March 2006
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!” |