Accomplishments

Action for Children North Carolina is proud of its history of initiating positive changes for all children.   From affecting government decisions and serving as the convener of local advocacy groups across the state to creating partnerships with business, media, faith and civic communities, Action for Children works tirelessly in fulfilling its mission.

Examples of recent public policy successes include:

• Expanding access to affordable health insurance coverage for thousands of currently uninsured children in families between 200%-300% of the Federal Poverty Line ($42,000-$62,000 per year for a family of four) with the creation of N.C. Kids’ Care;
• Establishing an N.C. earned income tax credit (EITC) that improves tax fairness, supplements wages and helps lift families and children out of poverty;
• Guaranteeing tens of thousands more children access to preventive health care, eyeglasses, and dental care with the continued expansion of Health Choice;
• Ensuring more than half-a-million children across North Carolina receive quality early care and education with the creation of Smart Start and More at Four;
• Saving the lives of hundreds of children with the founding of the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force. Since the founding of the Task Force, the child death rate has dropped more than 20%;
• Reducing motor vehicle deaths of young children (age 5 to 7) by an expected 60% with the passage of the booster seat law;
• Keeping children safe and less likely to suffer head injuries by promoting the requirement for helmets on bike riders under age 16;
• Decreasing the number of new drivers killed by more than 20% since passage of the graduated driver’s license law;
• Reducing All Terrain Vehicle (ATV)-related deaths and serious injuries of children by an expected 50% with the passage of the ATV safety bill;
  
• Improving healthy food selections available to children in vending machines and school lunchrooms;
• Reducing the risk of motor vehicle accidents by banning cell phone use among teenagers currently under the graduated drivers’ license provision; and
• Requiring the use of seat belts by each occupant of a motor vehicle, through passage of the backseat safety belt law.