Advocacy Activities Checklist  

Promoting early childhood, school-age care, and afterschool doesn’t have to take a long time! Here are a few things you can do to become a champion for kids whether you have a lot of time or just a few minutes:  

Stuff that’s easy to do:  

• Call or email a decision-maker (a member of Congress, your state legislator, or school principal, for instance) and tell them to support early childhood and/or afterschool programs (5 minutes)  

• Invite decision-makers to your childcare facility or to an event you’re hosting at your afterschool program (10 minutes) 

• Write a thank you letter to a decision-maker (5 minutes)  

• Keep your program’s social media updated–highlight activities, events, and success stories (10 minutes)  

Stuff that takes a little more time: 

• Write a letter to a decision-maker asking them to support early childhood and/or afterschool programs (15-30 minutes)  

• Organize a letter-writing or phone-calling campaign (30-90 minutes)  

  • • • Ask others who are involved in early childhood or afterschool to join you in writing letters or making phone calls to your legislators. The more letters and phone calls a decision-maker gets on an issue, the more they pay attention!  

• Attend legislative and community meetings in your area (60-90 minutes) 

Stuff that takes more time:  

• Meet with decision-makers (2 hours)  

• Set up a meeting with a decision-maker to speak with them about your program and the benefits of early childhood and/or afterschool.  

• Coordinate a site visit to your program with a legislator or other decision maker (4 hours) . Check out this the step-by-step guide below to setting up a site visit.

Before you begin advocating for early childhood programs or afterschool, you have to first decide what you’re going to say. Because there are so many positive impacts, it can be hard to focus on only one or two messages. But it will be important to do so!  

Here’s a quick way to craft your message.  

1. Brainstorm all of the benefits of early childhood and/or afterschool programs you can think of. 

2. Narrow that list down to one or two key messages with the most impact.  

3. Expand your message with data and success stories from your own program.  

You can use this process any time you’re advocating, whether you’re meeting with legislators, writing a letter to the editor, or posting on social media about your program.  

Step 1: Brainstorm  

Begin by writing down all of the positive ways that early childhood and afterschool programs impact students, families, and communities. Below is a list to get you started:  

Hands-on experiences  

Provides a safe place 

Positive youth and adult interaction  

Supports working families  

Community partnerships 

Academic support  

Provides meals  

Complements the school day  

Helps kids build skills in conflict resolution and relationship building  

Leadership opportunities for students  

Step 2: Narrow  

Once you’ve finished brainstorming, it’s time to narrow your message. This next section will walk you through choosing one or two of these benefits to use for your talking points. While all of the benefits you brainstormed are true and important, your message will be the most effective if you hone in on just a couple of them. Work through the following questions: 

What is your advocacy goal?  

What are you trying to accomplish in your advocacy? Choose talking points that support your goal.  

Who is your audience? 

Who are you advocating to and what messages will they find most persuasive? 

Example: A legislator who is a retired police officer would be interested that afterschool provides a safe place for kids; a school administrator would be persuaded by how afterschool supports students’ academic success.  

What are your program’s strengths?  

Think about areas in which your program does really well and use one of your talking points to highlight those successes, including program data showing positive outcomes, a unique community partnership, or a successful STEM project.  

What does your data say?  

You’ll want to have data and success stories from your program to support your talking points to make them more persuasive. Think about which of the benefits you brainstormed has the most impactful data or stories to back it up.  

Why do you care about afterschool?  

Oftentimes, an advocate’s passion for their issue can be the most persuasive. Pick a talking point that you especially care about to allow your enthusiasm to come through. 

Step 3: Expand 

Now it’s time to expand your one or two talking points. Challenge yourself to come up with three sub points for each. These sub points will answer the question, “How do you address the needs of students, families, and communities?” They can be success stories and personal experiences from your program, data from either your program or the state level, or supporting statements. There are a few examples below to give you an idea of what yours may look like. 

Early Childhood and Afterschool programs keep kids safe  

• Kids need a safe and supportive place to go when not in school. Youth are most likely to engage in risky behaviors or be involved in criminal activity between the hours of 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. 

• Afterschool offers youth productive ways to engage with the community instead of getting in trouble. 

• In our program, we have seen… 

Early Childhood and Afterschool programs help working families  

• A parent from our program says… 

• Seventy-eight percent of North Dakota families have both parents working outside of the home. This means a lot of families have gaps between work and school schedules and need afterschool and summer programming. 

• Families often cannot afford to take time off to supervise children left alone after school. They rely on afterschool and summer programming to fill the gap. 

Early Childhood and Afterschool programs cultivate success 

• Study after study shows that afterschool programs are effective in boosting achievement. Students in afterschool programs have better grades and test scores. They attend school more often, and have better behavior and work habits in class. 

• As compared to the year before, students showed an x% increase in vocabulary/fluency/grades. 

