I hope you are all healthy and safe. As I write this update, I am grateful for clearer air after being confined to my home due to poor air quality that made even sitting in our yard or a neighborhood walk impossible. Hopefully clean air will continue throughout the Bay Area and the rest of the west coast.
The events of 2020 must be a call to action for all of us. The COVID-19 pandemic and our response and recovery; the exposed inequities in education, internet access, and healthcare; the continuing fight for racial justice; and the growing impacts of climate change—all affect the well-being of our kids and their ability to thrive.
Two weeks ago, UNICEF released their Report Card 16 Worlds of Influence: Understanding What Shapes Well-being in Children in Rich Countries. Based on comparable national data gathered before the global pandemic, the report includes a ranking of the world’s richest countries based on children’s mental and physical health as well as academic and social skill sets. The bad news in this report is that the US ranked 36th out of 38 countries overall. The good news is that we have the resources and knowledge to fix this—if we can create a culture that makes it a priority. It is a telling point that neither of our presidential candidates has a comprehensive plan for children. A country that prioritized kids would demand this of our leaders.
My latest blog post talks about the opportunity we now have to do better by our kids by establishing a formal structure at the federal level—a White House Office for Children. This is the first step to ensuring that kids are centered in our discussions and subsequent policy and programming decisions. You can read the post here.
Together with The FrameWorks Institute, we met virtually with a group of communications experts and child advocates to discuss how we might better communicate messages to elevate the well-being of children as a public priority. I share more about this marathon zoom meeting below and remain humbled and honored to walk with these smart and insightful leaders in this work.
Be well,
David