Strong Starts for Children
In the spring of 2010, Everyday Democracy launched Strong Starts for Children. Through this initiative we're working closely with five communities in New Mexico to help them find ways for all kinds of people to talk, work, and take action together on issues related to the success of all children from birth to eight.
Because children exist as part of families and communities, efforts to help children must support whole systems. In this initiative, people are working on such success factors as school readiness, linked systems for health and education, access for families to development and training for employment, financial literacy and educational opportunities.
As part of the initiative, Everyday Democracy is:
- helping communities build on what they are already doing, and involve all kinds of people in talking about and taking action on creating success for all children.
- providing resources and tools to sustain the kind of public participation that leads to problem solving, policy change, and improved conditions in all children’s lives, particularly those who are most vulnerable.
Stories from the initiative:
Teen advocates for ending child homelessness emerge through film festival
Teens in the Albuquerque, N.M. area are working to end child homelessness by giving the issue a familiar face. The film festival was an action idea that came out of the Strong Starts for Children project.
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Building communities where children thrive
How can we ensure the success of all young children? Youth from the KUNM Youth Media Project captured the work of five communities in New Mexico working together to turn this vision into a reality.
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Connecting community work to state policy
Dialogue participants joined legislators and early childhood advocates in a policy forum designed to explore New Mexico's policy options and make recommendations to the Legislature on issues related to early childhood development.
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Bridging youth and early childhood movements in New Mexico
Roberta Rael, project manager for the KUNM Youth Radio Project, discusses the importance of empowering youth through leadership roles and engaging them in early childhood development work.
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Hundreds participate in Strong Starts for Children kick-off events
Five coalitions kick off the "Strong Starts for Children" initiative in the greater Albuquerque area to work together to create brighter futures for young children.
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Generous funding for this initiative comes from the Our Voices, Our Children initiative of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Our Voices, Our Children is aimed at engaging citizens and policymakers in talks about the future of early childhood development in New Mexico. These community and state-level dialogues will reveal perceptions, priorities and policy preferences, and ultimately help improve practices and programs.