"The United States should not have a child that is not covered by health insurance -- not one child."
Najmah works all day with uninsured children. At 29, she is a single mother and founder of a nonprofit in Virginia that provides exposure to leadership, positive role models and culturally enriching activities for at-risk youth.
The core principles of her organization echo the themes of Barack's healthcare plan for all American children: invest in youth, see results. Najmah's appreciation of these basics isn't just based on observation either.
"I grew up in and out of foster homes...I left home when I was sixteen, started working at a Dairy Queen, rented a room, and was just trying to get through high school. I was one of the kids who would have benefitted from universal healthcare."
Despite her situation, she considers herself lucky: along the way she met a guidance couselor who in turn became a mentor. More than anything else, her counselor pressed her to get an education. And she did.
With the help of Pell grants and other government funding, Najmah now holds an undergraduate degree in public policy, a Master's in adult education and she'd working on her PhD in public administration with a focus in youth employment opportunities.
This whole time I've had that mentor in the back of my head, saying 'Go to school, go to school, go to school.'And I was able to because of government funding. It's a long term investment, and I'm a return on that investment. I'm proof positive.
This whole time I've had that mentor in the back of my head, saying 'Go to school, go to school, go to school.'
And I was able to because of government funding. It's a long term investment, and I'm a return on that investment. I'm proof positive.
She likes Barack Obama because he has the track record of someone who actually cares about domestic issues. As a community organizer he has dealt hands-on with many of the same issues Najmah deals with day to day, and as a legislator he has helped to pass legislation that expands and makes permanent the Illinois KidCare program by raising eligibility from 185% to 200% of the federal poverty level.
The Bush Adminstration has demonstrated its priorities. This country needs a 180 degree turnaround in terms of politics. Barack's approach is new, it's fresh and it's inclusive.
Najmah is someone who needed a little help, got it, and is now able to pay it forward. And in a small city in Virginia, there are some kids who are enjoying her success.
At the end of this year -- at the end of every year -- a limousine will pull up to the projects and pick up each kid from Najmah's organization, one by one. They will be dressed in their fanciest of ballgowns and coattails. They will be whisked away, off to an end-of-the-year ball at an elegant art museum where all night they will be treated like royalty.
Click here to learn more about Barack's healthcare policies, and check out Barack's response to President Bush's veto yesterday of the State Children Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP).
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