The Voices & Choices for Children Coalition is a cross-sector collaborative initiative established to meaningfully engage and build power with communities of color and American Indians. Our goal is to develop strongly engaged cultural communities of learning and an organizing and advocacy pipeline for their access, input, and impact around shaping early childhood practices and policies.
While the coalition invites and welcomes the participation of allies, our leadership and decision making is intentionally focused on prioritizing voices of color and American Indian voices. We believe that people of color and American Indians must be at the table as policies are created and decisions are made about and for our children.
Partnership Criteria
We seek to partner with organizations that can help us reach specific strategic goals:
1. To be at the table when legislative or state administrative decisions are being made about and for children and families of color and American Indians.
2. Helping us advance our legislative agenda.
3. Helping us educate policy makers, early childhood advocates and governmental administrators about racial equity especially as it relates to issues of young children.
4. Organizations that have aligned values in racial equity and other core principles.
Ways we have partnered in the past include providing feedback, speaking at events, and co-creation of trainings or community events.
Essential Elements of Collaboration
Our coalition is interested in building authentic relationships that last over time between organizations, systems, communities, and sectors. We appreciate that it may take a long time before something “happens,” and the focus is not simply about building a relationship to gain transactional support or approval.
• Timeline: Strategic activities must be in harmony with Voices and Choices’ timeline.
• Alignment: We will look for visible evidence of aligned values. We will discuss with partners and mutually agree upon explicit language and strategies that we will use regarding specific advocacy goals.
• Leadership: V&C’s Steering Committee will decide when we will join in with others who are leading an event and when we ourselves will be the lead convener.
Contact and Process
The Voices & Choices coalition operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota (CDF-MN).
1. Initial Contact and request should be made to CDF staff.
2. Staff will then bring the formal request to the Steering Committee to decide how to proceed.
Our Steering Committee represents an intersectional power structure, bridging direct service, academia, policy consulting, and grassroots organizing. Co-Chairs include Cati Gomez and Candace Yates.