Thank you for joining Groundwork Ohio’s virtual advocacy challenge!
Why should you participate in our 5-day advocacy challenge? This challenge comes at a crucial time: Ohio legislators are currently working on the state biennial budget, which will lay the groundwork for early childhood policies and investments over the next two years! Now more than ever, we need to rally support across the state to urge legislators to make young children and their families a top priority in the state budget.
To help support you in your advocacy efforts, we created this virtual challenge to provide you with easy tools and resources to effectively engage in early childhood advocacy. Each advocacy action will take only a few minutes of your time, making advocacy easier than ever!
Did we mention you may win a prize? Each day of the advocacy challenge (April 26th–April 30th), five participants will be randomly selected to receive a $25 gift card. At the end of the week, one lucky participant will be chosen at random to receive a $100 gift card! The more times you participate, the better your chances of winning the grand prize (but you can only participate in each activity one time).*
Challenge #1: Record a short video explaining why you support investing in Ohio's youngest children.
We want to know: Why do you support investing in Ohio's infants, toddlers, and their families? Record a short 30-second video here to share your story. We may even feature your video on social media and share it with state legislators! To help prepare you for your recording, here is the video prompt that you will see on your screen:
"I am a [parent, early childhood educator, home visitor, doctor, advocate, etc.] and I support investment in Ohio's youngest children because [state your reasons for support]."
Challenge #2: Email your state legislators and urge them to make quality child care accessible to more Ohio families.
Quality child care is essential to working parents and young children. Yet far too many Ohioans cannot afford quality child care and have no choice but to drop out of the workforce. Click here to urge your state legislators to expand eligibility for Ohio's Publicly Funded Child Care program so that more families have access to high-quality care. Once you send your message, you can also send a tweet!
Challenge #3: Email your state legislators and ask them to increase investment in home visiting programs like Help Me Grow.
Evidence-based home visiting programs like Ohio's Help Me Grow program give Ohio children the best possible start in life by supporting new parents and infants before, during, and after birth. Click here to urge your state legislators to increase funding for Help Me Grow so that Ohio can serve more families in this successful evidence-based approach. Once you send your message, you can also send a tweet!
Challenge #4: Email your state legislators and tell them to support infant and maternal health.
Healthy moms are the foundation of healthy babies. Tragically, far too many Ohio mothers are dying from pregnancy-related conditions, and many of these deaths are preventable. Click here to urge your state legislators to add language to the state budget allowing Medicaid to extend postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months post delivery. This language has no cost and can be a powerful tool in addressing Ohio's infant and maternal mortality crisis. Once you send your message, you can also send a tweet!
*State policymakers, legislative staff, executive agency staff, and state employees will not be included in the random drawing and are not eligible to receive a prize.
Share the virtual advocacy challenge with your network by sharing this page. Want to engage further? Post about the challenge week on social media and use the hashtag #LayingTheGroundwork and tag @GroundworkOhio for a chance to be retweeted.
Need help? Contact Julia Jackels at jjackels@groundworkohio.org.