Profile of a Volunteer

      A couple of years ago I volunteered as a mentor of a one week program called Safety Town back in 2006. It was sponsored by the Greensboro Police Department. I was 16 and my brother was the one who signed me up for it because he worked for the department and wanted to put me in something meaningful for the summer. During the program they had children to learn about safety and the many jobs that help to keep people safe. The EMT and fire department came to greet the children and teach the importance of safety. Afterwards we went over what they learned and play on a hand built town where they rode tricycles as if they were riding through a town with streetlights, roads, and buildings the kids sizes. I gained some leadership skills from doing this program. I learned how to manage children for the first time and to build positive relationships with the children. I was so good at the volunteer work that the children wanted me to babysit them. I finally saw my love for children and decided to continue to find a career in not only working with children but to be able to advocate for them when no one else will.

Using Social Media

Some of my favorite social media tools are Facebook and YouTube. I do read blogs but that is very rare these days unless I find something that catches my attention. These days everyone has a Facebook page and through this social media, people are able to voice their opinions and to post videos on things that interest them. Advocacy work is important when it comes to Facebook because you can put whatever issue that you feel is relevant to you. Other people can then see your page and comment on your concerns. Facebook allows you to reach out to thousands of people and through that, you are able to make petitions and more quickly reach elected officials who more than likely have a page of their own. I have had experiences where the school that I attended as an undergrad was on the verge of closing. So on our school Facebook page, a petition was put out to save our school. It was pretty awesome and we managed to save it through that and other advocacy tools. YouTube is also a great advocacy tool because you can make videos and advertise the issues that are going on in early childhood. With YouTube you can also reach millions of people through your advertisements. I remember the Kony 2012 video and how that went viral really quickly and reached millions of people about human rights in Uganda. Blogs and newsletters are great as well to advocate because of the many stories and experiences that people tell on the issues that they discuss. All of these tools are very good when advocating. I will be sure to use all of them to reach out to more people on the issues of early childhood.

Advocacy Through Advertisement

March of Dimes has been advertising for years about the issues of premature babies. March of Dimes fights premature birth and uses research to find answers to the various questions about this issue.  March of Dimes works with the local communities and has global programs that helps to support babies everywhere. Every year, especially in the month of March there are activities that people have locally to help raise money to support the research and advocacy of this organization. March of Dimes also has televised advertisement that helps to reach more people. As much advertising this organization does, they are able to reach millions of people around the work to help advocate for premature births.

Another advertisement campaigns that stood out to me are autism awareness and childhood asthma. The autism awareness topic teaches us to become more aware of autism and the results of autism research. It teaches us that early detection and intervention can give great improvements over a lifetime. Low diagnosis among low income families, as well as African American and Hispanics is higher than the general public. There has been a 30 percent increase in the past two years regarding the increase of autism in children. The Ad council encourages children of young children to visit the Autism Speaks website and to learn about the various ways to help their child with this condition. Advertisment in this advocacy uses celebrities with children with autism to tell people about their own personal experience and to tell about the importance of early detection and intervention.                                                                     

References

Council, A. (2016). Autism Awareness. Retrieved from Ad Council: Inspiring Change, Improving Lives: http://www.adcouncil.org/Our-Campaigns/Health/Autism-Awareness

Dimes, M. o. (2016). Retrieved from March of Dimes: A Fighting Chance For Every Baby: http://www.marchofdimes.org/index.aspx