March 2006

Emily Griffey ('01) Promotes Grassroots Initiatives for Child Well-Being


Emily Griffey (’01) developed a passion for child advocacy while a student at Jepson and has made a career out of grassroots organizing, especially around issues relating to the well-being of children. Currently she serves as the family support coordinator for the Safe and Sound Campaign, a nonprofit campaign focused on improving the well-being of children in Baltimore, Md., by increasing investment in and accountability of programs serving Baltimore’s children and youth. 

The campaign does not run programs or supply direct services, Griffey explained. Rather, campaign staff members monitor the outcomes of existing programs and lobby the city council, mayor and state legislature to increase funding for programs that support child well-being. In her role as family support coordinator, Griffey advocates for programs that serve Baltimore’s youngest citizens, from birth to age five, such as Baltimore’s Success By 6 initiative, which offers health and safety education and parenting training for pregnant and parenting mothers. 

Last year the Safe and Sound Campaign lobbied the city government for $100 million to fund programs serving children and youth. The city ultimately pledged more than $16 million for this purpose, a vast improvement over the $4 million in annual funding the campaign had secured in previous years. Griffey attributed the increased funding to grassroots advocates who organized and were able to take advantage of a city budget surplus. 

“We had a huge grassroots turnout of people who were benefiting from these programs who testified before the mayor and the city council,” Griffey said. “Advocacy is about changing people’s mindset. Investing in children and youth is just as essential as so-called essential services like the police and fire departments.” 

Prior to joining the Safe and Sound Campaign, Griffey worked for two other advocacy groups. Immediately following her graduation from Jepson, she accepted a job with the Alliance for Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting a fair and independent judiciary and strengthening public-interest advocacy. Specifically, Griffey worked for four lawyers who traveled the country advising nonprofit organizations on their legal rights in advocacy. 

After a year with the Alliance for Justice, Griffey worked for a year with the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation on the WAY Too Cool to Smoke Campaign for Washington, D.C. Monies from tobacco settlements funded this campaign for three years, through the summer of 2003.  

Youth in eight after-school programs designed and implemented the advertising campaign aimed at educating their peers about the dangers of smoking. To ensure the success of the youth-led anti-tobacco campaign, Griffey taught the teens advocacy skills, such as public speaking, event planning and promotion and marketing. She hopes the youth who learned these skills will continue to use them in grassroots organizing and advocacy on other important social issues, Griffey said.  

Griffey traced her initial interest in grassroots organizing and advocacy work to two Jepson classes. Her first Jepson class, Leadership in Social Movements taught by Richard Couto, introduced her to the concept of leading by creating social change and convinced her to pursue a major in leadership studies, she said. In her Leading Change class taught by Gill Hickman, Griffey collaborated with other students on an advocacy-change campaign.  

And she discovered her passion for advocating for child well-being during an internship at Prevent Child Abuse Virginia, a nonprofit advocacy group. In May 2005 she completed a master’s degree in public policy at Johns Hopkins University. 

“I reflect on leadership in some way in what I do at work every day,” Griffey said. Although her Jepson education has proved highly beneficial, Griffey suggested one area of potential improvement: “I think the Jepson experience could be enhanced if students were encouraged to develop a practical skill that they could use in their jobs, such as statistical analysis, accounting or computer programming.”  

Griffey advised Jepson students and alumni to become civically engaged by advocating for causes and exercising their right to vote. “I encourage Jepson alumni to tell their elected officials to increase the well-being of children and youth by increasing the investment in programs serving children and youth, like those under the umbrella of Baltimore’s Safe and Sound Campaign,” Griffey said. “It’s an election year!”