Day of Action ToolkitThe Home Visiting Coalition invites advocates, parents and home visiting supporters to join in a national Day of Action on Wednesday, July 12, to make sure Congress knows how committed we are to seeing the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program (MIECHV) reauthorized for five years, in its current form, with an increase in funding to $800 million a year.

On our end, the Home Visiting Coalition will be sending a letter on July 12 to members of Congress signed by hundreds of organizations across the country urging MIECHV’s reauthorization, protection, and expansion.

On the same day, congressional staffers will open the prominent Capitol Hill publication Politico to a full-page ad highlighting the letter and its message.

On your end, please support the July 12 Day of Action by calling, tweeting and emailing your Senators and representatives.

The Twitter storm will be from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern time o 11 a.m. Pacific o 12 p.m. Mountaino 1 p.m. Central

In addition, please consider reaching out to media and your networks about the letter, the advertisement, and the urgency of MIECHV reauthorization.

Resources to help these activities are below and include:

Top line talking points “Call your Congress member” sample script for advocates and parents Sample tweets and Facebook posts @yourcongressmember from advocates and

parentso Shareables optimized for Facebook and Twitter are pasted in but can also

be sent as separate files Fill-in-the-blanks news media release

o This can be customized to make sense coming from advocates and from local implementing agencies

Sample newsletter article Customizable letters to the editor Links to resources

Day of Action Materials Read the letter to Congress Look at the print ad running on the MIECHV Day of Action

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Top Line Talking Points

It is urgent that Congress gets to work on reauthorizing the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program. If the program expires in September, the services families depend on will end.

Home visiting is a smart, proven investment in our most important asset – our families.

Rigorous research shows home visiting:

Reduces child abuse neglect Increases parental self-sufficiency including gaining employment and finishing

school Improves school success

With results like these, Congress should expand support for home visiting – doubling it to $800 million a year by year five – so more families can benefit. We need more programs like this, not fewer.

The program, as it is structured now, allows states and local communities to make the decisions that are right for them about how to provide home visiting services. At the same time, it encourages innovation and continuous improvement.

This Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program is not broken and does not need fixing.

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Sample phone call scriptYou can find your Senators here and member of Congress here.

For advocates

Hello, my name is ….. and I live in ... As applicable, I represent …. group.

I am calling to urge the Senator/Representative to prioritize the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program.

Here in STATE, home visiting has helped X number of families in our state and that far more could be helped. click here for city/state numbers of families helped and potential additional beneficiaries.

This program should be continued for at least five years, in its current, flexible and effective format and it should be doubled over that time to meet the needs of more families in our state.

Evidence-based, voluntary home visiting strengthens families and communities.

It is a smart investment that pays off many times over.

Thank you for your time and efforts.

For parents

Hello, my name is ….. and I live in ... As applicable, I’m a parent in/graduated/participated in/from the XX home visiting program at XX agency.

I am calling to let the Senator/Representative know how much the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program means to my family and to urge him/her to work to keep it going.

The program has helped me learn more about my baby’s development and health and helped me set a positive vision for my family’s future.

This program should be continued and expanded so more families like mine can have this experience and be set up for success.

Thank you for sharing my personal story with the Senator/Representative.

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Social Media Samples and TipsYour post will be more effective if you tag your senator or representative. You can look up your elected representatives’ Twitter handle here:  https://twitter.com/cspan/lists/members-of-congress/members

In the sample tweets below, consider tagging your specific senator or representative by replacing “@SenatorX” of “@RepX” with the right Twitter handle. 

To tag your elected representative’s Facebook page, as you enter your post type “@” before writing your senator or representative’s name. A menu of pages should appear. Select the appropriate page – it should have a blue checkmark next to it.

Sample Tweets:

We proudly joined @HomeVisiting & others to tell @SenatorX to expand MIECHV now because #HomeVisitingWorks.  http://bit.ly/2uJ5wf3Dear @RepX: #HomeVisitingWorks. Please expand MIECHV NOW to help more families:  http://bit.ly/2uJ5wf3Dear @SenatorX: Home visiting improves physical, mental health of families. Expand MIECHV NOW: http://bit.ly/2t6f4Pn #HomeVisitingWorks

Home visiting increases school readiness & improves economic security. @SenatorX: Expand MIECHV:  http://bit.ly/2uJ5wf3 #HomeVisitingWorks

MIECHV has a long history of bipartisan support. Tell @SenX and @RepX to act now to expand it:  http://bit.ly/2uJ5wf3 #HomeVisitingWorks

MIECHV is good for families, good for states & good for taxpayers. What are we waiting for? http://bit.ly/2t6f4Pn #HomeVisitingWorks

My family is proof that #HomeVisitingWorks. @SenX and @RepX, reauthorize MIECHV so others can benefit like I did.

