One tool that early childhood advocates use well is storytelling.

Stories about parents, children, educators, and programs help the public see the power of early learning.

Here at Strategies for Children, we share the stories of early educators and leaders in the field to show how public policy affects real people. Stories also illustrate how important it is to make meaningful public investments in young children. That’s why we also share stories with elected officials. Our goal is to give stories about constituents to all of Massachusetts’ 200 state legislators.

To enhance our storytelling work, we are asking for your help. Do you know parents who are willing to share their stories about finding affordable, high-quality child care? If you do, please contact us! We are currently collaborating with advocates and researchers to collect and publish these stories. So email any parent story tips to eyeonearlyeducation@gmail.com.

We also want to share information about an early childhood storytelling toolkit that you can use to tell your own stories. Developed for Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning, the toolkit is a great resource for improving your storytelling and communication skills. It has tips for interviewing, crafting key messages, and diversifying social media use.

The toolkit also shares advice from the StoryCorps, a national nonprofit organization, about how to conduct, record, and edit interviews. StoryCorps says all edited segments should be:

• “Faithful to the overall tone of the conversation and representative of the substance and feel of the interview.”

• posted online “in a format that users cannot download but that permits Internet streaming of the clip.”

• Not more than eight minutes long. “StoryCorps recommends segments of less than or about three minutes.”

• “Cohesive, telling a particular story or sticking to a defined theme.”

• “Presented in a manner that shows care and an intent to honor the source material,” and

• “Truthful; we suggest that you verify the hard facts in the segment.”

The toolkit is particularly relevant now that technology and social media have made it so much easier to create and share stories using photographs as well as video and audio clips.

So please join us in our storytelling efforts. We’re excited about filling the new decade with more powerful stories about early education and care.