Give the gift that gives back.
If you’re looking for unique holiday gifts for your friends, coworkers, or family members, consider donating to Hawaiʻi Children’s Action Network Speaks! We’ll send each recipient a handwritten note with your custom message. You’ll invest in the fight to ensure our keiki are healthy, safe, and ready to learn — a mission that’s become even more critical during the COVID-19 crisis.
Donate nowWant your gifts to be tax-deductible? Click here to donate through Hawaiʻi Children’s Action Network, our sister 501(c)3 nonprofit.
Your gift will make an impact.
In 2020, supporters like you have enabled HCAN and HCAN Speaks! to protect and advocate for Hawaiʻi’s children and families. In March, this grassroots support enabled us to quickly shift gears to address the urgent issues created by the COVID-19 health and economic crisis. Meanwhile, we kept working on the bigger issues, like helping to pass a landmark pre-K bill, informing families about the importance of the Census, and training new community leaders.
But this work is far from over. In fact, Hawaiʻi’s keiki and families are headed toward another tipping point. Much of the temporary safety net that has kept families afloat — like food and housing assistance and expanded unemployment benefits — is ending this year. And so far, there’s no plan for January 1. Your donation today will go directly toward our time-sensitive advocacy to ensure Hawaiʻi’s most vulnerable keiki and families are still supported in 2021.
Support our keiki and families today!
At the end of April, the State Department of Human Services changed child care subsidy rules to make many more families eligible. HCAN helped to inform the public about these changes, and as a result of this community effort, applications for child care subsidies more than doubled.
We helped organize a community effort that mobilized volunteers to assemble 12,000 face shields for essential workers.
HCAN’s free Parent Leadership Training Institute went virtual this year with two statewide cohorts, collectively enrolling over 30 community members from four islands in this unique civic engagement program.
HCAN helped to inform parents and caregivers about the importance of the 2020 Census through social media ads, mailers, and phone calls that reached over 200,000 residents in areas with historically low response rates.
Within a week of COVID-19 reaching pandemic status in March, HCAN worked with the Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute to urge Governor Ige to implement social distancing measures, through a public letter signed by more than 100 doctors and public health professionals.
We advocated for the passage of a landmark bill, now signed by Governor Ige, which establishes a state goal of ensuring all children 3 or 4 years old are enrolled in a preschool program by the year 2032. HB 2543 will also expand Preschool Open Doors Program eligibility to all children who are 3 to 4 years old and are in the two-year window before entering kindergarten.
With the Working Families Coalition, HCAN put together recommendations and spending priorities for the state’s share of federal coronavirus response funds through the CARES Act. HCAN also helped to organize a public campaign pushing the legislature to adopt those priorities.
HCAN put together an interactive, mobile-friendly map of resources to help families cope with the COVID-19 crisis, which includes information on food, child care, financial assistance, and more. It’s become the state’s leading resource list, having been cited by Governor Ige, state and county officials, and numerous local organizations.
HCAN convened letters urging the Governor, mayors, and government officials to support working families and protect child care.
HCAN publicized information on workers’ rights related to the new federal emergency paid sick and family leave. As caregivers began anticipating distance learning in July, HCAN published additional information about how this paid leave can be used to care for kids whose schools are closed or doing online instruction.
Executive Director Deborah Zysman gave a presentation to the Hawaiʻi State House Select Committee on COVID-19 Economic and Financial Preparedness on COVID-19’s impacts to the state’s child care sector.
The Working Families Coalition launched a statewide campaign urging state leaders to spend federal relief funds from the CARES Act, collecting over 1,000 signatures in a petition to the Governor.
HCAN played a leadership role in the development of the nation’s first Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for COVID-19, published by the Hawaiʻi State Commission on the Status of Women.
We helped secure $15 million in funding to support child care providers and child care programs for school-aged children while schools are physically shut.
In July, the state cut funding for seven public pre-K classes due to its budget shortfall caused by the pandemic. HCAN raised the alarm, and public pressure — including media coverage featuring HCAN — eventually led the governor to restore funding for all seven classrooms.