Today is Advocacy Day 2020 for Early Education & Care and School Age Programs and there are TWO ways to participate. 

You can come to the Massachusetts State House. Here’s the schedule:

9:30 a.m.

Registration in the Great Hall

10:00 a.m.

Speakers – including Early Education and Care Commissioner Samantha Aigner-Treworgy

11:15 a.m.

Meetings with Legislators

Or you can participate right from your program by:

• finding your elected officials and their contact information by going to www.WhereDoIVoteMA.com

• following them on social media

• taking pictures of your program and share them with your state representatives and state senators on Facebook and Twitter. Use the hashtags #ValueEarlyEducators and #ValueAfterSchoolEducators

The next step? Keep the advocacy going! In the coming weeks and months you can:

• invite elected state officials to visit your program

• send them artwork made by the children in your program. You can find their addresses here https://malegislature.gov/, and

• have parents and early educators send letters calling for bigger investments in early education and care to their state legislators

Sample parent letter

For more ideas about advocacy, email Amy O’Leary, Strategies for Children’s director of the Early Education for All Campaign at aoleary@strategiesforchildren.org or (617) 330-7384.

Sample letter from an early educator

Sample letter from a future early educator