About Promise the Children: Advocating for Our Children & Youth
Our Purpose
The purpose of Promise the Children is to help our volunteers advocate for and with young people. We give special priority to initiatives that promote the wellbeing of low-income children and youth.
Our Work
Promise the Children’s main activities include:
- Researching policy issues and educating our members about legislative campaigns.
- Communicating with legislators through visits, phone calls, letters, emails and petitions from our volunteer advocates.
- Leading workshops, discussions and trainings at community centers and churches.
- Building relationships with church members, local advocates, education experts and lawmakers.
Our Values
Children do not have powerful lobbies, but they have the most compelling claim on our consciences and common resources. As a caring community, we have an obligation to help them be heard, to join with others to insist that programs that serve the most vulnerable in our nation are protected.
Our children need access to quality schools, affordable health care and housing, and nutritious food. Their caretakers need living-waged jobs in order to support their families. Every preschooler needs guidance and support either at home and/or in school so that he or she is ready to learn in Kindergarten.
Each young student deserves an equal and fair education necessary to pass assessments in grade school and high school. Each school and teacher deserves the resources to provide for the students who are entrusted to them. All of our children should be prepared to find employment that pays a living wage and to participate in the growth of our society.
Our Evolution
Promise the Children grew out of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee’s call to rally in Washington, D.C. in June of 1996. We continue to work on both local and national issues that affect children, youth and those who care for them.
Our Successes
Promise the Children advocates for equitable, fair and free public education for all children, emphasizing a holistic perspective for their healthy development. To this end, we initiated an ongoing campaign in 2008 to overhaul the No Child Left Behind Act, which currently dictates unfunded federal mandates for our public schools. We support well-rounded assessment tools, teacher education and funded tutorial programs for students.
Over the last five years, Promise the Children has supported early education through programs promoting Both ad Beyond and Universal Pre-K. Our work, along with that of colleague organizations, has generated a functioning Massachusetts Department of Early Education and a movement for mandatory early education programs across the United States.
What Can You Do To Help?
Sign up to receive action alerts so that you will know what is happening on key issues and when your actions can have the most effect. Some things you can do include:
- Calling your legislators
- Writing letters and emails to policymakers
- Attending State House events
- Writing editorials in your local newspapers
- Inviting Promise the Children speakers to your church or community organization
- Organizing workshops on civic engagement with youth
- Letting us know when something important is happening in your state or at the national level
- Using your skills and experience to help Promise the Children grow (writing, social justice organizing, marketing, web design, etc.)
Join Us and Get Involved Today!
Phone: (718) 581-0432
Email: rkr@promisethechildrenuu.org
Facebook: PromisetheChildren UU
Twitter: @PromisetheChild
