Advocacy Focus Statement
SFTA Advocacy Priorities
SFTA and its members advocate for public investments in family support services and early care and education. Parenthood’s financial burden stresses low-earning caregivers. Without action, parents leave jobs, couples avoid having kids, and child care remains unaffordable. Investing in our youngest community members has long-term benefits. This one-pager aims to highlight the importance of funding Child Care Resource & Referral agencies (CCR&Rs) and Family Resource Centers (FRCs) to further strengthen the quality of care for children and provide support to families and providers. You can read the full report here.
SFTA & United Way of Wisconsin Advocacy Day
Every year, SFTA and the United Way of Wisconsin collaboratively organize and host our annual Advocacy Day at the Capital in Madison. This is an opportunity for staff from SFTA Member agencies (CCR&Rs and FRCS) and local United Way agencies to gather together and meet with state legislators to communicate the importance of supporting the early childhood and family support field. Attendees meet one-on-one with their local legislative office to share their agency and services’ impact on families in their community.
Advocacy Day 2024
On April 16th, SFTA and United Way collaborated on another successful Advocacy Day. Our morning session included a presentation with Kevin Moore from United Health Care Community Plan, who is also a Prevent Child Abuse America board member. His informative presentation highlighted effective strategies for making advocacy visits impactful. We then had an Advocacy Q&A session with Representative Joy Goeben and Representative Lee Snodgrass, which helped prepare advocates for their afternoon visits.
We would like to thank all the participants for their dedication and hard work during Advocacy Day. Your efforts to enhance child care and family services throughout Wisconsin are commendable and inspiring. In total, we had over 40 meetings with legislators and their staff!
Advocacy Day 2024 Video
Share your Stories!
Advocacy Resources
- SFTA Advocacy Toolkits
- Advocacy in Wisconsin
- Advocacy 101
- Advocacy Organizations & Resources
- Voting Resources
- Statewide Group Child Care Capacity Gap Report 2023
- Child Care Rates Report
- Early Childhood Advocacy Toolkit
-
-
- This toolkit is designed to prepare ordinary people to successfully advocate for public policies that benefit young children and their families.
-
- Find your U.S. Congress Members
- Enter your address to find your senators and representatives in the United State Congress.
- Wisconsin State Legislature
- Find your representatives, view current issues on the floor, find committee schedules, and more.
- Lobbying in Wisconsin
- Overview and best practices of Wisconsin’s lobbying rules and restrictions.
- How Bills Become Laws in Wisconsin (PDF)
- Understand Wisconsin’s legislative process and how you as a private citizen can participate in the process of shaping laws.
- Governor Evers Webpage
- Wisconsin’s Children’s Caucus
- WI Joint Committee on Finance Page
- The Wheeler Report
- DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING THE ADVOCACY PLAN
- Family Planning Advocacy Toolkit
- 13 Advocacy Strategies for Running a Successful Campaign
- Advocacy 101
- Child Care Aware Equity Toolkit (PDF)
- Storytelling Strategies
- 2023-2025 SFTA State Budgetary Advocacy Guidebook (PDF)
- Wisconsin Budget Process
- An overview of Wisconsin’s budget process and how you can participate.
- Nonprofit VOTE
- Resources for nonprofits to engage the people they serve in voting, elections, and advocacy.
- MyVote Wisconsin
- View upcoming elections, request an absentee ballot, update your voter information, register to vote, and more.