Step 4: Make an ask 

The only way your advocacy will have an impact is if you ask the other person to do something that will help afterschool programs and kids. Here are four asks you can make:  

1. Embrace early childhood and afterschool in educational planning and policies. For instance, STEM- and education-related committees and initiatives should include representation from afterschool and other informal learning programs.  

2. Equip early childhood and afterschool program leaders more effectively. For example, training and resources should be available to all staff to support high-quality programming.

3. Increase funding for early childhood and afterschool programs. High-quality, safe, and affordable early childhood and school-age care programs should be available for all. 

4. Visit an early childhood or afterschool program. 

Elevator Speech  

Often the best way to start a conversation with a decision-maker is to give an elevator speech. This is a brief, persuasive pitch that introduces you and sparks interest in the issue you care about. Your elevator speech should be short, about 30-45 seconds long, or the time it takes to ride an elevator (hence the name).  

This is only meant to be the beginning of a conversation; if the decision-maker you’re talking to has more time, use this discussion guide to keep the conversation going. 

Components of an elevator speech: 

1. Who you are  

2. Your connection to early childhood or afterschool programs  

3. Why early childhood and afterschool is important 

4. Make an ask–tell them what your program needs to be successful 

Example elevator speech 

Hi, my name is Jane Doe and I run an afterschool program, Program XYZ, in Little Town, North Dakota. I’d like to talk to you today about the impact of summer learning on our students. During the summer months too many children fall further behind academically and this widens the achievement gap. We have a solution for that. Program XYZ provides hands-on learning opportunities over the summer and data from our program shows that almost all of our students either maintained or improved their literacy rates over the summer. I’d love to have you come visit our program this summer to see the work we’re doing.  

Now, try writing your own elevator speech. 

Letters  

Afterschool is important to you. Tell them why. Writing letters is a great way to communicate the importance of early childhood and afterschool programming. The letters to the editor section is one of the most-read sections of any newspaper and an effective way to tell the public about the importance of afterschool. Legislators, state and federal, are always looking to hear from their constituents on issues that matter to them. Writing letters is an easy way to share your story and let them know what’s going on in their district.  

Tips for writing letters: 

• Keep it short and to the point. Limit letters to the editor to 150-300 words. A letter to your legislator can be longer.  

• Use powerful language – make the most of your limited word count.  

• Write about your personal experiences with the issue – your letter will be more relatable to the reader. 

• Make it timely if possible – reference a recently published article or current event.  

• Include a call to action – something the reader can do to make an impact.  

• Proof your letter before submitting!  

• Include your contact information. 

Letter template 

Dear Editor/Legislator, 

[Start with an attention-grabbing first line. Why are you writing this letter? Are you responding to a previously published article, a proposed bill about afterschool, or a current event?]  

[Make your argument. Explain the issue in a concise manner, pick one or two data points that are powerful and really add to your argument. Example: For X amount of dollars, our program can provide X amount of kids with high-quality STEM activities during the school year or summer.]  

[Focus on your connection with the issue. What is your personal story? Why does this issue matter to you?]  

[Make a call to action. Urge your elected officials to support afterschool or ask readers to reach out to their legislators.]  

Sincerely,  

[Your name]  

[Address] 

Social Media  

Posting on social media platforms is a great way to share the positive impacts of early childhood and afterschool programs as well as demonstrate the need for more programs. Start by friending, liking, and following your friends and other early childhood and afterschool-related organizations. 

Here are some suggestions for posts: 

• Links to articles about early childhood and/or afterschool  

• Pictures from your program  

• Positive feedback/comments you’ve received from parents  

Media  

Cultivating relationships with your local newspaper and TV and radio stations will help keep your program and afterschool in the public eye. Local media are always looking for community stories and will appreciate your input. An easy way to start doing this is to invite them to events hosted by your program. 

The importance of Follow Up  

Advocacy is not designed to be a bunch of one-time meetings. Advocacy is most effective when you build relationships with elected officials based on your credibility, reliability, and passion for afterschool. In order to build these relationships, it is important that you keep in touch with your elected officials. So write, call, and visit often!  

Here are a few ways to keep them in the loop: 

• Send a follow-up note within a week thanking them for meeting with you and highlighting one or two topics that were discussed, especially if they referred you to another person or resource.  

• Sign them up for your agency newsletters (ask them first).  

• Invite them to local or state events.  

• Get them to your program! Coordinate site visits with the legislator or their staff. 

• Attend their events. Many legislators hold regular coffee chats and town halls where the public is welcome.  

