IN THIS ISSUE Oct. 16, 2014
- A Sandbox Voter's Guide to Michigan's Tight Candidate Contests
- Special Election-Related Resources for Policymakers and Advocates
- FamilySpeak Draws Crowd at National Black Child Development Institute's annual conference in Detroit
Sandbox Website Profiles Competitive Statewide, Congressional and Local Races
To encourage interest in this year’s mid-term elections, the Sandbox Party has profiled a number of highly competitive races for statewide and local offices, pointing out what the candidates have to say about children, youth and families. This week we post profiles in four Michigan Congressional races, the 1st, 7th, 8th and 11th. Biographical information and links are provided to help you explore more about who the candidates are and how they might support the issues you care about.
Scroll through the Sandbox website’s Races tab for other candidate information including profiles of the Michigan Board of Education candidates, key Michigan legislative races, and statewide office-seekers for U.S. Senate, state Attorney General, Secretary of State and Governor.
Check Out Election-Related Resources for Policymakers and Advocates
Become an empowered voter this election season by reading important election-related information compiled by some of our policy partners including the Michigan League for Public Policy and a coalition of maternal and child health advocacy organizations that includes the Michigan Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Health, and the School-Community Health Alliance of Michigan. The resources are found on the Sandbox website’s Partner Resources tab under What’s at Stake.
The Michigan League for Public Policy has developed a voter information guide with 15 key questions to ask candidates on issues including help for struggling families and individuals, child poverty, jobs and the economy. It also provides extensive information on key facts – including educational and poverty levels – for each of the state’s 110 House and 38 Senate districts.
The health advocacy coalition has created easy-to-read, graphic fact sheets on childhood immunization, infant mortality, mental health, obesity and oral health. The Child Health Facts for Michigan Policymakers offers background, data, and contact information to facilitate a dialogue between candidates, voters and service providers during the election.
FamilySpeak is a Success at NBCDI Conference in Detroit
Michigan’s Children in partnership with the Detroit Chapter of the Black Child Development Institute hosted its second FamilySpeak forum at the National Black Child Development Institute’s annual conference in Detroit this past Monday. This FamilySpeak forum focused on two-generation strategies – programs that provide services to both parents and their children to ensure that families can thrive.
Organizations that were represented included the Coalition on Temporary Shelter of Detroit (aka COTS), Families On the Move, Stand Up Parents! Great Start Wayne County Parent Coalition, and the Wayne Children’s Healthcare Access Program (Wayne CHAP). These organizations brought families who have benefited from their programs to testify before a listening panel comprised of state, county, and local-level policymakers as well as representatives from philanthropy.
Parents spoke to challenges they have faced navigating public systems and how the programs they represented have connected them to needed services including health and mental health services; support to get out of unsafe relationships; access to high quality early childhood programming including Head Start, Great Start Readiness Program, and Early On; transitional housing needs; and other critical supports.
Read Michigan’s Children President & CEO Matt Gillard’s essay on two-generation strategies in the NBCDI report Being Black Is Not a Risk Factor: Statistics and Strengths-Based Solutions in the State of Michigan.
Learn more about why two-generation strategies matter to Michigan children, particularly this election season, on our What’s At Stake page.
Final Youth-Led Candidate Forum is Tuesday in Mt. Clemens
We’ve been on the road with our youth-led candidate forums and will end with the fourth public event on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at Mount Clemens High School. Dozens of middle- and high-school students from Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Lansing have participated by posing questions for state House and Senate candidates so far. And very frankly, they’ve hit it out of the park each time!
Candidates have remarked that the teens’ questions – on education, roads, legislative priorities, social and budget issues -- have been the best they’ve faced on the campaign trail. One cited, “You’ve kept us on our toes.” We couldn’t be prouder of all the youths and their advisers who have made these unique forums possible.
For those in southeast Michigan, you have a chance to attend the final youth-led forum in Macomb County. Sponsored by Michigan’s Children, Michigan Radio, Care of Southeastern Michigan and TC3: Teens Talking Truth, it takes place at Mount Clemens High School on Oct.21 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Pass along the news to your colleagues, family and friends if you are from Macomb County. They’ll thank you for it.
Election 2014: Issues Impacting Children, Youth and Families
Programming that supports two-generation strategies came out on top by the respondents to the Michigan’s Children Sandbox Party online survey, “Election 2014: Issues Impacting Children, Youth and Families.” Respondents, which included parents, early childhood educators, community leaders, and others, identified programs and strategies that assist cradle-to-career education and success through a holistic two-generation lens as top priorities this election season. Specifically, the top priorities identified were high quality preschool; consistent, accessible behavioral health services; and high-quality child care.
Learn more about why this election matters to two-generation strategies, child care, and other child, youth, and family support programs by visiting the Sandbox Party website.
WKAR Features Teens from Ingham County Forum
WKAR’s “Current State” program ran an excellent story previewing our third candidate forum which took place at Peckham Inc. in Lansing. Reporter Kevin Lavery spoke with two of our student questioners, James Peden and Calshean Willheart, about what it meant for them to participate. Both are 16 and students at Ingham Academy for at-risk teens.
James said he wanted to talk about career opportunities for teens and the difficulty of teens finding working and succeeding. Calshean said she would ask candidates to talk about ways to prevent teens from “falling through the cracks” the way she did.
The program can be heard on WKAR.org.
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