Common Cause

Over the past few days I have had several opportunities to be reminded that there is more common cause in advancing children's issues than we sometimes think. Among the examples:

The Early Childhood Learning Affinity Group of Funders, which the Foundation started at Philanthropy Northwest 6 years ago was hosted by the Tulalip Tribe on the Tulalip reservation on Tuesday. Challenges wrought by years of poor treatment at the hands of settlers and federal and state government were evident in examples provided by members of the Colville Confederated Tribe of Indians and Tulalip Tribe and other tribal representatives. Representatives from the six first nations who state attended also provided an overview of the specific differences in world view that affect their choices for their community and children. They also provided some good reminders of the unique interests, challenges and opportunities in their community. The challenge of reviving the Salishan language when there are more young children who can speak the language than elders and other teachers was particularly vivid.

However, I was struck by how many of the things that these communities want for their children were similar to my own desires for my children. Shortcomings of our educational system, consumer culture and bureaucratic roadblocks they identified, were similar to those many families experience, albeit for different reasons and to different degrees. I left the meeting wondering about common cause and action.

On Wednesday, I met with a group of funder representatives and Children's Museums at Talaris and was again struck by the commonality. There were differences in approaches to address customer needs and interests, but the common vision for supporting families, creating community and promoting children's healthy development was palpable. The degree to which the organizations saw each other as assets and compatriots rather than competitors was encouraging.

I have just returned from a Legislative Candidate Forum in Bellevue this morning, where no less than 11 candidates (Ross Hunter, Toby Nixon, Luke Esser, Dale Murphy, Eric Oemig, Deb Eddy, Roger Goodman, Judy Clibborn, Larry Springer, Fred Jarrett, Rodney Tom) took time from their busy schedules less than two weeks before the election to hear about early learning and health and share their own ideas and commitments. Solutions and priorities ranged from preventing teenage pregnancy to supporting parents to preventing domestic violence to realizing administrative efficiencies and accountability and unleashing the market forces of parents as consumers. What was striking was that again, though the path to early learning and health as top issues was different for each candidate, as were the prioritized solutions, there was amazing agreement.

All of this is to say that in the philanthropic, service and policy circles, there is a lot of agreement and a lot of support. Our task is to listen, identify common cause, connect and move.