Advocacy Action Plan
1. Identify one (1) issue based on the status of children in your home state or another
chosen state (Children’s Defense Fund Annual “Children in the States Fact Sheets”).
NAEYC Standard 2a
2. Connect the issue to one (1) of the five Strengthening Families Protective Factors.
NAEYC Standard 4a
Write an explicit description of the issue and the connection to a protective factor.
The five protective factors are:
A. Parental resilience,
B. Social connections,
C. Knowledge of parenting and child development,
D. Concrete support in times of need, and
E. Social and emotional competence of children.
3. Describe your advocacy position. Explain why you have selected this issue and the
need to advocate for change. Apply all of the following to your advocacy position:
A. One (1) sociological theory NAEYC Standard 6a
B. At least two (2) fundamental course concepts NAEYC Standard 6b
i. Ethical Conduct
ii. Family and Community Relationships
4. Design an ACTION TEAM! NAEYC Standard 2b
Families must be on the team. You are not to do this on your own!
A. Describe who will you need to partner with in the development and
implementation of your plan.
B. Explain how this action plan supports families as their children’s first and most
important teachers and advocates!
5. Present the Advocacy Plan NAEYC Standard 6e
A. Demonstrate your ideas and strategies for addressing this issue and improving
conditions for families with young children.
B. Utilize at least two evidence-based programs, approaches, strategies and/or
tools from course resources.
o Examples: Help Me Grow, a checklist from Beyond the Bake Sale, an
article, and/or a video.
Sample Solution
To succeed, children need stable homes, quality health care, ample nutritious food, good school, safe neighborhoods, and access to resources and opportunities that enable them to reach their potential. But the fact is that for too many of our children, these basic building blocks for success are out of reach. The Children`s Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind`s mission is to ensure every child a health start, a head start, a fair start, a safe start and a moral start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. It works with Congress and the federal government to advocate for federal policies that improve children`s lives.
