Our Mission and Vision

DC Action for Children is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that all children in the District of Columbia have the opportunity to reach their full potential. We work to accomplish our mission through four key strategies:

• Increasing public awareness of issues facing children and youth in the District;
• Providing timely data and analysis to support effective public policies, funding and programs;
• Collaborating with partners -- including local government, the school system, other advocacy groups and providers -- to boost quality and access to early care and education; and, 
• Empowering families, organizations and communities to advocate for our youngest citizens.

History 

DC Action for Children was founded in 1992 by stakeholders concerned about the deteriorating conditions for Washington, D.C.’s children, youth and families. They formed the nonprofit DC Action for Children to help break the cycle of poverty through early interventions in the lives of D.C.’s youngest citizens.

In its first two decades, DC Action for Children worked to improve outcomes for children, youth and families by focusing on a broad array of issues, including early care and education, child welfare, child health and youth development.

Today, DC Action for Children concentrates primarily on early care and education from the critical period from birth to age eight and building support for families with young children.

Key Programs 

D.C. KIDS COUNT

With support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, DC Action is the primary source of data on conditions and outcomes for vulnerable children, youth and families in D.C. We work closely with city agencies, the school system and providers to get the most accurate and timely data and make it clear and accessible to all on our website. The data from KIDS COUNT drives our advocacy. 

Birth to Eight Quality Initiative

With a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, DC Action launched the Birth to Eight Quality Initiative in 2010 to create a citywide system of support to ensure that ALL children enter school ready to succeed. We work to raise public awareness and educate policy makers on the importance of school readiness and with providers and advocates to define benchmarks for quality in early care and education. 

Impact

We measure our impact in terms of clear outcomes for children, youth and families. Here are some recent examples:

• In the fall of 2010, DC Action rallied supporters and partners through the High 5 for DC’s Kids campaign to call and email DC Council members to restore funding for critical programs for vulnerable children and families. As a result of this collective action, funding for the three programs we cited were largely restored: The Healthy Schools Act, which provides free, fresh and nutritional meals to children in public schools; D.C. Community Collaboratives, which provide a front-line defense against child maltreatment; and child care subsidies, which keep community-based providers in business and help them boost quality. 
• DC Action provided communications assistance to support the launch of blended Head Start/Pre-K classrooms in DC Public Schools (DCPS), reaching nearly double the number of children with comprehensive early care and education. We funded public service posters and bus ads during the school lottery period, helping to boost enrollment for the 2011-2012 school year.
• In January 2011, DC Action worked with the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) and Council Chairman Kwame Brown’s office to reconcile a critical discrepancy in family child care regulations. DC Action’s swift intervention helped ensure that nearly 100 children and families would not lose critical child care overnight.