#HomeVisiting made my family stronger Please @SenX and @RepX, make sure others can benefit from MIECHV

We also encourage you all to be sure you’re following @HomeVisiting on twitter. We will be sharing lots of great content about the Day of Action there and you can ‘like’ or ‘retweet those posts as well. We also encourage you to be mindful of the content your fellow models are sharing and support each others posts in the coming days as well.

Sample Facebook Post from Advocates:

TAG ELECTED OFFICIAL: We proudly joined the Home Visiting Coalition & others to tell Senator/Representative X to act now to renew, protect and expand the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program. Home visiting improves physical and mental health, and increases school readiness and economic stability. It’s good for families, good for states and good for taxpayers. #HomeVisitingWorks What are we waiting for? http://bit.ly/2t6f4Pn [attached an image of the ad to your post as well]

Sample Facebook Post from Parents

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TAG ELECTED OFFICIAL My experience with home visiting helped me to understand how to give my baby the best possible chance at success – in school and in everything that comes after. Together with my home visitor, I set goals for myself as well and I’m on my way to meeting them. #HomeVisitingWorks and it is time for Senator/Representative X to get moving and reauthorize the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program.

 Social media-sized graphic of advertisement

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Sample Media Release

For Immediate Release Contact information: NAME, ORG, EMAIL, #July 12, 2017

STATE Advocates or LOCAL AGENCY Call(s) on Congress to Act Quickly to Preserve, Expand

Home Visiting to Strengthen Families Hundreds of organizations send letter to Congress, launch ad campaign on national Day

of Action in support of parent coaching proven to help children succeed

CITY, STATE – As the clock runs down on critical support for families and children, YOUR GROUP or AGENCY joined hundreds of organizations representing thousands of Americans in a day of action urging Congress, including YOUR SENATORS and REPRESENTATIVES to act swiftly to preserve and expand the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program. This voluntary, evidence-based program, also known as MIECHV, will expire on September 30 if Congress fails to act and X number of families in your community could lose services they depend on.

The day of action included a public letter to Congress, a full-page advertisement in a widely read Capitol Hill publication, and a storm of phone calls, tweets and other activities that demonstrated the groundswell of passion and commitment around this issue.

YOUR GROUP and others are asking that MIECHV be reauthorized for five years with increased funding to reach $800 million annually in order to meet the needs of children and families in YOUR STATE. Advocates also stress that the existing flexible structure of the program should remain in place to continue to allow state and local leaders to make the best possible decisions for their own communities.

SAMPLE QUOTE FROM ADVOCATE: “If Congress does not act – both wisely and soon – OUR STATE parents will not get the home visiting services they need to help them do their very best and launch their children on the path to success,” said NAME, ORGANIZATION. “Home visiting is a smart, scientifically proven investment that leads to better outcomes for families, kids and communities and significant cost-savings for state budgets over time.”

SAMPLE QUOTE FROM PARENT: “Working with my home visitor gave me the information and the confidence I needed to be the best mom I can be and also to be the very best version of myself. Congress should give other parents the opportunity to achieve their dreams by keeping the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program strong and expanding it to help more families.”

Additional resources for MIECHV are necessary, NAME IN QUOTE notes, because the program today can only reach a small portion of those who could use help becoming the best parents they can be. In STATE, NUMBER families could benefit from home visiting, according to the 2017 Home Visiting Yearbook from the National Home Visiting Resource Center.

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Proven outcomes of evidence-based home visiting include improvements in prenatal care and birth weight; early childhood health and development; school readiness; parenting practices; and economic stability; while reducing child abuse, neglect and injuries; juvenile delinquency and crime; and dependence on public assistance.

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About the Home Visiting Coalition: The Home Visiting Coalition is a diverse group of organizations committed to the well-being of children, working to promote continued federal support of home visiting to strengthen families in communities across the country. Voluntary, evidence-based home visiting programs improve the health, development, and education of young children. These programs set the stage for children and families to become self-sufficient and successful.

