Because nonprofit and voluntary organizations are primary vehicles of citizen action and participation, they serve as important mechanisms to understand how the needs of children can be heard in the policymaking process and how the quality of children's lives can be improved. In Who Speaks for America's Children, leading experts in children's health policy, education policy, community organizing, and sociology focus on the ways nonprofit organizations and community groups influence policymaking on children's issues. Seven chapters frame the issues, raise critical questions, and explore opportunities for further study.
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Ten contributors examine the history and experience of US child advocacy organizations in safeguarding and improving the welfare of children, with the objective of exploring how the groups can more effectively raise the public's awareness of children's issues and advance public policy at the federal, state, and local levels. The first section looks at the current infrastructure for child advocacy organizations, including their scale and scope and their role in the democratic decision-making process. Part 2 looks at how the organizations historically have worked at creating and maintaining constituencies and at the prospects for a self-sustaining constituent-based child advocacy movement in the future. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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