The earliest years of a child’s life are a crucial time for learning—and right now is a crucial time for us to advocate for the future of our children, families and economy.
We need you – educators, parents, partners, and allies – to raise a powerful, collective voice to demand that our nation’s policies catch up with the science about the importance of brain development, and the benefits of investing in high-quality early learning built with educators who are skilled, supported, and compensated for the complex and demanding jobs they perform.
Political will for early childhood investment is growing across the nation, but it needs our voices, together, right now, to create a movement. Need some inspiration? Hear the message below, which Rhian Evans Allvin, NAEYC’s CEO, made especially for you, in order to make the case for why we must all advocate for early childhood education and educators. Then, check out the resources we have compiled to help you become the early learning advocate that you want to be!
Become the active, engaged, and informed early learning advocate that you want to be!
Get to know your elected officials at all levels. Attend city council meetings, school board meetings, briefings, and town halls to meet them, and follow them on social media to learn their views on issues you care about.
To gain some practice with advocating for our profession you will be drafting two letters for this assignment, then you will complete a self-reflective essay outlining your thoughts about the process.
There are 4 parts to this assignment.
Part 1: 50 points
Write a letter to your U.S. Senator or Representative concerning an early childhood issue that feels very important to you.
