Kids Campaign Ramping Up

We recently announced the launch of our campaign to build a movement of parents in California who will fight to make kids our state's top priority. We are so thrilled about our California Kids Campaign, which was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle on March 22, 2016.

The week before last, our California Kids Campaign director, Buffy Wicks, announced she will be taking a temporary leave of absence to serve as Hillary Clinton's California state director.

I'm never surprised when the remarkable talent at Common Sense is tapped at the highest levels. We are proud that our colleague is taking on a mission she believes will make the world better for kids, and we look forward to welcoming Buffy back in early June, after the California primary.

In the meantime, Leah Cowan, director of mobilization, will serve as interim director of the campaign. Like Buffy, Leah worked on both Obama presidential campaigns. Taking lessons learned from that experience, she went on to run a grassroots, data-driven congressional race in Silicon Valley.

Leah will continue to implement Common Sense's plan to build a movement of parents. Moving full steam ahead, she has been meeting with legislative leaders and parent organizations across the state and will be bringing on two deputies to help manage the northern and southern California regions. With the help of these deputies, Leah will be on track to build an organization of 20 trained Parent Fellows ready to organize around a set of commonsense public policies aimed at ensuring kids thrive.

In addition to the Kids Campaign, Common Sense Kids Action recently launched Common Sense Legislative Ratings, an initiative that rates bills as "For Kids" and "Against Kids," and we released the Right Start Commission report, a groundbreaking blueprint for action to improve California's services for children age 0 to 5, featured in the Los Angeles Times.

Needless to say, we are very excited about all the enthusiasm around making kids our state's top priority, and we encourage you to join us. For more information, go to commonsensekidsaction.org.