Family Volunteering Through Advocacy
Anyone can champion a cause. Whether you’re speaking out to improve education, income and health, reaching out to members of Congress, or wearing the LIVE UNITED shirt to show your support, your family can help inspire hope and create opportunities for a better tomorrow. When we LIVE UNITED we are vocal about the issues that matter to us as families. Together, families can make enough noise to change the world.
Ideas for Families Who Want to Champion a Cause
- Write a letter or email to your legislators about an issue that is important to your family
- Wear a Live United or other cause-related T-shirt in public
- Sign a petition
- Attend a city council meeting with other families to express an opinion on a community issue
- Tell about your family volunteer experience at community events or in newsletters
- Call other friends’ families to become family volunteers
- Encourage family volunteering in your own classroom
- Become a “spokes family” for a cause you care about. Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and submit public comments to its website.
- Make posters to build awareness of the issue
- Help with voter registration campaigns
Getting Started
- Identify areas of interest, such as:
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- Education. Ask children and teachers for ideas for improving their school and offer the ideas at a school board meeting.
- Income. The federal Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit helps millions of families afford child care, but because it is non-refundable, low-income parents can't benefit at all. A bipartisan bill (S. 997) would change that. Learn more about it and contact your U.S Senators in support of the bill. Include your children’s support in your letter or email.
- Health. Help bring farmer’s markets and community gardens to low-income neighborhoods.
- Try something once. It will help you decide what your family enjoys and is passionate about
- Involve your children throughout the process
- Ask others to volunteer with you
Find out what issues your local United Wayis involved with and how you can help. Locate the office simply by entering your zip code