Media Contact: Sara Egeland

Paid Media and Door-to-Door Voter Engagement Campaign Launches in Iowa

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 5, 2015) – Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) today announced the launch of a comprehensive paid media and door-to-door voter education and engagement campaign in Iowa, which will include television, print and digital ads as well as a paid canvass operation in five counties.

The ads and field operation, totaling more than $750,000, are part of SCAN’s High 5 for Kids campaign in the early presidential caucus and primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The campaign will engage SCAN activists to ask all presidential candidates what they would do, if elected, to expand access to early childhood education in the U.S.

“We are raising our hands for kids by having our supporters ask tough questions of the candidates,” said Mark Shriver, president of SCAN. “We want to ensure the issues critical to children’s lives and futures are given top priority by our elected leaders. We also want to hold our leaders accountable. Through our High 5 for Kids campaign, SCAN will ensure that promises made are promises kept.”

The TV ads will begin today, Wed., Aug. 5 and run throughout the month of August in three markets: Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Sioux City. Similar digital, print and banner ads will run in The Des Moines Register and at the Des Moines Airport.

All the ads feature three Iowans: a Republican, a Democrat and an Independent saying they agree that access to high-quality early childhood education is important and presidential candidates need to prioritize the issue.

Waukee Community School District Superintendent David Wilkerson, a Republican, said: “High-quality early education programs ensure children enter kindergarten ready to learn. The first five years of life are critical to a child’s future because they build the foundation for success.”

Amy Shriver, a pediatrician in Des Moines and a Democrat, said: “Regardless of political affiliation, Iowans believe in equal opportunity and leaving our next generation better off. Investing in high-quality early education is the most effective way to close the growing opportunity gap in Iowa and across America.”

Joe Gonzalez, a retired Des Moines police officer and a political Independent, said: “When we invest in kids, everyone benefits. Exposure to high-quality early childhood education programs gets young children on the right path, ultimately reducing crime and dropout rates. The presidential candidates are here listening to Iowans, and it’s our responsibility to make sure they commit to investing in our children and ensuring all kids have a strong start to life.”

A critical component of the Iowa campaign is one-on-one conversations with active Republican and Democratic voters in five counties across Iowa: Polk, Linn, Story, Dallas and Woodbury. SCAN’s paid canvass operation will result in thousands of conversations and will identify early education voters for the caucuses. SCAN will also recruit and train activists to take questions about the importance of early education directly to the presidential candidates.

The TV ads are available here and here.

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Founded by Save the Children in 2014, Save the Children Action Network is a new organization dedicated to mobilizing Americans around a commitment that cannot wait — investing in early childhood now. Save the Children Action Network engages our government, businesses, partner organizations and supporters to take bold action and to hold our elected leaders accountable for the youngest, and too often forgotten, global citizens — our children.