CHILDREN NOW

Oakland, California, 94612 United States

Mission Statement

Children Now is the only kids group of its kind in the country. We are a non-partisan research, policy development, communications, and advocacy organization working on all key kids issues, including early childhood, K-12 education, children’s health, foster care, and juvenile justice.

About This Cause

Children Now is executing on a game-changing, proven, scalable model to improve children’s advocacy and help ensure that all kids have the supports they need to reach their full potential. In 2007, the organization embarked on a strategic planning process with McKinsey to answer the question of why, when so much support exists for kids among politicians, opinion leaders, diverse organizations and the general public, do kids continue to have little power and fare so poorly in public policymaking? We realized the problem was the children’s advocacy field itself, represented by thousands of disconnected groups pursuing a myriad of agendas in issue silos. In response, we thoroughly examined the strongest interest groups in the country, including the AARP, Chamber of Commerce and others, and then adapted and implemented their core strategies to create our powerful model for children’s advocacy. These strategies include: Whole Child Representation: Similar to the way the Chamber of Commerce covers the full-range of issues affecting business, Children Now covers the full-range of key children’s issues. This umbrella representation allows us to 1) develop sensible policies because children’s issues are interdependent and can’t be developed effectively in siloes, and 2) avoid the fragmentation that pits single-issue organizations against each other. Two Word Messaging: Our expert representation of issues affecting the whole child and coordination of the field allow us to reposition all of our issues as “doing what’s best for kids.” We’ve boiled down this position to simple, two-word messaging, “Pro-Kid”, mirroring the powerful messaging of other powerful interest groups. Inside Expertise: The most effective interest groups all have deep issue expertise and relationships with key decision makers. Children Now hires the top children’s research, policy, communications and advocacy experts. We have the research and policy expertise to analyze data and the interrelated systems, funding streams, programs and practices at the federal, state and local levels to develop credible solutions. We have the relationships to engage all of the major relevant players across the health, education, early childhood and child welfare fields, from other advocates to labor representatives to business interests, to create initial buy-in to the solutions we’ve developed. And, similar to other effective interest groups, we have also built close connections with key California policymakers at the state and local levels. Outside Pressure: In the kids’ space, there are thousands of existing organizations, many with their own organized memberships. To be effective, those voices have to be coordinated and provided with strategic guidance. In response, Children Now created and leads The Children’s Movement of California, now at nearly 1,500 organizations in communities across the state that represent children’s interests, from direct service, business and parent organizations to civil rights and faith- and community-based groups. Your donation will help to give kids the power they deserve!

CHILDREN NOW
1404 Franklin Street, Suite 700 1404 Franklin Street, Suite 700
Oakland, California 94612
United States
Phone 5107632444 ext.108
Twitter @ChildrenNow
Unique Identifier 943059243