All children deserve clean air and water, safe food, toys and products, stable climates, and healthy environments in which to live, learn, play, and work.
There is an intensifying federal spotlight on children’s chronic illnesses, including the contributing role of environmental hazards. We must meet this increased attention with evidence-based solutions.
The 2026 elections offer an opportunity to reset our national, state, and local priorities in support of science, public health, and a robust federal workforce to protect children’s environmental health.
We need political leaders at all levels of government who put the health of children, their future, and their families FIRST.
When children thrive, we all thrive.
Confirm your voting eligibility, register to vote, check your voting deadlines and requirements, and make a plan to vote for kids.
A rubric you can use to assess local, state, and federal candidates to make sure they’re keeping children at the center of their decisions.
Use the Companion Toolkit to put the voter guide into action with practical, step-by-step guidance to help you evaluate candidates’ records, policy positions, and commitments.
Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, MPH (Executive Director, Children’s Environmental Health Network), Dr. Anne Mellinger-Birdsong, MD, MPH, FAAP (Health Advisor, Mothers and Others for Clean Air), Mike Schade (Senior Director of Programs and Strategy, Toxic-Free Future), and Abre’ Conner, Esq (Director, Environmental and Climate Justice, NAACP) discuss key voting issues that impact our children’ s well-being, like protecting democracy, clean air, a toxic-free environment, and safer industry standards. The conversation is moderated by Garrett Smith (University of Miami School of Law student and CEHN Carol Strobel Policy & Health Education Intern).
Dr. Cynthia Bearer, MD, PhD (Chief of the Division of Neonatology, University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital), Katherine Catalano, MS (Senior Director of Climate for Health, ecoAmerica), Lynn Thorp (President, Clean Water Action), and Leslie Fields, Esq (Chief Federal Officer, WE ACT for Environmental Justice) will discuss key voting issues that impact our children’ s well-being, like protecting science, climate action, clean water, health equity, and children’s health. The conversation will be moderated by Sam Stone (American University student and CEHN’s William K. Reilly Policy Intern).
Get a monthly rundown of legislative, administrative, regulatory, and judicial federal policy actions that impact children’s health. We also include calls to actionable ways to help protect kids’ health through policy.
