Kid Congress

Kid Candidates Support a Strong Start for
America’s Children

 

Background

 

Each year, CDF Freedom Schools sites across the nation join in a National Day of Social Action. They engage their communities to “take action” on a relevant social issue for children. In the past, they have taken part in a variety of actions including visiting and writing letters to elected officials, joining together for marches and rallies and leading public awareness campaigns. In keeping with the tradition of CDF Freedom Schools, children not only explore the problems facing their communities, they also actively work toward solutions.

 

Purpose

 

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Freedom Summer, we sought to combine the importance of voting with CDF’s primary policy priority. This year’s National Day of Social Action will rally support for investments in early childhood development and learning and launch a creative child empowerment and voter education campaign.

 

Goals

 

On the National Day of Social Action, CDF Freedom Schools sites across the country will host mock elections featuring ‘Kid Candidates’ and will voice their support for the Strong Start for America’s Children Act:

1. Assembling members of the community, including community leaders and activists, policymakers, parents and press to discuss the importance of voting and collecting pledges to vote in the upcoming November election, and for those not registered toregister and vote, and for parents to pledge to take their children to the polls.

2. Educating the community on the importance of early childhood learning and care and the Strong Start for America’s Children Act.

3. Engaging attendees in a mock-election featuring Kid Candidates who support a Strong Start and empowering children to add their voice and to share their stories through the Kid Congress.

 

Description of Event

 

On July 23, 2014, CDF Freedom Schools sites across the country will host mock-elections and children will rally attendees to ‘Get Out and Vote for Me!’. Community constituents will come together at local CDF Freedom Schools sites to learn about the history of the Freedom Summer, the importance of voting and early childhood development and learning. During the event site coordinators, servant leader interns and students will:

1. Give an introduction to CDF Freedom Schools: what they are, why they are important, and how they impact children and the community.

2. Educate those in attendance about the Freedom Summer and why its as important to exercise our rights today as it was 50 years ago. Provide information on voter disenfranchisement and the importance of voting in November (pledge cards will bedistributed to adults and collected). Leaders will also educate those in attendance about the need for early childhood development and learning and challenging those in attendance to demand a world where every candidate puts the needs of children first.

3. Provide a creative and fun outlet for children to stump for themselves and why adults should vote for them. Record stories and upload them to CDF’s ‘Kid Congress’ website.

4. Host a mock-election where attendees register and vote for Kid Candidates who support a Strong Start for America’s Children Act.

 

Materials

 

The Children’s Defense Fund will provide an electronic toolkit to help site coordinators organize the National Day of Social Action event. This toolkit includes fact sheets, talking points, a media kit, sample agendas, downloadable pledge forms, template for inviting community leaders, story collection template, and instructions for uploading Kid Candidate stories to CDF’s website. Thetoolkit will list out steps to help plan the event. The materials will guide site coordinators through how and who to invite to the event, preparing the agenda and ancillary materials, setting up the correspondence with elected officials, as well as particulars about the day and follow-up.

 

Toolkits will be available to download from the secure portion of CDF’s website by June 5th, 2014.

 

CDF will also host a series of conference calls to answer any questions you may have and to provide sites an opportunity to share their own experience with setting up the event. These calls will be on Wednesday June 25th and on Tuesday July 8th.CDF will also provide lesson plans for all levels for your site to utilize leading up to the the National Day of Social Action. These lesson plans will be available on the secure portion of our website by Wednesday June 25th.

 

Lastly, CDF will provide two national ‘Kid Candidates’ for attendees at your mock-election to choose from. Both candidates will support a Strong Start for America’s Children Act and will be great choices for the children. A video of these candidates making their stump will be available on Wednesday, June 25th.

 

Questions

 

If additional information is needed, visit www.childrensdefense.org or contact Bryan Eason at beason@childrensdefense.org.