Ready 4 K: How you can participate in the election process now!

The election season is starting to heat up. All candidates have filed for office and are ramping up their efforts to get out into their communities. Ready 4 K is planning several summer election activities including candidate forums, informal “candidate coffees”, and distributing early education information materials to candidates and voters.

To help you raise early childhood issues in your local elections, Ready 4 K has developed sample questions for candidates. Keep these questions close to you. When you see your candidates at public events or at your door, be sure to ask:

What is your plan to increase the number of Minnesota children who enter kindergarten fully prepared for learning success?

How will you help parents afford and access high quality early learning experiences for their children?

What will you do to increase the quality of early care and education programs?

How will you support parents in their role as their child’s first and most important teacher?

What will you do to support the professionals who educate our youngest citizens?

In addition to plugging into Ready 4 K’s election activities, here are some more things you can do between now and Election Day on November 4^th:

Find out who is running for legislative office in your district: http://candidates.sos.state.mn.us/

Send a postcard to candidates in your district with a message about making early care and education for young children a top priority

Attend a candidate forum in your community and ask candidates about early care and education issues (use the sample questions above)

Talk with candidates at community events about the need to invest in early care and education (again, use the sample questions)

Volunteer for or donate to the candidate of your choice, and let them know you care about early care and education. (Spending a couple hours door-knocking with a candidate is a great way to bend their ear on early childhood issues.)