One of the major goals of Child Advocacy 360 Foundation is to stimulate greater citizen activism and support at the community level for programs to improve the lives of all children, youth, and families in America. The FORUM for Youth Investment Research shows that only 4 out of 10 children are Ready by 21™ for college, work, and life.

We need a level playing field for underserved children and youth in health, education, and constructive life experiences in order to build strong communities. It is not enough to think of future generations of children. Rather, it is the stronger community that delivers sustainability and growth for generations to come.

Much good work is being done in the private sector—some with public support—to improve the lives of economically disadvantaged and at risk youth in thousands of communities across the country. But there is a huge gap between good work and the kind of communication from youth serving and child advocacy organizations that would underscore the power of good news journalism and success stories to effect community ,state, and national change in social policy.

The weight of the evidence, and expert opinion, is with us, but how do we move the national power centers in child/youth/family services, public and private, to embrace and act upon our findings?

1. Moving people to action is best achieved when our context is building strong communities. Our CA 360 solutions content—focused on Who’s Doing What That Works stories—by spreading the news about successful outcomes of programs for disadvantaged children, youth, and families in community settings ---helps to create a climate of opinion for community engagement and support for public policies that assure a level playing field for all children, youth, and families.
2. Our Communication as Catalyst Initiative, with its 360-degree perspective, must secure a high level of acceptance of our Good News Results/Solutions approach among decision makers, so that forward planning from grantor foundations and affinity groups, corporate benefactors, major child advocacy organizations, legislators, includes a strong commitment to effective communication. We must organize our efforts so our Findings/Insights reflect what leaders and influencers will find compelling and actionable on the communication front.

The Economic benefit from optimizing results at the community level through more effective messaging and presentation of successful outcomes of youth-serving organizations at community level can be huge. When Child Advocacy 360 and The FORUM’s Spark Action broadcast resources are used to spread the word nationally, the benefit and economic contribution are magnified. The momentum builds, community by community, to create citizen action impact.