Congress is on summer recess.

Which means that many U.S. senators and representatives are back in their districts – making right now a great time for advocacy.

What can you do? The Ounce and the First Five Years Fund have collected some good ideas in a toolkit and related state fact sheets.

“As Congressional delegates return to their home states, we encourage you to capitalize on this opportunity to highlight the great work happening in your state around early childhood programs by inviting your federal legislators to visit local early learning programs,” an email from National Policy Team at the Ounce says.

One way to start: Thank members of Congress for their bipartisan support of early education and care, then encourage them to do more.

Congress has already:

• made a historic, $2.37 billion increase for the Child Care and Development Block Grant program in fiscal year 2018

• increased funding for Head Start and Early Head Start as well as for IDEA Preschool Grants, which support children with disabilities, and

• created the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five program which gives states funds to assess their preschool needs and improve their early learning systems

Another advocacy opportunity is to take The Ounce’s advice and invite members of Congress to visit your early education program. This visit can be expanded by adding a community meeting; conversations with parents or a child psychologist; support from the business community; and invitations to the media to provide coverage.

The toolkit also has content that can be used on social media. There are sample tweets, newsletter copy, a top-ten list of early learning facts, and the results of the First Five Years Fund’s poll on early learning, which includes the finding that, “Two-thirds of American voters say we need to do more to ensure children start kindergarten with the knowledge and skills they need to do their best in school.”

In addition, the toolkit has a list of recent early education articles and a video. Among these is the New York Times article on Head Start and an article from the Center for American Progress that highlights governors’ early education proposals.

Want more ideas? Check out the NAEYC Summer Recess Toolkit. It sums up advocacy options using the acronym RECESS.

 

NAEYC Illustration

 

This toolkit also talks about the power of social media – and about the importance of building relationships with members of Congress.

The best advice, boiled down to a single sentence? Reach out to Congress and tell your stories.