This Rochester group is advocating for children’s health, education

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A Rochester-based organization, whose efforts have led to policy changes that have helped children in the region and across the state, is marking a milestone in 2024 — its 20^th year of operation.

“The organization has grown and changed and we’re at peak impact now,” said Larry Marx, The Children’s Agenda’s CEO.

The Children’s Agenda improves the health, education and success of children by advocating for effective, equitable policies, especially for families most impacted by poverty, racism, health inequities and trauma.

Since its inception, the organization has been advocating public policies that are good for children.

The Children’s Agenda does this with its roughly 15-person staff by elevating voices and leadership for youth and families, conducting research, analyzing policies and working directly with elected officials and community leaders to put children at the center of policymaking.

Michelle Yale, administrative director, who has been with the organization from the start, spoke of its growth, noting that at its beginning the organization had an annual operating budget of $250,000. That has grown to $2 million.

“The growth has been unbelievable,” she said.

Marx — who has led the organization since 2011 — added that its focus has shifted over time.

For the first several years The Children’s Agenda was focused on the needs in Rochester and Monroe County. It has since expanded its efforts to focus on enacting policies that will have a statewide effect, he said.

For example, The Children’s Agenda was instrumental in getting the state paid family leave policy in place in 2016 and, earlier this year, helped New York become one of a few states in the country to add continuous Medicaid coverage for children from birth to 6 years old.

Some additional milestones of the organization that have impacted children in Rochester and across the state include:

• Helping to secure a $5.4 million increase in funding for childcare subsidies in the county budget, allowing 800 more children to receive subsidies in 2010.

• Helping to secure $4.75 million in early childhood support to help 1,100 families in Rochester in 2018.

• Helping get the Child Poverty Reduction Act signed into law affecting 895,000 children in 2021, and

• Winning the first early intervention rate increase in decades, affecting 65,000 children annually in 2024.

Much of the organization’s success is due to partnerships locally and across the state, Marx said.

The Children’s Agenda recently added parent leaders — called VIP’s (very invested parents) — who attend local meetings of the Rochester City Council and Rochester City School District, and meetings in Albany to share their experiences and advocate for children.

Marx said financial stability is always a challenge. The Children’s Agenda is privately funded and does not traditionally accept any state or federal funding — an exception was made during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — a move that allows it to not be beholden to any entities.

There is a downpayment on an endowment for the organization and a goal is to have an endowment in place over the next several years, he said.

Outside of the organization, a current challenge is potential changes the incoming federal administration could enact, such as eliminating the federal Department of Education or cuts to Medicaid, which could negatively impact those the organization serves.

Moving forward, Marx said The Children’s Agenda would continue its efforts to help children, particularly at the state level, from working to increase the child tax credit to helping secure additional support for working parents.

Such changes not only help children, but they also help families and, in turn, the businesses where parents and caregivers work, Marx said.

Better access to affordable, quality childcare, as an example, can lead to increased productivity on the employees’ parts and result in improved retention and attraction efforts for a company, he noted.

“Businesses get frustrated with plugging holes,” Marx said, noting that the organization works to create structural change that improves the health, education and success of children. “We’re focused on policy changes that have a long-term, and wide-reaching, impact.”

[email protected] / (585) 653-4021

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