Printable Version Email to a Friend

In an effort to move children's issues to the forefront of the national agenda, the Every Child Matters Education Fund (ECMEF), regularly advocates for policy initiatives that will positively impact the lives of children for years to come. ECMEF's relentless commitment to unveiling disparaging trends in child abuse, education, healthcare, child poverty, incarceration rates, and several other child welfare measures, provides a commendable example of how nonprofit advocacy can challenge the status quo and help shape public policy. Between actively challenging presidential candidates, hosting national training sessions, and advocating for Headstart and after-school programs, the work of this nonprofit should not go unnoticed.

Recent Advocacy Efforts and Initiatives of Every Child Matters

ECMEF & Presidential Candidates

ECMEF has a strategic calendar of events to ensure that children's issues are adequately addressed in 2008 and beyond. From targeting areas with national conventions to launching media events in all fifty states before the presidential debate on September 26, 2008, ECMEF has ambitious plans for raising the visibility of children's issues. Additionally, EDMEF has many events lined up between now and the November 2008 elections. There are visibility and media planning events during both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. EDMEF recently held a Tykes on Trikes parade on August 16, 2008 just prior to the Democratic National Convention. They are also holding a Children and Youth Convention on August 27, 2008 just before the Republican National Convention. There is also a Step Up For Kids Day rally on September 16, 2008 on the steps of the US Capitol, as well as on the steps of the Capitols of the 50 states. Furthermore, they are holding four Debates for Kids between September 26, 2008 and October 15, 2008. Finally, on Halloween 2008, there will be a Treat Kids and Vote Day, which will be ECMEF's final get out the vote effort in swing states. In addition to these initiatives, ECMEF has also been involved in ongoing advocacy work at the state level. With dedicated field offices in eight states (Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, and New Mexico) and future plans to initiate partnerships in four more states (Kentucky, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Virginia), support for ECMEF is expanding almost daily. These advocacy efforts are all supported by ECMEF's website, which provides links to: the respective stances of presidential contenders on children's issues, free publications, links to Facebook and Flickr groups and free "I'm Voting for Kids" bumper stickers. In years past, advocates for children's issues began their advocacy campaigns after the election cycle. However, ECMEF employs a multi-pronged pre and post election advocacy strategy that implores office seekers to not only pledge their support, but also ensure proper implementation of child welfare initiatives promised throughout their campaigns.

National Training Institute: "Campaigning for Kids"

In addition to conducting Advocacy 101 workshops and caucus training sessions during 2007, ECMEF continued its outreach efforts by hosting its first National Training Institute on April 9, 2008. The national training session augmented the advocacy work of ECMEF's state offices by building the advocacy capacity of nearly 120 child-friendly individuals from 38 states. By sharing best practices in child advocacy and organizing, participants learned how to integrate child advocacy into their current pursuits with the media, the general public and candidates for both federal and local offices. The two day training session held in Denver not only provided general guidance on permissible non-partisan activities, but also allowed participants to attend three breakout sessions: "Engaging the Public and the Field," "Using Online Advocacy & Communications," and "Campaign Communications on Behalf of Children, Youth and Families."

Head Start

Part of ECMEF's ongoing battle includes fighting federal budget cuts for child welfare programs. With federal budget cuts threatening to reduce funding for Headstart, ECMEF launched an email advocacy campaign to stimulate increased support for adequate Headstart funding. The email message encouraged recipients to oppose the proposed cuts by not only contacting members of Congress , but also by contacting presidential contenders. Highlighting current disparities between authorized levels of funding for Headstart and those proposed by both Congress and the President, ECMEF's email more than adequately presented the need for increased funding. Whether advocating at the state level or via email, ECMEF is disseminating information about federal fiscal decisions that can eventually negatively impact the lives of children in towns from coast to coast.

21st Century Community Learning Center Program

Another advocacy campaign recently launched by Every Child Matters aims to stave off a proposed $300 million budget cut to the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, the country's main funding stream for after-school programs. According to testimony given on the Senate floor by Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), if the President's budget cuts are enacted, more than 300,000 children will lose access to after school programs. As if these budget cuts are not threatening enough to organizations currently sponsoring after school programs, the President's FY09 budget calls for a major restructuring of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program. The President's restructuring plans would convert the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program into a voucher program whereby parents, instead of states whom currently award multi-year grants to competitive grantees, would be given funds that currently provide a major source of program stability. ECMEF's efforts to sponsor two national call-in days to oppose these changes provides yet another example of how nonprofits can use their speech rights to speak for children, a group who cannot speak for themselves.

Homeland Insecurity & Geography Matters Reports

Homeland Insecurity: Why Children Must Be A Priority in the 2008 Presidential Campaign, Second Edition and Geography Matters are two recent publications of ECMEF. While the focus of Geography Matters is strictly domestic, Homeland Insecurity provides international comparisons of child well being. Both reports provide informative, compelling and incriminatingly detailed examinations of current disparities in child well being. Illuminating the vast disparities that exist between states, those with the best outcomes for children and those with the worst, estimates from the Homeland Insecurity report show that children growing up in the worst states are:

• twice as likely to live in poverty
• three and a half times as likely to be without health insurance
• twice as likely to die before their fourteenth birthday.

However, figures from ECMEF's most recent publication, Geography Matters , provide even more disturbing child trends between states with the worst and best outcomes. This report shows that children residing in states with the worst outcomes for children are:

• three times more likely to be born to a teen mother
• eight times more likely to be incarcerated
• thirteen times more likely to die from child abuse and neglect

Conclusion

The numerous advocacy efforts of the Every Child Matters Education Fund are forcefully edging children's issues towards the top of the national agenda. Between national call in days, email advocacy campaigns and other advocacy work, the pertinacity of ECMEF stems from an implicit belief that America can and must do better for its children. With increased advocacy efforts from both individuals and groups, perhaps children's issues will soon become a national priority in both word and deed.