It’s a New Legislative Season: Review Michigan’s Children’s Updated Policy Playbook and Join our Work

Today we launch our Policy Playbook for the 2021-2022 Legislative Season and welcome you to review our priorities to assess where you can join the advocacy work necessary to improve outcomes for our state’s children, youth and families, especially for those facing the most challenging life experiences. Your voice – as a service provider, parent, young person, agency or other leader – remains vital to and at the heart of how we’ve approached advocacy at Michigan’s Children for the past quarter century.

If you’re a policymaker – administrative leader or elected official – view these priorities as our Playbook for building stronger families, and more successful life outcomes for children and youth, as we will be reaching out to you in the days ahead.

You’ll find some familiar aspects to our previous Playbook for 2018-2020 and some new features. As before, you will see our recommendations for policy changes, which span from cradle to career, including Strong Families, Ready Learners, Thriving Students, and Successful Transitions, and encompass a wide array of issues related to family stability, early childhood, foster care and kinship care, support of adult learners, child care issues, and more.

But we’ve also made sure that our Playbook guides you to more accessible information that helps you dive deeper into issues and feel more confident communicating with and making strong asks of decision makers– Action Alerts, Budget Briefs, Critical Issue briefs, and stories of lived experience from Spotlights and our own events are tagged in each section. These will be updated regularly, as our Policy Priorities Playbook is a living, dynamic document focused on overcoming challenges and seeking opportunities.

You’ll also find a new “Win Column: Building on Our Successes” call-out box in each section that lists out where we have been able to change policy and help improve lives – with the help of advocates and partners like you. These reminders are critical for articulating that commitment, a good plan, hard work and drive can seize the day for the children and families we care about. We invite you to review the priorities outlined in our Policy Playbook and decide how you’d like to be a part of making positive change. Reach out with your questions, support and thoughts, by contacting our staff via emails found here.

Teri Banas is the Communications Director for Michigan’s Children.