Sample Letters to the Editor From advocates

To the Editor:

Senators NAME and NAME are returning to Capitol Hill this week with a long to-do list. At the top of that list MUST be protecting, reauthorizing and expanding a critical program helping more than 260,000 families across the country, including NUMBER AVAILABLE HERE in STATE. The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program (MIECHV), a voluntary, evidence-based program, will expire on September 30 if Congress fails to act. Home visiting might also be described as “parent coaching.” Child development professionals meet moms and dads where they are and help them learn the skills they need to be the best parents they can be. Proven outcomes of this work include improvements in prenatal care and birth weight; early childhood health and development; school readiness; and economic stability; while reducing child abuse, neglect, and injuries; juvenile delinquency and crime; and dependence on public assistance. We have seen this for ourselves at programs run by NAMES OF LOCAL PROGRAMS AND MODELS. This is why we at ORGANIZATION joined hundreds of other organizations in a national day of action and sent a letter to our leaders calling for them to continue what we know works for strengthening families.

Sincerely,

NAME, ORGANIZATION

To the Editor:

More than NUMBER AVAILABLE HERE families in STATE could benefit from home visiting services, according to the 2017 Home Visiting Yearbook. But without resources, we will simply not be able to reach even a fraction of these parents and children who could benefit from these services, which coach families in child development skills, helping parents be the very best they can be. Congress can and should help. One of the most important sources of support for home visiting, the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program (MIECHV), is set to expire in September. It is time for our elected representatives to get busy representing families in OUR STATE. We need MIECHV reauthorized for five years, in its current, flexible and effective form, and we need at least double the funding it has now if we are to reach more families and help

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reduce child abuse and maltreatment, improve school readiness and family self-sufficiency, and put more PEOPLE FROM OUR STATE on the path to educational and economic success.

Sincerely,

NAME ,ORGANIZATION

From parentsBefore connecting with my home visitor I was struggling with being a parent to my newborn child. I had (insert short version of personal story here) But thanks in large part to the support of home visiting services I am on a path I am proud of, for both my baby and myself. Together, we have benefited from the mix of support and information that our home visitor offered us. (more on personal story, such as where you are working now, or going to school, or how your child is doing). If Congress does not act soon to reauthorize the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, other parents like me will not have the same opportunity to thrive. I urge our elected representatives to do all they can to make sure home visiting reaches more families like mine.

Sincerely,

Name

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Sample Newsletter Text

Headline: [ORG] Joins National Day of Action Urging Lawmakers to Move on MIECHV Now!

Subhead: Advertisement, Activism and Letter Make the Case for Home Visiting

Vacation season may be kicking into high gear now, but so is the hard work of ensuring that the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program (MIECHV) continues, in its current form, with more resources available to build strong families and communities. This vital, evidence-based and voluntary parent coaching support for families and children expires on September 30, if Congress fails to act.

That’s why [ORG] is joining the Home Visiting Coalition and hundreds of other organizations across the country in a national MIECHV Day of Action. The groundswell included the release of a public letter with hundreds of organizations signed on from around the country. The letter was highlighted in a prominent print advertisement in the most widely respected newspaper covering Congress and Capitol Hill. In addition, [ORG] members phoned, tweeted and emailed our elected representatives, with a message that it is long past due to introduce legislation that extends MIECHV for five years, retains its current, flexible and effective structure, and expands funding so even more at-risk families can get the support they need. Here’s some of what we used on the Day of Action:

1. Read the letter . 2. Look at the Day of Action ad. 3. Share the letter or the ad on social media with the hashtag #HomeVisitingWorks

and tag your Senators.4. Contact your Senators .

Additional Resources What is Home Visiting? What is MIECHV? One-pager: Reauthorize the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting

(MIECHV) Program (Home Visiting Coalition) Report: Maternal and Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program:

Background and Funding (Congressional Research Service) Report: MIECHV as a Cost-Effective, Proven Strategy to Improve the Lives of

Vulnerable Children and Families (Home Visiting Coalition) Report: 2017 Home Visiting Yearbook (National Home Visiting Resource Center)

https://www.nhvrc.org/yearbook/2017-home-visiting-yearbook/

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