Making the Case for $2 per Child . .

$2 Per Child Raffle

[Contact the Springfield office for more information about the Dollar Per Child Toolkit.]

[For two donation options, look on bottom of this webpage.]

Illinois Head Start Association (IHSA), composed of member agencies, parents, communities and staff has diligently worked to support the NATIONAL HEAD START ASSOCIATION (NHSA) Dollar Per Child Campaign.  IHSA has now begun the $2 Per Child Campaign. The $2 Per Child Campaign will continue to raise needed funds to support advocacy by both Illinois Head Start and National Head Start Associations, on behalf of at-risk children and families. For every $2 collected, one dollar will go to IHSA advocacy and one dollar will go to NHSA advocacy efforts.  You must understand that federal restrictions limit what funds can support this work. Not a single dollar of federal funds is spent on our advocacy work, needless to say — voluntary contributions are a critical source of our advocacy support!!!

As you well know, millions of American children are living in poverty and are in desperate need of the opportunities for success that Head Start (HS) and Early Head Start (EHS) offer. Advocacy efforts by IHSA and NHSA help keep the window open to more and more children AND raise awareness of their needs. Currently, one of every two dollars raised by Illinois HS/EHS programs go directly to NHSA, while the other goes towards Illinois HS advocacy.  The goal of $2 per Child is securing Head Start’s future by ensuring that NHSA is able to be that unified voice on behalf of all Head Start children. To do so together, we are planning to raise two dollars for each of the over one million children enrolled in Head Start and Early Head Start programs across the nation. Below are details on the importance of the $2 Per Child Campaign:

• $2 Per Child funding enables NHSA to support work in every statehouse and represent Head Start in Congress and reach out to the White House.

• NHSA is the only national nonprofit organization advocating exclusively for all Head Start children and their families.

• $2 Per Child is the ONLY source of funding for NHSA’s national advocacy efforts – not a single membership dollar is used to support this mission’s critical work.

• Where do $2 Per Child contributions go? Some of the activities, which enable a unified NHSA voice for the million children enrolled each year, include:

» Organization of field-wide advocacy activities (do recall the hugely successful Empty Seats campaign, which demonstrated on a national scale the harmful effects of sequestration).

» Representation on Capitol Hill to ensure Head Start is able to meet with key Congressional offices (via lobbyists on behalf of the unique needs of Head Start children).

» Professional public relations support also bolsters NHSA’s media efforts – through news pieces, letters to the editor and op-eds.

» Convenings of discussions with Head Start practitioners, academics, think tanks, and policy makers will inform the work of future Head Start authorizations.

• Head Start staff are allowed to fundraise – by volunteering their time outside of their work hours (while not using Head Start program resources).

» Many programs reach out to local high schools and universities for additional volunteers or to sponsor fundraising events.

» A noted exception to the no-Head-Start-resources rule is the de minimis use of office equipment to tabulate, record and track the donations by staff during nonworking hours.

» Programs must keep track of all funds acquired by their $2 per Child activities in an unrestricted budget account to ensure they are sent to NHSA as contributions for advocacy.

» Those funds may never be co-mingled with restricted federal funds.

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