For Immediate Release

CONTACT: Anthony Hopkins, anthonyh@childrenfirstpa.org

215-563-5848 x23 (w) or 484-433-7490 (c)

24 Broad-Based Organizations Announce Pledge for Philadelphia’s Children

PHILADELPHIA, PA (March 18, 2015)- With the primary just two months away, twenty-four local organizations today sent a pledge to every candidate for Mayor of Philadelphia, asking for a signed commitment to the City’s children.

The pledge commits our next mayor to championing school funding, achieving universal high-quality Pre-K access, establishing a higher minimum wage, expanding participation in childhood hunger prevention programs, upgrading City healthcare and recreation centers and creating an Office of Children’s Services Integration.

“With the Pledge for Philadelphia’s Children, candidates make a public vow to support our children not with vague platitudes but with distinct policy solutions,” PCCY Executive Director Donna Cooper wrote in a letter sent to each mayoral candidate. “We know that every candidate for Mayor of Philadelphia wants the best for the City’s youngest residents, which is why we are asking you to take the Pledge for Philadelphia’s Children, and commit to a specific set of goals to better the lives of the City’s children.”

Joining PCCY in the pledge are the Urban Affairs Coalition, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Philadelphia, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, the Maternity Care Coalition, the Children’s Literacy Initiative, Education Voters of Pennsylvania, Women’s Way, the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children, iHeartRadio, the Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA, the Health Federation of Philadelphia, the National Nursing Centers Consortium, the Juvenile Law Center, the NAACP, Hands Across Philadelphia, the Education Law Center, the Support Center for Child Advocates, the Philadelphia Nurse-Family Partnership, the Mabel Morris Family Home Visit Program, the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children.

To read the Pledge and the full letter, visit:

https://www.childrenfirstpa.org/resource/pledge-philadelphias-children-2015/

###