Welcome to Connect for Kids!

Our Mission | Introducing SparkAction | Our Staff | Our Partners and Products

Mission & Goals

Connect for Kids works to:

1. Connect concerned adults and young people—whether they’re new to the issues or already activists—to compelling, accurate information and context on children’s issues, as well as tools to take action
2. Help child- and youth-focused organizations effectively reach a broad audience—the public, professional peers, and policymakers—with their content and materials.
3. Break down silos in the broad child and youth field and strengthen connections among organizations and agencies to create a stronger, unified voice for children and youth.

Through our Website, Connect for Kids gives visitors the information and tools they need to learn about issues affecting children, families, and communities and to take action to improve policies and programs, and, ultimately, the fabric of our nation as a whole.

Designer. As the Associate in Design and Communications for the Forum for Youth Investment, Laura has had her hands in SparkAction since January 2008. Before that, she worked as a Design Intern at Edelman working on all sorts of design projects for corporate and nonprofit clients. Laura uses her graphic design and writing skills that she honed at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) to develop the visual identity of SparkAction. She is particularly proud to be the designer of the logo and the look and feel of the Web site. (Which you can see in early 2010 - or now, if you sign up to be a beta tester!) Contact: laura[@]forumfyi.org.

Our Partners & Products

Connect for Kids is managed by the Forum for Youth Investment.

In 2007, Connect for Kids joined forces with Child Advocacy 360 to continue to provide excellent articles and annotations of “best of the Web” child-focused content. The CFK Weekly features Child Advocacy 360’s signature content: Who’s Doing What That Works and Voices & Views.

Read about our history.

Read about our vision and mission.

Our Audience

We serve a wide audience, ranging from professional child advocates to parents. According to a 2006 survey, most of our visitors use Connectforkids.org in their work—typically as part of a nonprofit service provider, nonprofit advocacy organization, education or school-related organization, or government/policymaking body. We also reach health care professionals, journalists, researchers, grandparents, guardians, and others.

Our Materials

Connect for Kids’ main products are:

Connectforkids.org A searchable, comprehensive site housing:

• original and reprinted feature articles
• links to organizations and their content
• a state section to help visitors make local connections and get involved in their hometown
• live chats

The CFK Update A biweekly e-newsletter that:

• gathers and contextualizes the latest news, research, emerging trends and policy developments affecting children, youth, families and communities
• is designed to operate in tandem with the Youth Policy Action Center alerts

Read the latest CFK Weekly.

To learn more, or share your organization’s content, contact us.