Voices of Alabama's Children

Advocacy is the cornerstone of our mission. Whether addressing childhood obesity by bringing healthy food closer to home for the nearly half-million children living in Alabama communities with limited access to fresh, healthy foods or closing educational achievement gaps by increasing access to high-quality Pre-K for Alabama four-year-olds, for more than 30 years VOICES for Alabama's Children has represented the interests of children at the policy and decision making level of state government. We promote researched-based policy solutions that move us closer to the kind of Alabama we all want for our children. Other historical successes include the requirement of criminal background checks for school personnel, strengthening of the state's child passenger safety law, to name a few. VOICES for Alabama's Children successfully influences the conversation around children's issues - particularly issues that present the biggest barriers to a child's optimum development - through targeted public awareness campaigns, partnerships and coalitions. Seizing opportunities through traditional and social media to publicize our message expands Alabama's knowledge of where we stand on key children's issues. These opportunities allowed us to reach over two million people in 2016. Most importantly, nurturing existing relationships with partner organizations and building new ones reinforces and increases the breadth support of key policy priorities we purport will make the biggest impact in the lives of Alabama children.

Tracking data that details child well-being is the most important indicator of Alabama's long-term economic and social future. Our research, specifically information collected for the Alabama kids count data book, establishes a solid foundation for all of our work from raising the visibility of children's issues to informing decision making at the state and local level. For more than 30 years, the Alabama kids count book, has served as both a benchmark and a road map to improving Alabama's child well-being on core indicators, including infant mortality, health, poverty, school readiness and grade level reading. Our research products are distributed widely as well as to statewide and local media, lawmakers, state agency heads, business stakeholders and community leaders.

The AELA (Alabama Expanded Learning Alliance) program is related to a fiscal sponsorship agreement between AELA and VOICES. AELA's mission is to ensure Alabama youth, families and communities have access to high-quality programming during out-of-school time that promotes positive development and life-long learning.