With 2019 winding down, on behalf of all of us at 50CAN, I wanted to thank you for your support and share a few highlights from a year of hard work and great successes advocating for America’s kids:
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We’re winning in statehouses across the country. In 2019, the 50CAN network achieved 22 legislative wins, the most in any year since we launched the organization. We expanded teacher diversity in Connecticut, protected accountability in New Jersey, created an innovative Education Savings Account in Tennessee and doubled charter facilities funding in Georgia.
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We’ve brought more new advocates into the movement than ever before. The big educational transformations we seek will be driven forward by the students, parents and educators who are closest to the problem. That’s why we’ve doubled down on bringing new voices and leadership into our work. In 2019, we trained 2,300 new advocates across our communities and states. We also brought a new campaign into the fold: Colorado’s Transform Education Now.
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We’re leading the way forward to democratize advocacy. This year, we released a new guidebook – The 50CAN Guide to Political Advocacy – authored by our Senior Vice President Jonathan Nikkila, which opens up the path to building political clout for aspiring advocates. In addition, through our partnership with FutureED at Georgetown University, we unveiled a new initiative called AdvocacyLabs to uncover what research can tell us about how to be more effective in seeking big changes for kids.
In closing out the year, we’ve been talking with partners, supporters and our advocates to chart a vision for the future of education in America and a bold new path for education advocacy. You’ll hear more about this soon, as well as announcements in the new year regarding our second cohort of the National Voices Fellowship, our campaign and leadership goals for 2020 and much more.
If that excites you as much as it does us, I hope you’ll consider making a donation to support our efforts. On behalf of all of us at 50CAN, and at our state and city campaigns across the country, I wish you a wonderful holiday season.
Best,
Marc Porter Magee
Founder & CEO, 50CAN