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Children enrolled in a downtown Portland daycare center sing along with a teacher. The 2015 Children's Agenda before the state Legislature would expand child care assistance for families.
(Amy Wang/The Oregonian)
More than 60 Oregon organizations that advocate on issues involving or affecting children have joined to create a movement dubbed United For Kids that has presented a 2015 Children's Agenda to state lawmakers.
The lead agency in the movement is Children First for Oregon, a 24-year-old nonprofit that focuses on children's health care, family economic stability, affordable child care and foster children's rights. In addition to its advocacy work, the nonprofit produces data books and other reports and analyses meant to inform policy markers and drive policy.
Tonia Hunt, executive director of Children First for Oregon, said Wednesday that the United for Kids movement and the 2015 Children's Agenda are a natural pairing. "We know that it takes the engagement of Oregonians ... to make sure that policy makers enact policies that improve the well-being of kids," Hunt said.
Hunt said the movement was born partly out of frustration. "We've been reporting on the well-being of kids for more than 20 years," she said. "What we've seen in those 20 years is not a lot of progress."
"The strategies that we have been using in advocacy have not always been as effective in getting the sort of social change and policy movement that we want to see in this state," Hunt said.
The new movement has two initial strategies, Hunt said: Providing information to legislators, via the 2015 Children's Agenda, "about what are the next best moves to make in terms of policy change," and engaging the state's voters, business organizations, faith communities and civic clubs with the question of "whether or not they believe kids should be a top priority in public policy decisions."
"We believe that the answer in most cases is yes," Hunt said.
The Children's Agenda lists 13 broad priorities, such as "Give every student an equal chance to succeed," "Give working families a fair shot," "Provide a healthy start for all children," and "Ensure all children and families are treated equally under the law," with dozens of specific policy proposals attached.
A number of those policy proposals have corresponding bills before the Legislature.
House Bill 2015, for example, would expand child care assistance for low-income families. Senate Bill 700 would provide funding that would allow families receiving assistance from the Women, Infants and Children program to buy more fresh produce. House Bill 2545 would order school districts to provide free lunches to students who now quality for reduced-price lunches.
Hunt said the response from legislators has been positive and that lawmakers have found the Children's Agenda "incredibly helpful."
"Most of our child and family advocates are working in narrow issue silos or in small collaborations - this is the first time, really, ever, that this community of advocates has put together all of our work in one place to make it very clear to legislators what are the preferred next steps in moving forward," Hunt said.
"We should not let the expanse of need and opportunity immobilize us," she added. "We have to start somewhere for kids."
-- Amy Wang
awang@oregonian.com
503-294-5914
@ORAmyW