Bright and early on May 8th sixty of us representing
The Children's Center boarded the bus headed to Lansing. Upon arrival, we divided into teams according to the issue for which we were advocating. Our Blue Team, led by George Winn, TCC COO and Deborah Mathews, TCC CEO, shared with legislators the importance of supporting the Governor's recommendation to
expand early childhood education funding by 2% on the state level to partially off set the decrease of over 5% in funding on the federal level.
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| TCC Advocates Arriving at the Capitol Building |
The day was busy and intense as we met with Senator Pavlov's, Representative Lund's, Representative Roger's, and Representative Franz's respective staffs as well as Senator Coleman Young II. We were received warmly by all and left each office with a great sense of having
made a difference!
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| TCC Advocates in the Rotunda |
Some of TCC's advocates brought their children to see advocacy and government first hand. Planting the seeds of
advocacy in the next generation - yes, You Can Do It!
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| Young Advocates in front of the Governor's Office |
We also participated in the
Walk a Mile in My Shoes Rally on the Capitol lawn. The rally's purpose was to celebrate May as Mental Health Awareness Month; educate legislators about mental health issues; strive to end the stigma of mental illness; promote parity between mental health and physical health insurance coverage; and, promote mental health wellness.
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| On the Capitol lawn for the Rally |
At the end of the day, sixty tired but satisfied TCC advocates boarded the bus for home already planning for next time.
