Last week was a whirlwind of workshops, networking, and advocacy on behalf of Missouri’s most prized resource – its children! We were so happy to host and present the 39th Annual Missouri Child Advocacy Day – which turned into Child Advocacy Week! The 11 workshops offered a variety of opportunities for advocates from around the state to learn, reflect, and grow to sharpen their advocacy skills and deepen their policy knowledge in support of kids.
We want to thank all of our presenters, including:
Dr. Melanie Fitzgerald
Molly Ticknor, MA, ATR, LPC, Show-Me School-Based Health Alliance of Missouri
Linda Neumann, RN, Missouri Association of School Nurses
Laura Beckman, Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Shawn D’Abreu, Missouri Health Care for All
Lindsey Baker & Traci Gleason, Missouri Budget Project
Casey Hanson & Craig Stevenson, Kids Win Missouri
Nicole Cope, Missouri Immunization Coalition
Dr. Ken Haller
Dr. Tracy Greever-Rice, Missouri Kids Count
Jen Black, The Alliance of Southwest Missouri
Tom Dugger, Families and Communities Together
Janet Miles-Bartee, Kansas City Local Investment Commission
Rochelle Bea, Beginning Futures Child Care
Heather Fleming, In Purpose Educational Services
Jill Meriweather, Mid-America Regional Council
Sal Valadez, Missouri and Kansas Laborers’ District Council
Sue King, Mental Health America of Eastern Missouri
Ty Martin-Thayer, MA, LPC, Lutheran Family and Children’s Services of Missouri
Pam Thomas, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Justin Logan, Department of Social Services
Nancy Scherer, Department of Health and Senior Services
Kelly Dudley, Department of Mental Health
Kim Evans, Department of Social Services
You can also access the Child Advocacy Day Rally, which featured State Senator Steven Roberts, State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick and Missouri Governor Mike Parson. We were so grateful to have state leaders there to share their policy goals, and frontline leaders including Nurse Family Partnership Parent Ambassador Asia Collins Muhammad and Darlene Sowell, CEO of Unleashing Potential, which provides early childhood and before and afterschool care to children in St. Louis. Our event was emceed by Kristyn Newbern, Director of Client Development for S.M. Wilson, who is also a mother of two and champion for children in her free time.
Thank you to all of our guests and presenters for making the rally a success!
Finally, pulling off a Child Advocacy WEEK would not have been possible without our dedicated volunteers and sponsors, who worked tirelessly to ensure we had the necessary funds and manpower to pull of an even that had more than 1,050 people registered to attend events throughout the week! We are so proud of their efforts and forever grateful for their support.
Our Child Advocacy Committee included:
Ed Bryant, United Way of Greater St. Louis
Michelle Witthaus, Generate Health St. Louis
Candace Cheatem, Kansas City School District
Paula Cunningham, Missouri Children’s Trust Fund
Tracy Greever-Rice, Missouri Kids Count
Shauna Kerperin, Missouri Parents as Teacher Association
Alicia Noddings, Missouri Baptist University
Natalie Hampton, Missouri AfterSchool Network
Linda Rallo, Aligned
Michael Shultz, Deaconess Foundation
Pamela Speer, Missouri Accreditation
Alison Gee, Parents as Teacher National Center
Molly Imming and Molly Ticknor, Show-Me School-Based Health Alliance
Lisa Thompson, Missouri Association for the Education of Young Children
Ruth Ehresman, Vision for Children at Risk
Casey Hanson, Brian Schmidt, Craig Stevenson, Kids Win Missouri
Next year, we will be celebrating 40 years of Child Advocacy Day, and we are all ready to be back together – IN-PERSON – in Jefferson City at the Capitol. We hope that we continue to feel this momentum and tremendous energy in the advocacy community throughout our state. We thank you for taking part this year and hope to see you back face-to-face next year. Our children need your voice!
In partnership,
The Child Advocacy Day Committee