Next-level Advocacy Strategies

04/07/2023

Next-level Advocacy Strategies

Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. And, when you stumble, keep faith. And, when you're knocked down, get right back up and never listen to anyone who says you can't or shouldn't go on.
Hillary Clinton, politician and diplomat

“As the field seeks pandemic recovery, stabilization, and growth, early care and education (ECE) advocates continually focus on solutions and embrace the responsibility to create sustainable change,” write Valora Washington and Elizabeth Spisich in the most recent issue of Exchange magazine. They share four ‘next-level advocacy strategies’ gleaned from their CAYL network:

PERSIST: continually seek to align our varied sectors into a coherent field of practice;
REFORM: convert COVID-era policy exceptions into sustainable innovations;
TRANSFORM: turn the potential fiscal cliff into a bridge of sustainable funding; and above all,
REFRAME: shift the workforce narrative in ways that emphasize ECE as a good job, recognizing employment experience as a fundamental factor underlying difficulties in the recruitment, retention, and advancement of staff.

They point out a key lesson learned from the pandemic, "Rules can be rewritten. The status quo can be reformed, and issues can be reframed… Our nation can acknowledge the harm done by our legacy of low investments in universal early childhood education, as well as the potential for mutual prosperity that can be gained by more systemic, deeper investments."

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.