Unaffiliated Voters: Register With a Party if You Want to Vote August 14!

August 8th deadline to register online to vote in the primary election. Both major parties will hold primary elections on Tuesday August 14th to choose candidates for Governor and other constitutional offices as well as candidates for the state legislature in some districts. Only voters registered with a party can vote in the primary election. You can check to see if you are registered to vote and whether you selected a party here. To change your registration so that you can vote in the primary click here. In step 2 select change registration then check the party enrollment change. You can change from unaffiliated to a party up until 5 days before the primary. However, if you were registered with a party, the deadline to change your registration to vote in a different party’s primary was in May. Remember, kids can’t vote, so we have to vote for them.

We're Hiring!

The CT Early Childhood Alliance is seeking a digital organizing intern (25 hours a week, paid position) for our upcoming "We Vote for Kids" campaign. We Vote For Kids is a non-partisan campaign to raise early childhood issues in Connecticut’s 2018 gubernatorial, state Senate and state House elections. A project of the Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance, this campaign will educate candidates on early childhood issues, build relationships with future decision makers and mobilize people who care about young children to participate in the election.

The Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance uses digital tools, including but not limited to NationBuilder, Hootsuite, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, to strengthen and amplify a network of adults working to make things better for young children. The Alliance seeks a Digital Organizing Intern to help us grow and mobilize our online base of early childhood activists across the state. The Digital Organizing Intern will report to the Executive Director, and will work collaboratively with volunteers as well as our communications and advocacy staff.

Application deadline is August 17, 2018. No phone calls, please. The full job description and application info can be found HERE.

Don't Let the Census Undercount Kids Again!

The 2010 Census had a net undercount of one million children, which results in lower levels of political representation for communities with large numbers of young children, reduced funding for many federal programs, and flawed government planning. The new proposed citizenship question for the 2020 Census threatens to make the undercount even worse.

Career staff at the census have warned that millions of families with young children who have at least one immigrant member are likely to be concerned about this question and may not fill out the Census to avoid drawing attention to their immigrant status. While the Census has always protected the privacy of its data, in the current political climate, many immigrants don't trust the federal government.

Advocates are trying to get 100,000 comments opposing the citizenship question submitted by next week. While it is unlikely that the administration will reverse its decision to include this question, comments are important for two reasons:

• It increases pressure on Congress to force the administration to remove the question.
• It helps create a record for the several lawsuits that have been brought challenging the question.

The Partnership for America’s Children and National Women’s Law Center have prepared comment templates to help you oppose the citizenship question and strengthen efforts to count young children. There are two options for your use. Whichever one you use, please make sure to submit them by August 7, 11:59 pm eastern time.

COMMENT OPTION #1: SUBMIT A SHORT COMMENT TO COMMERCE
Time Commitment: Low
Impact: Increases volume of comments, but not as effective as submitting a customized comment

Instructions:

• Submit your comment here by August 7, 2018
• Copy and paste the short template comment** into the comment box so that your comment more directly addresses the threat of undercounting young children.
  ** Option #1 Template attached

COMMENT OPTION #2: SUBMIT A LONGER COMMENT TO COMMERCE
Time Commitment: Medium
Impact: Provides Commerce with more substance to review than the shorter comment above

Instructions:

• Customize the national template to provide information about your organization, its work with young children, and any details you might have about how your work illuminates the impact that a citizenship question will have on families considering filling out the Census questionnaire.
• Submit your comment here by August 7, 2018
  Be sure to click the option to “Add a file” and submit it as an attachment because it is longer than can be entered on the form and so the endnotes are preserved.
• Please email a copy of your comments to Sergio Lopez at [email protected]so comments can be tracked.
  ** Option #2 Template attached

CT Voices Report Explores Education Gap for Latino Students

Last week, CT Voices for Children issued a new brief about the experiences/needs of students of color in Connecticut's schools. The Latino-White Education Gap in Connecticut - Indicators of Inequality in Access and Outcomes analyzes state data, on a number of topics: teachers of color, exclusionary discipline, access to Gifted and Talented and Advanced Placement programs, and looks to link to national and state-based data surrounding student success and outcomes. To read the brief, click HERE.

Support for the Alliance comes from of our members and our funders: The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, Connecticut Health Foundation, Connecticut Community Foundation, Children's Fund of Connecticut, CT Early Childhood Funder Collaborative, a project of CT Council of Philanthropy; The Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut; Community Foundation of Greater New Britain; and Community Foundation of Greater New Haven.