The Children's Action Alliance Offers an Effective Model for Other States

Despite Arizona's past reputation for a rough political climate and minimal government, the state is also gaining national repute for its focus on children.

The state has produced such champions for children as Senator John McCain, a Republican, and Interior Secretary and former Governor Bruce Babbitt, a Democrat, and long-time advocate for children. The state has also produced one of the nation's most effective statewide children's political campaigns, led by Arizona's Children's Action Alliance (CAA), a nonprofit, nonpartisan, research, policy and advocacy organization.

CAA's mission: push children's issues to the forefront of political and policy debate.

Though Arizona's population is small, its political vision is important for kids, on two counts. "Maricopa County (which contains Phoenix) is the fastest growing county in the country and is bursting with kids, " says Carol Kamin, director of CAA. "Also, Arizona now has one of the first presidential primaries, and favorite son John McCain may be a candidate."

CAA is looking forward to the 2000 primary, but its focus now is on the 1998 gubernatorial race. "We're in the pleasant position of having both major candidates friendly toward children's issues," says Kamin. The Democratic candidate is Paul Johnson, former mayor of Phoenix; the incumbent, Governor Jane Hull, is on a leave of absence from the CAA board.

Kamin emphasizes that CAA does not endorse or work for particular candidates or parties. "We're really careful about crossing a line that does exist, with respect what we can and can't do as a nonprofit organization. Our job is to let folks know how important kids are." What the organization does do is force politicians to be specific about what they're going to do for kids, and to drop the platitudes.

Here's how.

Hosting Children-focused Political Forums
In the tradition of the League of Women Voters, the alliance sponsors candidates' forums. In the gubernatorial races of 1990 and 1994, CAA's candidate forums attracted large audiences and major media attention. "We've developed a particular forum format that focuses on children's issues," says Kamin. "A guest speaker sets the tone of the forum, elevating it above the usual animosity.

In 1990, the speaker was national children's advocate Marion Wright Edelman-hardly an apolitical figure-but Kamin insists the forum format minimizes politics-as-usual. "After the speech, the media asks the candidates questions about children's issues. We're not looking for who's right and who's wrong; we're trying to get to the issues, and we've avoided the usual acrimony that comes with political debates."

Reviews of past forums have not been all positive. After one forum, John Kolbe, political columnist with The Phoenix Gazette, bemoaned the rise of "campaigns of ill-conceived intimidation" and barked that "in this (forum) crowd, faith in the efficacy of gobs of money remains undimmed."

What he did not mention is that plenty of big-money forces (the tobacco lobby, for instance, as John McCain would point out) are more intimidating than a bunch of parents, who don't get to the polls as much as non-parents or retirees. Changing that trend is a legitimate goal in a democracy.

A Parents-to-the-Polls Campaign Road Show
To reach that end, CAA is developing what Kamin calls a "parents-to-the-polls campaign road show." It sends speakers to service clubs, chambers of commerce and parents' organizations to encourage voting and to equip citizens with the information they need to keep politicians on their toes.

In addition, CAA has assembled an impressive mailing list of 20,000 Arizonans considered friendly to children's issues. The list represents a diverse sampling of people who have attended children-related events.

"My staff will go to a meeting of, say, 800 people, and hand out sign-up sheets and we get these people into our database," says Kamin. "They're old and young, Democrat and Republican. They all want children's lives to improve, but they may have different ways of getting there. This is a very conservative state, but large numbers of conservatives do care about kids. Though they're somewhat suspicious of how government works, they're engaged in the debate about how to help kids."

Each of these people is sent a letter and package of information about current children's issues. "We suggest that they write letters to local newspapers, attend forums, and challenge the candidates with educated questions." Also enclosed: an application form for an absentee ballot. "In this state, early absentee voting determines elections," she adds. "We make it easy for parents to vote from the comfort of their living rooms."

Media Awareness, Effective Polling, and Detailed Briefing Papers
CAA has also been effective with the media; its staff regularly meets with editorial boards. And in part because of the consciousness raised on children's issues by CAA over the past decade, The Arizona Republic has devoted two years of reporting to project called Saving Arizona's Children, and has assigned a full-time reporter to cover the children's beat exclusively-an unusual position for most newspapers.

One reason for CAA's success with media is that, two years ago, it sponsored a poll conducted by Celinda Lake and John Deardourff. Lake is a pollster for U.S. News and World Report, an advisor to the Wall Street Journal, and one of the Democratic Party's leading national political strategists, and Deardourff is an important consultant in advertising and political planning for the Republican Party.

"It was extremely important that the poll was conducted in a non-partisan way," says Kamin. That's one reason it continues to have value in the state's conversation about children.

The telephone survey revealed deep concern among voters about Arizona's children. As CAA reported, "All voters-Republicans and Democrats, women and men, young parents and seniors-believe the state is not investing enough in our kids' future." The results uncovered "a surprising depth of support for increased funding for education and services to strengthen families, even if it means a tax increase or forgoing a tax cut." Contrary to conventional political discourse, "Arizona voters understand that tomorrow's criminal is today's forgotten child."

When Arizona voters were asked to name their top priority for spending tax dollars, 40 percent named education, 15 percent named guaranteeing food, shelter and health care to all children, and only 4 percent named building more prisons.

1998 Children's Issues Briefing Papers
Before and after elections, CAA also provides legislators with detailed briefing papers about the condition of Arizona's children, "and we try to keep track of how they follow through on their promises."

Among the issues highlighted in CAA's 1998 Children's Issues Briefing Papers:

• While there was a 34 percent increase in the number of reports received by Arizona's Child Abuse Hot Line, there was a 3.6 percent increase in the number of uninvestigated reports of abuse or neglect from 1996 to 1997.
• The cost of childcare is prohibitive for most low-income families. The state has provided modest increases in funding, primarily due to increased federal funding targeted to welfare reform. State subsidies have not kept pace with market costs or need for assistance. Also, the quality of childcare is inconsistent and there are few incentives to improve.
• Approximately 200,000 Arizona children do not have health insurance. The great majority of these live in working families. The new state Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) presents the state with an opportunity to bring health care security to tens of thousands of those children.

In addition to naming the problems, CAA also recommends a variety of solutions in its briefing papers, which then help shape and focus the political debate.

Other states are watching Arizona's progress.

In next-door California, several organizations do a good job distributing information about kids. But such a potent campaign to physically get out the vote doesn't exist in the Golden State, says Margaret Dalton, project director of the Information Clearinghouse on Children, part of the San Diego-based Children's Advocacy Institute.

"We're aware of what CAA is doing in Arizona," she says, "and we think it's the direction this state needs to go."

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Richard Louv is Senior Editor of Connect for Kids and columnist for The San Diego Union-Tribune. He is also author of "101 Things You Can Do for Our Children's Future" (Anchor) and "The Web of Life" (Conari)..

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