• Send them:  

• A thank you note  

• Copies of positive media coverage your program receives  

• Invitations to special events at your program  

• A success story of a student at your program 

• A letter offering yourself as a resource to your legislator on issues related to early childhood and afterschool programs  

• Data from your program, school district, or community that shows the positive impacts of early childhood and/or afterschool  

A site visit is the most effective advocacy strategy available to early childhood and afterschool programs. Inviting a legislator to visit your program allows them to see what goes on in a program and hear from students, parents, and community partners about the positive impact your program has made. 

1. Select the day  

2. Reach out to your legislator  

3. Create a schedule  

4. Invite families, school administrators, and/or community partners  

5. Reach out to media  

6. Day-of checklist  

7. Follow up 

Ready to set up a site visit?  

1. Select the day  

First, select a few potential days to host a site visit. If you are planning a site visit during legislative session, keep in mind that state representatives and senators will be in session in Bismarck January through April and will have limited availability. If you are asking a federal legislator to attend a site visit, pick a few dates during the next Congressional recess when they will be back in North Dakota. (Check the Congressional calendar.)  

Check out your schedule and pick a few days with activities that you would like to highlight with legislators. Select a day a few weeks out to give legislators time to schedule the visit and give you time to organize the visit.  

2. Reach out to your legislator  

The next step is to reach out to your legislator. If you would like to host several legislators at your program it is best to schedule a separate visit for each.  

Below is an email template for reaching out to your legislator. You could reach out via a phone call or in-person first and then follow up with an email.  

Dear [Representative/Senator] [NAME],  

[Organization Name] would like to invite you to visit our program at [school or site name if have multiple sites] and see afterschool in action.  

[1-2 sentences providing a summary or background on your program and the services/ activities you offer students]  

When you visit, our staff, parents, and students will be on hand to show you our program and all that we are doing to strengthen student success and support working families.  

Are you available the afternoon of [potential date(s)]? If that time does not work for you, we would be happy to work with you to find one that does. Once we have a date and time set, I will follow up with more details and a tentative schedule for the visit.  

I look forward to hearing from you!  

[Name]  

[Position and Organization]  

3. Create a schedule  

Plan your visit for 60 minutes. You will want to include a tour of your program, highlight an activity, and provide opportunities for the legislator to meet with families, community partners, youth, and other stakeholders. Be sure to take photos and share them after your visit! 

Sample schedule: 

3:30 p.m. – Legislator arrives. Introduce yourself and staff to your legislator and provide them with a brief overview of your program.  

3:35 p.m. – Begin tour of your program. Use this time to introduce your talking points on the impact your program has made on students and the community, and the overall importance of afterschool.  

3:45 p.m. – Visit a STEM activity or other engaging activity going on at your program. Allow the legislator to interact with students; ask youth to share their favorite part of the program or what they would do if the program did not exist.  

4:00 p.m. – Meet with families in a classroom. Parents will have time to share their experience with the program and ask questions of the legislator. Allow legislator time to speak if they would like.  

4:15 p.m. – Meet with school principal who can explain the positive impacts of afterschool on students’ school attendance, test scores, and behavior, or any other improvements linked to your program.  

4:30 p.m. – Speak with the legislator one-on-one to wrap up the visit. Thank them for visiting your program, reiterate talking points, hand them any materials you have prepared, and make an ask.  

4. Invite families, partners, or school administrators  

Two weeks out from the site visit reach out to families and partners of your program to invite them to meet your legislator and share their positive experiences. Think about what messages you want to deliver to the legislator during the site visit and who the most effective messengers would be. (Ex. have school principal talk about improvements in school attendance due to your program, parents talk about providing safe place for kids and healthy snacks, etc.) Or pick one student or family to share their story of how your program has positively impacted them. 

5. Reach out to media  

A week before the visit, reach out to your local tv stations and newspapers. Send them a media advisory with the basic details of the visit as well as a short summary of your program. Let your legislator know that there may be media coverage during the visit so they are not surprised the day of. 

6. Day-of checklist 

•  Provide the legislator with a brochure of your program or any other relevant materials.  

•  Share 1-2 brief success stories that highlight the importance of early childhood and/or afterschool.  

•  Cover 1-2 talking points from the Message Map.

•  Provide opportunities for your legislator to interact with youth and ask questions.  

•  If available, provide opportunities for the legislator to meet with parents and community partners.  

•  End with an ask of your legislator! 

7. Follow up  

Don’t forget to follow up with your legislator after the visit. Send a thank you note within one week to your legislator and be sure to:  

• Thank them for their time  

• Reiterate the talking points you covered during the visit  

• Include any additional information they requested during the visit  

• Include photos from the visit  

Follow up with any media who were at the site visit to track media coverage of the day. If there is media coverage, be sure to share it with your program’s families, staff, partners, students, the North Dakota Afterschool Network, and/or Child Care Aware of North Dakota.

Let us know how the site visit went. Your feedback will help us better track statewide advocacy efforts and prioritize legislative targets. We can also help you track media coverage.