WASHINGTON, DC (October 25, 2023) – Today, Save the Children Action Network Victory Fund is pleased to announce its endorsements of three candidates for the Louisiana Legislature: Belinda Davis; Representative Barbara Freiberg; and John Wyble. 

These candidates are each dedicated to ensuring that children in Louisiana have access to high-quality, affordable early childhood education and the nutrition they need to thrive in school and in life. Save the Children Action Network Victory Fund recognizes how critical these issues are to Louisiana voters and is proud to support these candidates, all of whom are staunch champions of advancing the well-being of Louisiana’s children and families.

Save the Children Action Network Victory Fund endorses the following bipartisan slate of candidates for election/reelection in Louisiana:

• Belina Davis (LA House District 68)
• Representative Barbara Freiberg (LA House District 70)
• John Wyble (LA House District 75)

“Save the Children Action Network Victory Fund is proud to endorse a bipartisan slate of candidates for the Louisiana state legislature – all of whom understand how access to quality early childhood education and nutrition directly correlate to a child’s success and wellbeing,” said Christy Gleason, chairperson of Save the Children Action Network Victory Fund. 

According to recent surveys, 80% of likely voters across Louisiana think taking action to ensure that more working families have access to affordable, quality child care should be an important priority for the state.  Over 80% of voters see expansion of quality early care and education as a winning strategy to support Louisiana’s workforce. And over 90%of voters recognize that increasing access to early care and education supports academic success and social skill development. Ensuring children have enough nutritious food is also critical to their growth and development, but too many of Louisiana’s children aren’t sure when their next meal is coming. In fact, 1 in 5 children in Louisiana faces hunger.

“Louisiana voters recognize the urgency of ensuring children have the absolute best access to early learning and nutrition, and how such access will impact the success of Louisiana as a whole,” continued Gleason. “By championing early learning and child nutrition, Representative Freiberg, Belina Davis and Jogn Wyble have earned our enthusiastic support and we look forward mobilizing our hundreds of advocates across Louisiana in support of their campaigns.”

In conjunction with the endorsement, Save the Children Action Network Victory Fund has additional efforts in place to support the reelection of Representative Barbara Freiberg who has been a champion for children in the Louisiana Legislature since being elected in 2016.  These additional efforts include paid advertising campaigns, and targeted voter mobilization in the state.

Background

• Belinda Davis (D – LA House – District 68) supports an increased state investment in the Child Care Assistance Program so that the program can be expanded and subsidies can be increased.
• Representative Barbara Freiberg (R – LA House – District 70) has made early care and education one of her top priorities for new revenue sources and is committed to expanding access to high-quality early care and education programs for all at-risk children in Louisiana from birth through age four.
• John Wyble (R – LA House – District 75) supports food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Women Infants Children Program (WIC) and is committed to ensuring all families have access to these critical programs. He is also a proven champion of early childhood education, particularly related to literacy.

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Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) was created in 2014 as the political advocacy arm of Save the Children, to be the political voice for kids. We work to ensure that the issues critical to children’s lives and futures are given top priority by our elected leaders, building bipartisan support to make sure every child has a strong start in life.

Learn more about SCAN here: https://savethechildrenactionnetwork.org/

Paid for by Save the Children Action Network Victory Fund.