Saturday, November 16, 2013

My Role as an Advocate

Working with children is one of the best decisions I have ever made.  The main reason I want to be an advocate for young children is because, I want children to have access to quality early childhood educational programs. It is important to acknowledge and foster advocacy form a micro level because advocates have to connect and understand families on a personal level. Understanding families from a personal perspective is the only way to truly help them. In addition, the macro level is equally important when trying to find services. For example, in many cases corporations are needed to provide services such as food, shelter, and health benefits.  In helping children and families great leaders are essential in communities. Great leaders are knowledgeable about the families and communities they are representing.  There are so many things individuals can do to advocate for families. They can attend meeting on currents issues involving children, contact local leaders in the community such as council members, mayors, and governors and ask then for their support in early childhood issues. If we want to stop inequality in early childhood education then we must advocate for changes. The best advice I can give to anyone who wants to advocate for children is to volunteer in organizations where the mission is to help children and families. When people volunteer they have a better understanding how to service others.   

2 comments:

  1. Georgiana,
    As an advocate educators can create change in the schools and make a difference in children's lives. I plan to focus on addressing poverty issues in my school. I have learned that I can make a difference at the micro level in my own school. I can also become an advocate at the macro level by working with politicians and policy makers. Therefore, I agree that advocacy takes commitment.

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  2. Making connections to families on a level that allows to understand their struggles and goals, is imperative to being good advocates for them. We must be able to relate to their stories, to portray to others the issues they face. We have to be able to build relationships on so many different levels and to establish trust and confidence in the work we are doing to help them be more successful.

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