Mission
Vision
Focus
Why Our Work Matters
Strategy: Global Leadership Initiative
Walmart CEO: Challenge to Accelerate Our Work
Champions for Kids Team: Board, Advisory Council, Project Advisors
Partners
Organizations Served
Champions for Kids LeadershipTeam

Our MISSION
Inspiring people across America to be Champions for Kids THIS Day by providing training and resources to Help Kids Finish Strong, and in doing so, ensuring our children receive the priority they deserve.

Our VISION
People across America and beyond are Champions for Kids, working to ensure that ALL children have: Someone who cares, a place to belong, hope for tomorrow and provisions for their journey. We work on behalf of ALL children—not some children.

Our FOCUS:
Inspiring People to be Champions for Kids!

We work to inspire MASSIVE numbers of people to leverage their influence to encourage, strengthen and improve the life of a child THIS DAY, and through their commitment, inspire others to do likewise.  The solution is in the leverage of people.  There are about 74 million children in the United States and approximately 2.2 billion children in the world.  Each day in America and in the world—the statistics reporting the state of our children are staggering.  Today, over 24,000 children under five will die due to lack of nutrition and healthcare globally. When this statistic takes in children over the age of five, the number of children who die daily almost doubles to 50,000 children each day (UNICEF).  In America, over 17 million children don’t have access to enough healthy food to thrive.  They are food insecure and facing hunger.  In Arkansas, approximately 175,000 children are food insecure, reflecting 25% of the children in Arkansas (1 of 4). Each day in America, 2,175 children are confirmed as abused or neglected. Please note, these are the numbers reported (Children’s Defense Fund). The silent killers are poverty, hunger, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes. In spite of the scale of this daily ongoing catastrophe, the state of our children rarely manages to achieve, much less sustain, prime-time, headline coverage.

People care about our children, and they will help. Everyone can do something to Help Kids Finish Strong! MASSIVE Success, ultimately, is not measured in resources leveraged, dollars donated or volunteer hours given.  Success is to see MASSIVE numbers of people leveraging their strength and influence to ensure ALL Kids Finish Strong, and in doing so, give children the priority they deserve. This is the vision that inspires our work. 

Why Our Work Matters, THIS Day!
Report On our Children

At 90, We Will Laugh! Each day in Arkansas, America and the world, the report on the health and wellness of our children is staggering. While issues of hunger, obesity, school readiness and academic performance receive some headlines, our children are not receiving the priority they deserve. Consider what happens each year to our children:

The World

• Today, over 24,000 children under the age of five died due to poverty, hunger, easily preventable diseases and illnesses and other related causes (Unicef).

• When including children over the age of 5 (6-18), this number almost doubles. This means that today, THIS Day, almost 50,000 children will die from mostly preventable causes.

• Each year, over 150 million children are engaged in child labor. This means one in six children in developing countries is engaged in child labor.

• 15 million children are orphaned each year due to HIV/AIDS. This number escalates when taking into account children orphaned by war, natural disasters and poverty.

In America, the report card is not much better:

• More than 17 million children are at risk for hunger

• More than 900,000 children were reported abused or neglected in 2006. The numbers are suspected to be much higher—these reflect actual reports.

• About two-thirds of public school 4th graders cannot read at grade level; 6 out of 10 cannot do math at grade level.

• Well over 500,000 children remain in foster care each year.

In Arkansas:

• 174,000 children are food insecure-over 25% of children in Arkansas.

• 7,400 children are in foster care, 1,300 were adopted or placed into guardianship.

• 248 children aged out of foster care and are trying to navigate life alone.

• 9,180 children are victims of abuse and neglect. These reflected reported cases.

• 71 % of fourth graders read below grade level

• 63 % of fourth graders are below grade level in math

Statistics are from Unicef and Children’s Defense Fund. Unicef: http://www.childinfo.org/facts_archives.html.
Children’s Defense Fund on State of Children in America, www.childrensdefense.org/stateofamericaschildren.

The sad reality is that while we receive daily news regarding natural disasters, government reforms and financial news, these stories rarely manage to receive coverage. Each day, children quietly die in some of the poorest villages on earth, are displaced from their families, go hungry, are removed from homes, and we wake up, not knowing this happened. We have two choices: to turn our head and say that the numbers are too staggering, or to roll up our sleeves and get to work. We choose the latter.

