Child Care and Head Start Organizer’s Toolkit CHILDREN’S DEFENSE FUND 2005 For additional information contact the Early Childhood Development Division at (202) 628-8787 or [email protected] M I S S I O N The Children’s Defense Fund’s Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adult- hood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investment before they get sick or into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. We have never taken government funds. M O V E M E N T For more than 30 years, CDF has been building a movement that stands for children. This means leading the way through research, education, advocacy, and organizing. MEETING CHILDREN’S NEEDS Child Health Access to comprehensive, quality, affordable health care services for all children. Child Welfare & Mental Health Advocating for children who are abused, neglected, homeless, or suffer from emotional and other problems. Early Childhood Development Quality, affordable child care; pre-kindergarten programs; and after-school activities for working parents. Education and Youth Development Helping children avoid trouble, protecting them from violence, and ensuring them a productive learning environment. Family Income and Jobs Secure employment with livable wages; education and training to enable parents to compete for better jobs. PREVENTING POVERTY Tax and Benefits Outreach Volunteer tax return preparers help lower income families claim Earned Income and Child Care Tax Credits. Student Outreach High school and college volunteers enroll children in federal health insurance and poverty-reduction programs. Youth Leadership A national network of servant-leaders ages 18 to 30 works to mobilize a new generation for community service and child advocacy. Children’s Defense Fund 2 ADVOCATING FOR CHILDREN Black Community Crusade for Children Leading clergy, educators, policy makers, and community leaders work in partnership with effective regional child-serving organizations. CDF Freedom SchoolsSM Program Literacy-rich programs directly serving students ages five to 18 in communities where opportunities are limited or nonexistent. ENGAGING FAITH COMMUNITIES Protecting and nurturing children is called for in the sacred texts, teachings, and traditions of every religion. CDF’s mission is shaped by the same moral imperative, guided by the deep faith commit- ment of CDF’s Founder and CEO Marian Wright Edelman, and reflected in the very words of our logo: “Dear Lord, be good to me. The sea is so wide and my boat is so small.” Religious people and organizations—with millions of Members, deep roots in communities across the continent, a history of caring for children, and moral authority—are indispensable to building a successful Leave No Child Behind® Movement. CDF has worked in close partnership with national religious leaders and organizations, state and regional bodies, and local congregations, leaders, and lay people for more than 20 years. Join the faithful members of CDF’s movement for children—as an individual or as a representative of a con- gregation or religious organization. • Visit http://www.childrensdefense.org to add your name to CDF’s Religious Action mailing list to receive twice-yearly updates and other communication about important children’s concerns. • Sign up to receive the monthly Religious Action Listserv, a brief email each month that highlights urgent issues, new resources, and opportunities to make a difference for children. • Sign up to receive the Government Affairs Listserv to receive action alerts on urgent legislative issues affecting children so that you can make your voice heard. • Organize a Children’s Sabbath for your synagogue, church, mosque, or other place of worship to focus attention on urgent children’s needs and our call to respond with com- passionate service and to work for justice! • Plan to attend the 12th annual Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy Ministry, July 17–21, 2006, if you are a minister, seminarian, Christian educator, or lay person who seeks inspiration, information, and strategies to incorpo- rate child advocacy and children’s concerns more effectively into your ministry and church life. • Draw on the wealth of faith-based resources available to support and strengthen you and your efforts to improve the lives of our nation’s children. • Share your questions, ideas, resources, and experiences with other faith-based child advocates through the Religious Action Message Boards. • CDF’s state and regional offices work with thousands of faith-based organizations across the country every day. For a list of these offices, visit http://www.childrensde- fense.org Child Care and Head Start Organizer’s Toolkit 3 M I L E S T O N E S CDF has played a central role in countless key federal, state, and local success stories, including: • Medicaid expansions and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program covering mil- lions of low-income children in working families • The Vaccines for Children Program providing free immunizations to uninsured, under- insured, and Native American children • The Child Care and Development Block Grant and At-Risk Child Care Program • The Earned Income Tax Credit, generating billions of dollars in federal tax relief for low-income families • A ground-breaking adolescent pregnancy prevention campaign • A dramatic expansion of Head Start to serve millions of additional preschoolers • The Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which helped pave the way for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Children’s Defense Fund 25 E Street, NW Washington DC 20001 (202) 628-8787 http://www.childrensdefense.org Children’s Defense Fund 4 Stand for Justice for Children and the Poor If there was ever a time to stand up, speak out, and act courageously to defend our children from fear and want, this is it. The very future and soul of America are at stake. In America: • Every 40 seconds a baby is born into poverty; • Every 2 minutes a Black and Latino baby is born into poverty; • Every 51 seconds a baby is born without health insurance; • Every 35 seconds a child is abused or neglected; • Every 10 seconds a high school student drops out; and • A Black baby boy born in 2001 has a one in three chance of ending up in prison. These facts are not acts of God. They are our moral and political choices as men and women and as Americans. We can change them. We have the money and power. We have the know-how and experience. We have the vision. And we have the moral and social responsibility. Together we can and must build the civic and spiritual will of enough citizens and political, faith, youth, and com- munity leaders to protect and invest in all our children. It’s time to do better! We hope you will help build the Leave No Child Behind® Movement to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful transition to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. Time is running out for America’s children. The 2005 federal budget and appropriation bill presents a moral and fiscal crossroads for America. In the coming months Congress will make decisions that could harm millions of children for years to come. If they adopt the proposed appropriations bill, they will sacrifice health care for millions of children, end legal guarantees of protection for abused and neglected children, cut child care programs and deny children Head Start services. These decisions are being made not out of a sense of fiscal responsibility or to reduce the deficit, but to grant additional tax breaks for millionaires. America’s children and families did not create the deficit and shouldn’t have to pay for it. Tax cuts passed since 2001 cost three times the cost of all domestic social programs increases passed during the same period. This year, these tax cuts will account for half of the spending on legislation passed since 2001 and are the major source of this year’s federal deficit. When fully phased in, millionaires will receive an average tax cut of $136,298 a year. A working family earning $30,000 a year will receive just $532. As a representative of your community entrusted with the care of our nation’s children and the commitment to defend America’s values, we ask you to preserve, protect, and defend the most vulnerable among us—children and the poor. The proposed budget lays out a stark choice: Either invest in our children and our future or give more tax cuts to the wealthiest and most privileged Americans. We consider this a moral choice. Therefore, we ask your commitment to do the following: • Make it a priority to lift children out of poverty and to fight efforts to make tax cuts for millionaires permanent. • Champion the safety net for the most vulnerable children by maintaining the legal federal protection for abused and neglected children, the commitment to health care services, and the investment in Head Start opportunities. Child Care and Head Start Organizer’s Toolkit 5 • Fund children’s health insurance, Head Start, and child care programs instead of additional tax cuts for millionaires. We can ensure that no child is left behind in the richest nation on earth by building a powerful grassroots movement across America through Wednesdays in Washington and at Home® events and other public awareness and engagement efforts.