The Movement's Beginnings

Where it all began

"When you are dealing with children's issues, there is no partisanship."

– Roberto Martinez

More than 500,000 Florida children do not have health insurance, rendering many of them "medical orphans," young people who lack an ongoing relationship with a pediatrician or other health care professional. The state's pre-kindergarten program does not meet most national standards. Early screening and treatment programs for special needs are poorly coordinated, difficult to access and of inconsistent quality. Florida’s businesses and community organizations do not have a strong commitment to strengthening child mentoring and parent skill-building programs in the state.

All this – and more – hinders the physical and emotional development of Florida's children, weighing heavily on them and on all of us. The associated human, social and economic costs – higher death rates, lower educational achievement scores, mushrooming costs of remedial programs and law enforcement operations – already are evident, and they are growing, and they soon will become crushing.

When it comes to early childhood development programs, it is difficult to imagine priorities and policies more myopic than those currently in place in Florida.

But now, primarily as a result of a just-completed, multifaceted educational and informational campaign called The Children's Project of Palm Beach, we also know that Floridians are ready, even eager, to be rallied to the cause of early childhood development.

More specifically, we now know that – when made more fully aware of the state's shortcomings – an overwhelming majority of Floridians would enlist in a nonpartisan, statewide campaign to assign the state's highest priority to children's issues in general and early childhood development in particular.

That was the key finding of The Children's Project of Palm Beach, funded in full by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, led by the Miami-based Early Childhood Initiative Foundation and organized in consultation with a 27-member steering committee.

The project sought to determine the feasibility of organizing and building a powerful Children's Movement of Florida. This statewide movement would develop awareness of the insufficiency of Florida's early childhood programs and reshape the state's priorities to ensure that our children receive the assistance they need to develop into healthy, educated and productive citizens.

Conducted during April and May, The Children's Project of Palm Beach combined high-frequency television commercials and newspaper ads with 35 neighborhood and community events attended by nearly 2,000 people. These informational events were moderated by David Lawrence Jr., president of The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation and the project's primary organizer, by state Board of Education member Roberto Martinez, and by others. Lawrence and Martinez co-chair the steering committee.

The strategy was devised by Sergio Bendixen, president of Bendixen & Amandi, an internationally known public opinion research and communications consulting firm. On the ground, the grassroots organizing project was run by Susan Vodicka, a veteran campaign manager who led a team of six field organizers.

Each element of the campaign supported the other, and scientific surveys were conducted before the project began and as it was ending.

The countywide surveys demonstrated – in dramatic terms – that the campaign significantly increased awareness of the inadequacy of children's programs in Florida and substantially enhanced support for a statewide children's movement.

Among the findings:

• Fifty-eight percent of registered voters in Palm Beach County now believe that improving services for children should be the state's top spending priority, compared to 36 percent before the campaign began.
• Fifty-one percent of the county's voters now answer correctly when asked how much of the human brain develops before the age of 5, compared to 27 percent before the media campaign repeatedly delivered that key information.
• Eighty-seven percent of the voters in Palm Beach County would support a statewide Children's Movement of Florida to promote quality services for children and families, compared to 61 percent before the campaign began.

These findings lead to a conclusion that ordinary Floridians are poised for action on behalf of the state's children – and that substantial support can be developed and marshaled for a Children's Movement of Florida.

"The Children’s Project of Palm Beach was a huge success," Bendixen said. "We met all of our key objectives.

"The impact of our communications campaign, and the interest and support generated by the grassroots effort, as demonstrated by the poll results, speak for themselves," he said. "Now, we are ready to do it in every region of Florida."