We have thought long, hard and deep about how to Help Kids Finish Strong! We have wrestled with whether to focus on a single issue or cause. We have explored the path of whether or not to focus on one particular issue. In the end, our strategy reflects a careful chess move. We are not focused on solving a particular problem. Rather, we are focused on exponentially accelerating solutions. This means inspiring and equipping MILLIONS of people worldwide to become Champions for Kids! When MILLIONS of people become Champions for Kids, then children will receive the priority they deserve. We select this strategy for three reasons.

One, our core and driving commitment is to work on behalf of ALL children, not some children. Second, once we draw a line in the sand and focus on one, single solution, we limit the numbers of people involved in our efforts. Third, and most important: ultimate success is not measured in grants given, numbers served, problems solved. Ultimate success is that children receive the priority they deserve in our collective conscience. Our chess move is strategic. We are working to influence the culture. We will measure success when people across America and beyond are Champions for Kids. Ultimate success is when there is a transfer of identity from Champions for Kids as an organization to Champions for Kids as part of our collective identity—who we are as a community and as citizens.

This is a radically, different conversation from a focus on metrics measured in inputs, numbers served, grants given, funding received or improved graduation rates, although each of these is vitally important. This is the conversation we choose to engage because it is the one that ultimately will best ensure our children receive the priority they deserve.

We remain committed to these beliefs:

1. People care and they will help.

2. The answer is not in solving any particular problem. The answer is to inspire people across America and beyond numbers to be Champions for Kids by providing training and resources to Help Kids Finish Strong!

3. The aggregation of MASSIVE numbers of people leveraging their influence can turn the tide.

4. Victory is that children will receive the priority they deserve.

5. We will share good news about people across America and beyond who are Champions for Kids and we will celebrate their stories of success.

6. At age 90, we will laugh, sharing the joy of these celebrations and remembering the early steps we took to inspire these celebrations.

7. Then, it will be time for our children to go and do likewise, and in their small communities’ world-wide to be the next generation of Champions for Kids!

This is the vision that inspires our work. Our measure of success will be celebrated when we are 90 years of age. At 90, we will laugh because the next generation will be inspiring their children and grandchildren to be Champions for Kids! The purple passion logo is placed not only on their hearts, but lives in and through them to ensure our children a strong and healthy future.

Our STRATEGY: Global Leadership Initiative

1. Global Leadership Fellows Program
2. The Henkel Global Leadership Conference
3. Project THIS Day: Activating MILLIONS of People to become Champions for Kids!

Building on our foundation to strengthen the leadership potential of individuals working to create a healthy future for our children, we launch The Global Leadership Initiative (GLI). The GLI is an umbrella effort to ensure our children have access to the resources and opportunities they need to Finish Strong! We launch the (1) Global Leadership Fellows Program, (2) The Henkel Global Leadership Conference and are preparing to announce: (3) Project THIS Day.

1. Global Leadership Fellows Program

The GLI Fellows Program is an intensive program designed to assist people in reaching a wider market with proven health and wellness programs for children and families. During their fellowship, GLI Fellows strengthen their existing programs and develop the skills, connections and insights they need to lead major change efforts. They will participate in a dynamic learning community comprised of innovative nonprofits, academic, corporate and government. As well, participants will receive the individual coaching, mentoring and support they need to address individual learning needs.

2010 GLI Fellows

Angela Henry, SAFE BASE • Iola, Kansas
Talia Rivera, Villages Without Walls • Dorchester, Massachusetts
Marty & Vickie • BurlsworthBrandon Burlsworth Foundation • Harrison, Arkansas
Julie Idlet, Cycle Kids • Boston, Massachusetts
Peggy McCall, Miracle League of Arkansas • Little Rock, Arkansas

2. The Henkel Global Leadership Conference

Champions for Kids will host the The Henkel Global Leadership Conference: Helping Kids Finish Strong on October 26 & 27 in Northwest Arkansas. This event will launch our national effort to inspire and support leaders in developing state and local collaborative efforts to create a more healthy future for children in America and beyond. This conference will be limited to 350 people and will involve leaders from the following sectors: education, nonprofit, corporate, faith-based, high school and university students and government leaders.

Conference Speakers

David Gergen, CNN Senior Political Analyst, Senior Advisor to five White House presidents and Director for Harvard's Center for Public Leadership
Bill Simon, President and CEO, Walmart U.S.
Margaret McKenna, Director of the Walmart Foundation
Billy Shore, Founder and Executive Director of Share Our Strength, a national organization committed to ending hunger in America.

This conference, ultimately, is about driving action—not reflection. Participants will be challenged to find ways to connect and drive meaningful change for and with our youth.

