Get Involved

The following is a list of ways that you can get involved in your neighborhood, community, school and city to ensure that the issues that affect children and youth receive the attention that they deserve.

• Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper (for a list of Philadelphia newspapers, click here)
  • Encourage them it to write more about the issues that impact children and youth in your community, or Philadelphia as a whole
  • Write specifically about one issue that has had an impact on you, your children or your neighborhood
  • Highlight a positive program for children that makes a difference — like a quality preschool or afterschool program in your neighborhood
  • Call upon elected officials to take action on these issues.
  • Letters to the Editor: On early education (January 2007) (PDF)
• Learn about where your elected officials stand — and how they have voted — on issues important to children and then write letters to them
• Thanking them for support important children's issues; or
• Voicing your concerns regarding their lack of support for children's issues in general or a particular piece of legislation or children's budget issue in particular
• Find Philadelphia City Council Members here: httphttp://www.phila.gov/citycouncil/index.html or here www.hallwatch.org
• Find your Pennsylvania House and Senate members here: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/find.cfm
• Find your members in the U.S. Congress and Senate here: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
• Learn how your elected officials stand on a variety of issues here:
   http://votesmart.org/index.htm
   http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_home

Get the word out by talking to your family, friends and neighbors about these issues and by encouraging them to talk to their family, friends and neighbors. Ask the question "And How are the Children?" every time you have the opportunity. Connect with other advocates, at the local, state or national level
• • http://www.papartnerships.org/
  • http://www.pccy.org/
  • http://familyvoices.org/
• Attend city council, neighborhood council, school board, PTA and town hall meetings and forums and stand up and speak out about the importance of children and what the community can do to ensure their well being. The Philadelphia City Council Schedule is posted at www.hallwatch.org
• Educate yourself about the issues that face the children and youth in Philadelphia today. Begin with the materials on the Children's Commission website
  • Mayor Priorities Platform for Philadelphia's Future: Making a Difference for Children, Youth and Communities
  • Youth Violence
  • Early Childhood
  • After School
• Attend mayoral and city council candidate forums and ask the candidates to make children's issues the centerpiece of their campaigns. Candidates need to hear directly from voters that these issues matter. A calendar of these events is hosted at http://thenextmayor.com/
• Organize meetings at your home, local public school, church or library and invite members of the community to come and talk about the challenges that children and youth in the community face and brainstorm possible ways to address these challenges. Encourage your faith community to develop a series of activities and events related to improving the lives of and outcomes for Philadelphia children. Reporters from local newspapers can also be invited to cover and report on the meetings; or candidates for and members of the school board and city council can be invited to share their views on the issues.
• Start a "blog" with friends, neighbors and members of the community to allow people to post information on the Internet about problems, events and opportunities in the community that affect children. Blogs are easy for everyone to access and add their two cents to. Visit the Children's Commission blog and add your thoughts.
• Get children and youth involved! Work with school teachers and principals to set up times to go and talk to children in the classroom about the challenges they face and their ideas for fixing problems. This is another opportunity for inviting reporters from your local paper to observe and report on.  Encourage youth to complete a youth-led issues survey, and attend the Future Leader's Candidates Forum on April 13th.  For examples of what kinds of questions youth have for the candidates, visit the Philadelphia Student Voices website. For information about the Philadelphia Youth Commission, visit here.
• Encourage children andyouth to write about their opinions and experiences. Help them to get their letters to the editor submitted to local newspapers. Help them to compose letters to their the elected officials serving their community. Submit these youth voices to the Children's Commission and we will post them here on our website.
  • Contact us at info@philadelphiachildren.org
  • Youth Writing
  • Student Organizes Voter Registration Drive
• Support youth leadership opportunities.  Consider inviting youth for participation on community councils, boards of directors and other leadership opportunities.  An excellent venue for youth leadership is the proposed Youth Council, which you have the opportunity to support on the May 15th City Ballot.  Click here for more information.
• If there is a particular issue that is especially important to you and impacts children and youth in your neighborhood, organize a letter-writing campaign to your city council member asking them to introduce legislation to address the issue.
• If your city council member or another elected leader takes positive steps to help children and youth, give them credit. Write letters to the editor applauding their action and/or letters to their office encouraging them to keep up the good work. Positive reinforcement works!
  • Click here to read the Commission's Letter to the Editor about Wilson Goode as an example
• Learn more about Early childhood, Afterschool and Violence Prevention programs in your community — consider volunteering your time, or contributing financially to these worthy efforts. There are many ways to find these programs in Philadelphia:
  • http://www.philasafesound.org/
  • http://www.phillyabc.org/
  • http://www.phillysos.org/
• Learn from the Children's Commission members: Here are some of the businesses and organizations the members of the Children's Commission are involved with, their websites may offer more suggestions and opportunities for involvement:
  • http://www.phila.gov/
  • http://www.honickmanfoundation.org/education/HOME.php
  • http://www.upenn.edu/penniur/news/index.htm#020507
  • http://www.williampennfoundation.org/index.htm
  • http://www.phila-tribune.com/
  • http://www.citizensbank.com/home/
  • http://www.ibx.com/index.jsp
  • http://libwww.library.phila.gov/onebook/obop07/index.cfm
  • http://www.cozen.com/index.asp?d=1
  • http://www.norris.philavoice.com/index.php?fuseaction=home.nsca
  • http://www.blankrome.com/index.cfm?contentID=1
  • http://courts.phila.gov/common-pleas/family/
  • http://www.phila.gov/dbhmrs/initiatives/BRC/brc.html
  • http://www.amcities.org/default.asp
  • http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/src/
  • http://www.ppdonline.org/
  • http://www.ppv.org/index.asp
  • http://www.amachimentoring.org/
  • http://www.gophila.com/
  • http://gayphiladelphia.org/
  • http://www.philahispanicchamber.org/
  • http://www.klehr.com/index.html
  • http://www.campusphilly.org/
  • http://www.pwdc.org/
  • http://www.kormancommunities.com/who.php
  • http://www.dvg.org/index.htm
  • http://www.lenfestfoundation.org/
  • http://www.phila.gov/defender/
  • http://www.uwsepa.org/
  • http://www.temple.edu/
  • http://www.pnc.com/webapp/unsec/Gateway.do?siteArea=/pnc/home/gateway
  • http://www.pncgrowupgreat.com/
  • http://www.swarthmoregroup.com/
  • http://www.trfund.com/
  • http://www.thetroc.com/
  • http://www.stradley.com/
  • http://www.projecthome.org/
  • http://www.projecthome.org/services/education/honickman.php
  • http://www.philasafesound.org/
  • http://www.independencefoundation.org/
  • http://www.aecf.org/
  • http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/
  • http://www.atafy.org/doc/tour.html
  • http://www.fels.upenn.edu/greatexpectations.htm
  • http://www.womensway.org/
  • http://www.synterraltd.com/SynterraLtd/casestudies/navyyardcc/navyyardcc.htm
  • http://www.pccy.org/
• For 2 sites filled with inspiration, resources and support for youth-led action, visit the "Student Voices" and "Do Something" websites:
  • http://www.dosomething.org/
  • http://student-voices.org/philadelphia/
    Here's an example of the difference one young person can make: Olney's one girl bookmobile, column about Kate Rzucidlo by Daniel Rubin in the Philadelphia Inquirer, September 13, 2007.

Note: Some of the links listed on this page will open in PDF format and can only be opened through Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, please click here and download it for free.