Children's Movement's goal: Helping Florida's kids

As parents gathered from throughout Miami at a Flagler Street rally, a question emerges: Are good intentions enough to help Florida's children?

The founders of The Children's Movement of Florida say they have discovered something that almost all Floridians hold in common: They love their children.

Now the challenge is whether the movement -- a campaign in only its second month -- can translate their priorities to the kind of political traction that will lead to big gains for the state's smallest residents.

Modeling themselves after the conservative Tea Party movement, a group of influential Floridians has launched a political campaign to increase public and private investment in children. They say Florida spends less than almost every state in the U.S. for programs that benefit kids, and voters should demand that their leaders do better.

To make their point, movement leaders are holding a series of 17 ``Milk Party'' rallies throughout the state; Tuesday's rally was in Fort Lauderdale, Wednesday's in Miami, and the movement's iconic blue bus will be in Key West for a gathering Thursday.

Organizers believe that by the time they're done, 15,000 Floridians will have attended at least one of the events. Participants range from PTA parents to the Democratic nominee for governor, Alex Sink. The state's chief financial officer, Sink sat in the back row of a rally in St. Petersburg with her husband, Bill McBride, a Tampa lawyer.

Nancy Solis, a mother of two who joined the YMCA of Snapper Creek to attend Miami's rally, said she hopes the fledgling movement can garner the kind of support it needs to improve the lives of children.

``They should start giving more money for the kids, instead of wasting it on a stadium,'' Solis said.

But as the campaign gains momentum, a question emerges: Is devotion to children enough to build a successful movement around?

David Lawrence Jr., who led a successful effort to create public funding for preschools that serve 4-year-olds, believes it is.

Lawrence, a former publisher of The Miami Herald, spent the past two years building the Milk Party before going public this summer with a series of press conferences and rallies. His group held focus groups and did polling, among other things, to determine what issues appealed to the broadest group of Floridians.

``It starts from a moral imperative,'' said Lawrence, the former head of the Miami Children's Trust. ``But simply telling folks you are on the side of the angels -- even if they believe you are on the side of the angels -- won't cut it.

``You need to prove to people that this cuts across class and income. You need to prove to them that it is doable.''

Sean D. Foreman, an assistant professor of political science at Barry University, said such an ambitious effort may well be doable in the long run -- though it's likely not doable now.

``This is an issue that pulls at the heart strings of everyone,'' said Foreman. ``There's something about children. They appeal to the emotions and neutralize any political arguments.'' But he added: ``The problem is, right now, people's attention is so focused on the economy and their immediate well-being that they are not in the mood to plan for the future.''

By most any measure, Florida's investment in children, and children's welfare, lags behind -- sometimes far behind -- that of other states.

According to the state's Children's Cabinet, Florida regularly ranks in the bottom half of states in child health, largely a result of the state's high infant mortality rate and the number of children born with low birth weight. Florida ranks 49th in the number of children who remain uninsured.

Before the group held its first press conference, leaders recruited a steering committee with equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats, including such prominent politicians as Alan Bense, a Panama City businessman and speaker of the state House from 2004-06, and Toni Jennings, a former lieutenant governor.

The group did extensive polling in Palm Beach County, chosen because it reflects the political demographics of the rest of the state closely. The group developed a set of goals -- such as better screening and treatment for children with special needs, and increased mentoring -- that boasted widespread support.

``You must build the ability to throw a punch,'' said Sergio Bendixen, the group's pollster.

That's what the rallies were about, Lawrence and Bendixen said, signaling to state leaders that the movement could wield significant political muscle.

Can it work? Daniel Smith, a professor of political science and the director of the political campaigning program at the University of Florida, calls that ``the million-dollar question.''

Smith said some forces are aligning in the movement's favor. Among them is a new book by former Florida Lt. Gov. Buddy McKay, who served as governor very briefly after Lawton Chiles died while in office.

McKay argues that older Floridians who raised families elsewhere and don't want to pay taxes to invest in other people's children have badly hindered the state's prosperity. Many business groups have come to conclude that a poorly educated and badly trained workforce is ultimately bad for business.

But children are bad lobbyists, Smith added. They can't vote and they don't have political action committees.

On Wednesday night, grown-ups gave voice to their children.

At the Miami rally, parents and advocates spilled out of yellow school buses, youngsters in tow, to fill most of the Miami-Dade County Auditorium. Many reboarded the buses with chocolate chip cookies and cartons of milk -- and a sense of power.

Natasha Reeves, a Miami Gardens mother who attended the Miami rally with her two kids, said she attended because she cares about her two daughters' education.

Reeves said she was convinced the rallies will generate the kind of pressure that's necessary to force state leaders to spend more on children.

``I'm shocked and surprised,'' Reeves said, ``to know [all] the things they've done for the kids.''

Joan Wynne, a Florida International University urban education professor who attended the rally, praised the movement's leaders for ``raising the consciousness of our citizens that the state is not doing its job for children.''

``It's really exciting to me to see 1,700 people in this torrential rain show up so that [lawmakers] will get the message: We're going to demand that children be treated right in Florida.

``I think there are just too many people behind it to be ignored.''

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