Our Impact

SCAN Believes Every Child Deserves the Best Start in Life

We believe that children’s voices deserve to be heard, their rights realized, and their issues given top priority. In 2022 SCAN has mobilized a movement of local volunteers and online supporters to advocate tirelessly on behalf of children. In an increasingly fractured political environment, we work in a bipartisan manner to ensure our elected officials come together in support of our nation’s children.

2022 Policy Wins

Mobilizing the Public

In 2022, we met with U.S. lawmakers more than 250 TIMES & GENERATED 840,000 messages urging them to invest in children in the U.S. and worldwide.

 

Food Assistance

We helped pass the GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY ACT, securing $5 MILLION in emergency food assistance.

 

Mental Awareness Month – MINDS ACT

The MINDS ACT would be the first-ever piece of U.S. legislation that prioritizes mental health and psychosocial support around the world.

During Mental Awareness Month (May 2022) advocates across the country urged their lawmakers to co-sponsor and pass the MINDS Act:

  • Our campaign generated 85,000 messages to members
  • Our Volunteers hosted 30 events and held 16 meetings with Members of Congress.
  • On June 14th hosted a virtual national panel with U.S Policy makers, mental health experts and advocates to examine this global crisis – with a particular focus on Ukraine and Afghanistan.

All our actions helped secure 26 new Co-Sponsors of the MINDS ACT.

Three women wearing masks and a little girl looking at the camera.

Ukraine Humanitarian Response

In less than 48 hours after the war in Ukraine began, our volunteers started mobilizing their Peer-to-Peer fundraisers to support the children and families being displaced. Our community lead creative events and raised over $2.5 million dollars for Ukraine programs in just a few weeks. Read more about the volunteers and fundraisers below.

 

A plate of heart-shaped cookies.

Have a Heart Campaign

In February, volunteers and children from our SCAN states sent thousands of Valentine’s Day cards to lawmakers to urge support for Child Nutrition Reauthorization. Advocates hosted over 40 parties and events with their communities and are still pressuring their Members of Congress to improve and strengthen child nutrition programs.

State Legislative Victories

Across 10 state legislatures, we helped secure nearly $800 million in investments to expand early learning programs and ensure American children have enough to eat. Some of our biggest victories included:

  • In Colorado, we secure $100 million to expand access to high-quality early education and care programs, such as home visiting and family, friend and neighbor child care.
  • In Kentucky, we helped win universal full-day kindergarten for all children in the state, securing an investment of $126 million.
  • In New Mexico, we worked to secure $205 million to create 735 new preschool slots, provide 800 home visiting slots for infants, and expose 7,000 preschoolers to early literacy programming.
  • In Washington, we helped expand access to free school meals for an additional 92,000 school children in the state with an investment of $21.5 million.
  • In Louisiana, we organized in support of $84 million in new early learning investments, including an increase to the Child Care Assistance Program, a matching fund for parishes and cities to use their local dollars to expand early learning programs, and more.

2022 Electoral Wins

In 2022, we leveraged our grassroots and earned media capacity combined with a mix of paid tactics – including targeted digital ads and live calls – to help secure these major victories for children on November 8:

  • Reelected Governors Lujan Grisham (NM), Polis (CO), and Little (ID)
  • Passed Constitutional Amendment 1 in New Mexico, which will provide permanent, dedicated funding for early learning
  • Passed Proposition FF in Colorado, which will create a universal public school meals program
  • Elected a slate of bipartisan champions for kids in Iowa (1 state senator and 2 state representatives) and in New Hampshire (4 state senators)

By holding elected leaders accountable, we are helping kids from birth to age 5 survive and thrive.

2021 Recap

  • In 2021, our policy, advocacy and campaigning team – including Save the Children Action Network – generated 601,000 messages to lawmakers, urging them to invest in children.
  • We saw significant legislative wins in Washington, New Mexico and Colorado.
  • We amplified the voices of American families struggling through the COVID pandemic, as we pressed Congress to pass the American Rescue Plan in February 2021, which included $39 billion to stabilize child care and $12 billion for expanded child nutrition programs.
  • Our advocacy team helped achieve a major win for child care and child nutrition in the House of Representatives in the passage of the Build Back Better legislation in November 2021. It contained historic provisions to enable all children in America to access nutrition. While the bill didn’t pass the Senate, we have continued engaging Members of Congress in legislation that will invest in kids.