Help Protect Programs Babies and Families Need
Now is the time to raise your voice for babies and families! Congress plans to vote this month on deep cuts to basic needs programs like Medicaid and SNAP, which are essential to the health and well-being of young children. This bill will also cause real harm to babies in immigrant families. Speak out for the future of babies and our entire country. Use this toolkit to take action, educate your networks, and organize your community.
Use this toolkit to take action, educate your networks, and organize your community.
📬 Sign Up for ZERO TO THREE Action Alerts
Stay informed about the reconciliation process and be the first to know about opportunities to take action at critical moments.
👉 Sign up now to receive advocacy updates and action alerts!
🏛️ Contact Your Members of Congress
Make This Ask: Congress, reject cuts that hurt babies and families and invest in programs that ensure every child has a strong start.
✅ Use our quick and easy tool to send an email or call your Congressional members! For the most impact, customize the pre-written message to include your unique perspective or personal experience with these programs.
🗳️ Go Local!
Speak out in your state and community! Your federal lawmakers are paying attention to what’s happening back at home.
📨 Urge your governor to engage Congress in this important fight. Use our quick and easy tool to send a pre-written message to your governor now.
🏛 Visit your Senator’s district office. Find their in-state office locations on their official website. Ask them to speak out publicly in opposition to cuts to programs babies and families need. Bring your message in a baby bottle, and amplify it on social media!
📅 Attend events in your community. Local organizations might be holding their own town halls, deliveries of messages in baby bottles, or Strolling Thunders! You can show up and amplify. See an example of a recent event here: Strolling with Purpose: Speaking Up for Ohio’s Littlest Voices
📮 For Organizations: Lead, or sign onto, a letter to your Governor urging them to tell Congress: Don’t cut the funding babies in our state need!
📱 Raise Awareness on Social Media
💌 Send Emails to Families and/or Professionals You Know
Subject Line: Babies Need You! Here’s How to Take Action
Body:
Hi [Name],
As Senators plan to vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act this month, critical programs that support babies’ access to health care and food, like Medicaid and SNAP, are at risk of being cut, and babies in immigrant families are at risk of real harm. These services are essential to ensuring every child has a strong start in life.
If these policies move forward:
- Babies will miss crucial check ups and developmental screenings without Medicaid
- Families will go hungry without SNAP to help put food on the table.
- Babies will lose access to the very essentials they need to grow, learn, and thrive.
Join me in ensuring lawmakers hear loud and clear: Don’t cut programs babies need.
✅ Contact Congress today
✅ Raise awareness on social media
✅ Spread the word in your community
Get started here: thinkbabies.org/budgetcuts
Thank you for standing up for babies and families.
🗣Share Your Story With Us
Whether you’re a parent, caregiver, provider, or advocate, sharing your lived experience helps decision-makers understand what’s really at stake.
Share Your Story with us by emailing [email protected] or visit http://zerotothree.memfox.io/fundingcuts.
📝 Submit an Op-Ed or Letter to the Editor
Want to write a letter to your local paper or a guest op-ed? Here’s sample language to get started. We encourage you to add your story and your voice.
Headline: Congress Must Choose: Invest in Babies or Cut Their Futures Short
As a [parent/early childhood professional/concerned citizen], I’m alarmed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the harm it would cause for babies and their families.
Programs like Medicaid and SNAP keep babies fed and healthy. These are not just line items, they are lifelines. But the bill would make billions of dollars in cuts.
Medicaid covers 44% of children (almost half in small towns and rural areas) and finances 42% of all births in the US. Without access to Medicaid, parents may have to delay or skip doctor visits because of cost, babies may miss crucial check-ups, immunizations, and screenings, and families could face impossible choices between paying for healthcare, food, or housing.
Four and a half million children under 5 in our country receive SNAP, and even more families struggle to regularly access enough food. Without SNAP, more families will go hungry and struggle to afford the basics like food, housing, and diapers. This will have devasting impacts on babies’ and toddlers’ overall health and well-being. Infants and toddlers who grow up without reliable, sufficient, nutritious food are 90% more likely to be in fair or poor health and 30% more likely to be hospitalized. Meanwhile, young children in families participating in SNAP are less likely to be hospitalized, underweight, or at risk of developmental delays.
The House has already passed this bill – but the Senate now has the opportunity to chart a new course that rejects harmful cuts. Babies in our community deserve better. Instead of cutting what babies need to thrive, we need to be investing in what babies need to thrive. The future of our country depends on it.
Here’s how to get your op-ed published:
✅ Choose Your Outlet
🔍 Tip: Most papers only accept op-eds that haven’t been published elsewhere, so only submit to one outlet at a time unless otherwise noted.
✅ Find Submission Guidelines
Every publication has its own process.
- Check the Opinion or Op-Ed section on the outlet’s website.
- Look for a link titled “Submit an Op-Ed” or “Submission Guidelines.”
- If you can’t find it, Google: “[Newspaper Name] op-ed submission.”
Help spread the word about what’s at stake for babies and encourage your social networks to join you in taking action. Use the hashtag #ThinkBabies and include photos or videos of your family! If you tag your members of Congress (MOC), they’ll be more likely to see your post!
Sample Posts:
Graphics: [Download shareable images here]