Get Involved–Advocacy

Advocacy

Child care is a fact of life for many Kansas families. High-quality child care helps parents work and children learn. You can help raise the bar on quality by getting involved and letting our leaders know that high-quality child care is important to you and your community. Our goal is to make greater investments in children a topic of debate in elections at all levels.

At a time when the country is facing growing budgets deficits and the impending retirement of the Baby Boom generation that will strain the Social Security and Medicare, there is no better investment to ensure the nation's long-term economic health than investing in children.

Child Care Providers Appreciation Day

What providers can do:

Week of the Young Child

Make a difference in your community!

Support programs that provide quality early childhood education by volunteering at a local school, community center, Head Start or child care program.
Educate yourself and others about the importance of quality early childhood education in preparing young children for school.
Support policies at the local, state, and federal levels that provide quality early learning opportunities for all young children. We can all help to build better futures for all children!

Week of the Young Child Communication Kit:

Week of the Young Child News Release
Invitation to television stations to cover event
PSA Script (Public service announcements)
Letter to the Editor
Proclamation for the Governor or Mayor
Business Flyer Template
Participant Flyer Template
Ideas for Planning Week of the Young Child Events

As you plan your events, visit the NAEYC Web site (www.naeyc.org/woyc) for tips, strategies, and reports from other organizations about how you can organize a successful Week of the Young Child

Communication Kit

Worthy Wage Day

May 1st is recognized as Worthy Wage Day, a day to build community awareness and highlight the importance of quality care for children and its relationship to worthy wages for child care work.

Center for Child Care Workforce www.ccw.org

The suggested activites information above includes:

Part One: Organizing a Local Worthy Wage Group
Part Two: Activities, Exercises and Action Plans
Part Three: Facilitating Meetings and Workshops

On this day communities advocate for better wages and benefit for early childhood educators. Each year, thousands of professionals leave the field because they cannot afford to stay. Worthy Wage Day is our time to remind everyone that early childhood educators play an important role in educating our country's children a role for which they are vastly under-compensated. Worthy Wage Day is a day of action built on locally-based organizing and outreach that takes place throughout the year.

Activities vary widely from community to community, based on each area's needs and level of organization. Local events have included activities such as: rallies, conferences, lobbying efforts, public displays, job shadowing, media events, fundraisers for the local campaign, recognition and celebratory events and more. The spirit of Worthy Wage Day is still alive. In some communities, local traditions for Worthy Wage Day have been established and we hope they continue. On this day, teachers, providers, parents and advocates in communities around the country are intentional about speaking out, telling stories and using the media to help spread the message about the staffing crisis amongst the early care and education workforce. We encourage communities to organize and engage in activities.

Suggested Activities:
http://www.firstclassteachers.org/wwdayactivities.html

Frequently Ask Questions:
http://www.firstclassteachers.org/resourcesmain/worthywageday/wwdayfaq.html

Ideas to get you started on organizing your own activities:
http://www.ccw.org/about_WWpacket.html