Eos Grantees in the News

Meet Children’s HealthWatch

Eos Grantee Changes Name, Keeps Focus on Helping Kids

February 2009

More than a decade ago, Dr. Deborah Frank launched an initiative to monitor the health effects of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. She soon realized that the project—known as the Children’s Sentinel Nutrition Assessment Program, or C-SNAP—filled an ongoing need for non-partisan, original research and analysis on child health and nutrition. C-SNAP also grew its policy focus to include a variety of other issues affecting children’s health, such as housing, energy, and immigration.

As they became a major public policy voice, however, they felt a new name would better convey their identity. After carefully considering their vision and strategy, C-SNAP recently became Children’s HealthWatch.

Says Executive Director Elizabeth March, “Our new name is designed to convey our work monitoring public policies’ impact on young children’s health, as well as our ultimate goal—better health for all children.”

Using its trademark methodology, with pediatrician-researchers collecting data on children up to age three in emergency rooms and clinics in five sites across the country, Children’s HealthWatch just issued a new report on the impact of the WIC program, in advance of its upcoming Congressional reauthorization. Their findings demonstrated that young children who are eligible for benefits but don’t receive them are at greater risk for developmental delays.

They’re also planning to analyze the health impacts of the current economic downtown—a critical need as the recession lingers. Says March, “We’re keenly interested in how food, energy, and housing insecurity are affecting our most vulnerable children.”

To learn more, visit ChildrensHealthWatch.org.

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