First Focus Campaign For Children

Advocacy:strategic research - recognizing that a solid understanding of the problems facing our Children is the First step towards solving them, the Campaign produces research and analytic reports that highlight issues, explain impacts, and illustrate solutions. The Campaign engages noted social policy researchers and experts to examine issues affecting Children from multiple points of view to create innovative policy proposals. Through its research, the Campaign seeks to develop clear evidence and build a solid research foundation to support the policy proposals on which it advocates.federal advocacy - the Campaign advocates for legislation that better reflects policymaking from a "whole child" perspective, responding to gaps in the federal policy arena. The Campaign's perspective stems from the reality that the most effective policies for Children often are those that reach across policy silos. The Campaign recognizes and appreciates the multidimensional nature of Children's lives. for example, all aspects of a child's life: quality of education, access to health care, and exposure to chronic poverty, child abuse or lead poisoning are interlinked, and in turn, policies to address them should be designed to integrate services where appropriate. Therefore, the Campaign is committed to pursuing a cross sector approach to policymaking to ensure that federal policies are able to meet the dynamic needs of children.strategic communications - one of the unique contributions of the Campaign to the Children's advocacy community is its communications expertise. The Campaign works to lead the Children's advocacy community in messaging, advertising, and e-communications. The Campaign has built strong relationships with reporters from outlets across the nation. We utilize those relationships to pitch story ideas, provide expert policy analysis/commentary, and produce op-eds and letters to the editor. In addition to our rapid response capacity, the Campaign has garnered a reputation for producing eye catching, innovative, and thought provoking advertisements. The Campaign continuously seek to enhance its capacity to be a resource to advocates, policymakers, the media, and the public.grassroots advocacy - to create a strong, unified, and credible voice on child and family policy, the Campaign gauges influential individuals, organizations, and policymakers in the states. Our state advocacy effort consists of working with diverse state coalitions in an effort to press for improved public policies for Children. The Campaign engages state grantees by collaborating on legislative and policy sign on letters, by placing state and local op-eds and letters to the editor, by helping to leverage state leaders' relationships with members of congress and congressional staff, and by assisting in the development of common communications and messaging for Children's groups. Furthermore, we provide our state affiliates with "action alerts" as well as resources and information developed by the Campaign.