Close to 100 advocates, pediatricians, teachers, parents and allies gathered to call on the next President and Congress to Step Up and Act for Children by increasing federal investments in children.

President and CEO of Action for Children North Carolina, Barbara Bradley, welcomed allies and the media, stressing the need to increase federal resources going to children. Children's share of the federal budget has fallen 23 percent since 1960.

 
David Tayloe, Jr., M.D., Goldsboro pediatrician and incoming President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, spoke about the importance of reauthorizing SCHIP with adequate funding and increasing reimbursement to physicians.

Sheri Strickland, educator and President of the North Carolina Association of Educators, spoke about the need to overhaul No Child Left Behind and ensure federal education legislation is adequately funded.

Linda Hayes, Chair of the N.C. Governor's Crime Commission, spoke about the need to reauthorize and adequately fund the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act.