receive an adult prison sentence for identical crimes; for Latino youth that number is four times greater than for white children. These statistics, provided by the Campaign for Youth Justice, are a frightening wake-up call, which reminds us of the startling number of children ill served by the adult criminal justice system.

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Did you eat a meal on Monday? Did you go to the bathroom? Did you, like a friend of mine, accidentally super glue your fingers together? Though you may not have realized it you probably (hopefully) joined 200 million people in an important international holiday. Monday, October 15^th was the fourth annual Global Handwashing Day.

For most people in the United States and in the so-called “developed world,” washing your hands is something so simple, so routine, that one hardly even thinks about it. Yet this supremely quotidian behavior might just be the key to making significant strides in the global health crisis – especially for the health of children.

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“When you have eaten and you are satisfied, praise God for the good land God had given you” (Deuteronomy 8:10)

The sing-song-y nature of the Birkat Hamazon is stuck in my head as I write this post. Kakatuv v’achalta v’savata uveirachta et Adonai elohecha al ha’aretz hatova asher natan lach… How often have I chanted these words without realizing what they say? Food Day is about paying attention – paying attention to what we eat, to where we eat, to how we eat, to why we eat, and to how we think about what, where, how, and why we eat.

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Caution: Lots of learning contained in the post below; read at your own risk.

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Last week the Obama administration announced a new regulation that precludes people who are eligible for the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, also known as “DREAMers,” from accessing healthcare services under the 2010 healthcare reform law known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). This stands in opposition to the intention of the ACA and to our Jewish values. Read more…

While walking along a road, a sage saw a man planting a carob tree. He asked him: “How long will it take for this tree to bear fruit?” “Seventy years,” replied the man. The sage then asked: “Are you so healthy a man that you expect to live that length of time and eat its fruit?” The man answered: “I found a fruitful world, because my ancestors planted it for me. Likewise I am planting for my children.”

-Talmud Ta’anit 23a

Every year, religious organizations across the country mark the third weekend in October (this year, 10/19-21) as the Children’s Sabbath. This event is an opportunity for communities to come together and celebrate the children and children’s advocates in their midst, as well as evaluate and reaffirm their commitment to bettering the lives of children across the country.

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