Forums will feature exchanges between corporate leaders, educators social workers and community leaders to best learn about challenges and opportunities for growth. Forums will end with groups challenged to present innovative ideas to drive conversations from learning to action.

3. Project THIS Day:
Activating MILLIONS of People to become Champions for Kids!

Inspiring and equipping MASSIVE numbers of people to become Champions for Kids is our key to victory! The THIS Day Project is a long-term project that is driven by strategic alliances that connect citizens with SIMPLE ideas and resources to Help Kids Finish Strong in communities across America and beyond. This project is being developed with a strong team of strategic partners. Project THIS Day is preparing for launch.


Walmart CEO: Global Challenge. Global Vision. Global Corps

In the fall of 2008, Bill Simon, President and CEO of Walmart U.S., issued a challenge to approximately 350 corporate suppliers at the Champions for Kids kick-off lunch. Following a report on the state of children in America, Simon captured attendees’ focused attention when he made a call to action. Paraphrasing that day, Simon challenged leaders of global companies to never work for incremental change. ‘We have the resources, the influence and leverage to catalytically improve the lives of children. We must accelerate our efforts to improve the lives of our children. We must all get in the game. Standing on the sidelines is not an option.’

This challenge that day was issued by a global leader, representing a global company, pushing for a global vision, challenging a global team to engage this effort with their full focus, intentionality and commitment.

Project THIS Day

Project THIS Day is a forthcoming initiative to meet this challenge. This project requires disruptive thinking and collaborative work. Disruptive thinking means seeing ways to improve the lives of children on a massive scale and working to make this happen. We have two choices. One is to say that the challenge is too large and can’t be done. The other is to roll up our sleeves and work toward disruptive possibilities.

We choose the latter. Accelerating solutions can only happen in and through the massive power of collaboration. The challenge is bold. The possibilities are daunting. But the vision for good is energizing. We aspire to soon announce project THIS Day. We remain thankful for Simon’s vision for a better world for our children and his abiding support to encourage our efforts.

Organizations Served
American Red Cross
Arkansas Athletes Outreach
Arkansas Baptist Children’s Homes
Arkansas Support Network
Bethany Christian Services
Camp Barnabas
Camp Harvest
Children’s Advocacy Center
Children’s Safety Center
Champs League
Community Clinic at St. Francis House
Cycle Kids
Kendrick Fincher
Memorial Foundation
Miracle League of Arkansas
KidCare
LifeSource International, Inc.
Northwest Arkansas Rape Crisis Inc.
Ozark Guidance
Pagnozzi Charities
Reality Check
SafeBase
Sister to Sister
The Brandon Burlsworth Foundation
The Elizabeth Richardson Center
The First Tee of Northwest Arkansas
The Yvonne Richardson Center
Village Without Walls
Watch Dogs
Youth Bridge
Anonymous Family Foundations (2)

CFK Partners
Walmart
Abbott Nutrition
General Mills
Coca-Cola
40/29 News
Disney
Tyson
Energizer
Clear Channel Radio
Henkel/Dial
Heinz
Bedford Camera & Video
------------------------------------------
Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity
AMP
Arkansas Blue Cross/Blue Shield
Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Bob and Becky Alexander
Boyce Billingsley
Biz2Biz
Career Dimensions
Connecting Northwest Arkansas
CEB Enterprises
Darryl and Dawn Andrews
Elkins Design
Encore
Fast Lane Entertainment
Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce
Fayetteville Visitors Bureau
Frank and Gen Broyles
Glad Manufacturing Company
In-Tents Party Rentals
Jeannie Fleeman Family
Jennie-O Turkey Store, Inc.
JonesNet TV
KFSM
Kid’s Directory of NWA
Lazonadeportiva (The Sports Zone)
Lee and Linda Ward
MARS Advertising
Michael & Jennifer Wilson
Moran IT
Network Video Productions
Outdoor Cap Company
Pediatric Dental Associates
Performance Insights
Peekaboo Magazine
Randy Odglen
Rick and Adelaide Schaeffer
Rick Osbourne
Stage One Entertainment
State Farm Insurance
Steve and Diane Burtrum
Shaun and Miriam Turner
Signature Bank
Special Event Security Group
Ted and Linda Harrod
360NWA
3W Magazine
Tommy and Shirley Karr
The Sunflower Group
Univision
US Army
Wells Fargo Advisors LLC
Weston Rogers
Wheaties
Williams Tractor, Inc.
Zeiss
103.7 The Buzz

IRS tax id number: 68-0587684