`Milk Party rallies to spotlight kids' issues

The effort to bring children's issues to the forefront among Florida voters and leaders will bring a high school marching band, a jazz combo, a hip-hop crew, the Miami Dolphins' and Florida Marlins' mascots -- and lots of milk and cookies -- to South Florida this week for a statewide tour's final leg.

The Children's Movement of Florida, a bipartisan push to make children's issues a higher priority among Floridians, will host three ``Milk Party'' rallies in South Florida this week with events at Bailey Concert Hall at Broward College in Davie on Tuesday, at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium on Wednesday and at Key West High School on Thursday.

The brainchild of former Miami-Dade Children's Trust chairman and former Miami Herald publisher Dave Lawrence Jr., the movement is a grass roots effort to boost the state's investment in children. The effort has a steering committee that includes an equal number of Republicans and Democrats.

``We believe that, by joining forces with the Children's Movement, we will have a powerful voice for children,'' said Latha Krishnaiyer, the legislative chair of the PTA of Florida. ``This is something every children's advocate can get excited about and start fighting for,'' added Krishnaiyer, of Coral Springs.

Said Ana Valladares, chairwoman of the Children's Services Council of Broward County: ``It is time to focus on the children in a meaningful way to improve the way we care about our children in Florida. We need to prioritize children's issues in our political, business and civic dialogue and in our homes in order to secure their needs.''

In all, the movement will hold 17 rallies throughout the state, and Lawrence anticipates 15,000 Floridians will have participated at some point or other.

The movement's most ambitious plan, though, would be a debate or discussion of children's issues involving the candidates for governor in November's election. Though Democrat Alex Sink, who attended a children's rally in St. Petersburg, has accepted an invitation, Republican Rick Scott has remained undecided. ``We are still hopeful,'' Lawrence said of Scott's attendance. ``We are still pushing to do a debate or something similar for children with the two gubernatorial candidates.''

Martin Merzer, a spokesman for the movement, said the group was mostly trying to build a base of supporters, leaders and resources that can later be marshaled to wield the kind of power that will be necessary to dramatically improve children's lives. ``This is truly grass roots activism,'' he said. ``In some ways, it is the offspring of the Tea Party movement, though not ideologically.''

Tuesday's rally in Broward will feature the Dillard High School marching band, the St. Thomas Aquinas High School Jazz Ensemble, the Hip Hop Kidz dance crew, Eric Reid, the Miami Heat TV play by play announcer, and T.D., the Miami Dolphins' mascot.

``We really felt the Broward rally should reflect the Broward community,'' said Cindy Arenberg Seltzer, president of the Children's Services Council of Broward.

T.D. will attend Wednesday's event in Miami, with mascot Billy the Marlin, former Miami Dolphins Pro Bowl wide receiver Nat Moore, WQBA 1140 AM radio's Bernadette Pardo and Tamara Gant from 97.3 The Coast FM.

Read the full article here.