This Wednesday, August 7, join nine national ECE organizations and your fellow educators and advocates across the country for a social media day, using the hashtags #FundChildCare and #UniteforHeadStart! Our shared goal is to make sure members of Congress hear from people in their states and districts about the importance of increasing funding for child care and early learning.
Here are the resources you need to be effective on Facebook and Twitter this Wednesday:
- Sample #FundChildCare and #UniteforHeadStart social media tools and templates here and here.
- Video stories from parents and educators talking about the need for Congress to fund child care (via CAP, ZERO TO THREE, Think Babies, and NAEYC)
- This CCDBG explainer video (via FFYF)
- Numbers of the additional children each state would be able to serve with a $2.4 billion increase for CCDBG (via CLASP)
- Twitter handles for all members of Congress and Senate appropriators
- Note: There will also be a special Twitter Storm to #ProtectSNAP from 3-4 pm ET on this Wednesday, in light of a new proposal from the Trump Administration that would impact food access for millions of people, including children and families. Follow #HandsOffSNAP for more information and to join in.
But the work doesn’t stop on social.
Before they left for August recess, the House voted to increase funding for CCDBG by $2.4 billion—but the Senate hasn’t decided yet whether to increase CCDBG or by how much. That means the next few weeks, when your members of Congress are home, are critical to our collective work to increase federal funding for child care by at least $2.4 billion, and help children, families, and educators thrive.
In addition to reaching out on social media, we need you to bring attention to child care and the importance of investing in CCDBG by writing op-eds and letters to the editors in your hometown paper, and organizing visits for your federally-elected officials to child care centers and homes
Check out the 2019 America for Early Ed Summer Recess Toolkit
for more tips and templates, including sample invitations,
links to key data points, and more!
In addition, if you are or would like to be engaged in summer recess activities, please feel free to email advocacy@naeyc.org so we can help elevate your work, and/or help you do it.
Congress will return to Washington, DC right after Labor Day, so there’s not much time to make a difference. While you’re hard at work, here are a few other deadlines to keep in mind:
- NAEYC Scholarships for Emerging Leaders to join NAEYC’s 2019 Annual Conference in Nashville, TN from November 20-23: NAEYC is offering ten conference scholarships to support the participation of current NAEYC members at this year’s Annual Conference. Members must be emerging leaders in early childhood education and scholarships will cover conference registration, hotel accommodations and travel (within the United States). Deadline to apply is Wednesday, August 14th at 11:59PM ET. Apply Now
- The 2019 Zaentz Early Education Innovation Challenge will seed the field of early education with new ideas, fresh thinking, and strategic approaches that drive lasting change. Submissions to the Challenge may target short-term or long-term change at multiple levels of the early education system, including the home, classroom, program and networks, and/or policy. All Challenge applications are due August 30, 2019 at 11:59 PM EST. Learn More and Apply.
Finally, like yours, our hearts are in Texas and Ohio today. While we don’t yet know the full extent of the carnage in El Paso and Dayton from the dual mass shootings this weekend, we do know that a mother gave her life to save her infant son; that a father of four young children was killed; that another newborn baby and a toddler have been left motherless. We know that a six-year old and a 13-year old were killed last week in a different mass shooting; and that lives of young children and their parents are being lost to gun violence every day, leaving a legacy of tragedy and trauma for friends, classmates, and families in their wake. As we have written before, while NAEYC will continue to develop and share resources that respond to the moment by supporting early childhood educators as they respond to violence and trauma, we are simultaneously working towards a world in which these resources will no longer have to exist. We hope you will join us in standing up, speaking out, and taking action to #EndGunViolence and respond to the hate that is fueling its terrible rise. #EnoughIsEnough
