Stand for Children

Stand for Children is an American education advocacy group. Founded in 1996 following a Children's Defense Fund rally,^[1] the non-profit advocates for equity in public education. Stand for Children's mission is as "a unique catalyst for educational success and social progress, to create a brighter future for us all."^[2]

Stand for Children

Founded	1996
Founder	Jonah Edelman
Area served	Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington
Key people	Jonah Edelman, co-founder and CEO
Website	stand.org

The organization includes both a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization called Stand for Children,^[3] as well as a 501(c)(3) training organization called Stand for Children Leadership Center.^[4]

History

On June 1, 1996, over 300,000 people rallied in Washington, D.C., for "Stand for Children Day" at the Lincoln Memorial. This event was the largest demonstration in support of children in U.S. history.^[1] Rosa Parks, civil rights movement icon, made a statement that challenged the people of nation to commit themselves to improving the lives of children, saying, "If I can sit down for justice, you can stand up for children."^[5] Two days later, Time featured a cover with the headline, "Who Speaks for Kids?," and an interview with long-time children's activist Marian Wright Edelman, the mother of Stand for Children's CEO and co-founder, Jonah Edelman.^[6]

Following their work at the rally, Jonah Edelman and Eliza Leighton founded Stand for Children, seeking to pursue ongoing advocacy for the nation's children. The organization backed hundreds of rallies nationwide over the next two years,^[7] before moving toward more systemic changes. Today, Jonah Edelman is the CEO of Stand for Children and Eliza Leighton is a member of the Board of Directors of Stand for Children Leadership Center.^[8]

Stand for Children opened a series of affiliates around the United States that have a local focus. Over time, Stand began focusing on statewide issues—particularly public education funding, which seemed of highest concern to parents and other community members.^[9]

Affiliate offices

Currently, Stand for Children has seven state affiliates: Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington. The affiliates are supported by the national office in Portland, Oregon.^[10][11] While Stand for Children and Stand for Children Leadership Center are jointly led by CEO Jonah Edelman, they have distinct goals and methods of execution aligned with the sections of the federal tax code under which they are each described. Stand for Children, which is described under section 501(c)(4) is the grassroots advocacy group that works to mobilize concerned citizen activists at the local and state level to convince elected officials and voters to pass education reforms.^[12][13] Stand for Children Leadership Center is a section 501(c)(3) organization that trains people to be effective citizen leaders capable of solving problems facing children, both locally and statewide.^[14]

In 2011, Stand for Children was praised in Time for "delivering results and changing how politicians think about grassroots education reform." The praise was attributed to the group's work to improve school funding in Oregon, teacher evaluations in Colorado, and teacher policy in Illinois.^[15]

Impact

Since its founding in 1996, Stand has achieved numerous legislative victories for students and created programs aimed at boosting educational success and social progress. Stand helped secure the passage and full funding of Measure 98 in Oregon, which provides $303 million to enable the state's school districts to expand evidence-based dropout prevention strategies, career technical education pathways, college credit courses, and post-secondary counseling.^[16] In Washington, Stand helped pass the nation's first-ever statewide Advanced Placement course enrollment equity requirement.^[17] Stand also played a pivotal role in advocating for the passage of funding for full-day kindergarten in Colorado in 2019.^[18] In Arizona, Stand helped pass Proposition 208,^[19] a pathbreaking education funding measure that would raise $940 million per year to help address Arizona’s teacher shortage crisis, hire additional counselors, nurses, social workers and aides, and double the state’s investment in career and technical education courses.

In 2017, Stand developed the Center for High School Success, which partners with high schools and districts across the country to significantly increase 9th Grade On-Track Rates, reduce chronic absenteeism, improve attendance, and strengthen Career Technical Education and Dual Credit pathways.

In 2022, preeminent early literacy expert Dr. Nell Duke joined Stand for Children to create the Center for Early Literacy and Learning Success. In 2025, after eight years of development and piloting, Dr. Duke and a world-class, diverse team of researchers finished the pathbreaking Great First Eight curriculum, the first-ever comprehensive curriculum for children from age 0-8.

Criticism

Critics of the group assert that it represents business interests^[20][21]—major funders include the Walton Family and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations. Education policy analyst Diane Ravitch criticized the group for opposing teacher's unions and seeking to impose standardized testing on public schools.^[22] Susan Barrett, former volunteer co-leader of a Stand for Children team in Portland, Oregon, left the organization due to concerns that corporate donors and wealthy board members influence reforms.^[23] In 2009, Stand for Children volunteers in Massachusetts witnessed an organizational change in favor of promoting charter schools. The former volunteers organized to protest a ballot initiative filed by Stand for Children. Former Stand for Children volunteers said the ballot measure puts the careers of teachers at the mercy of a rating system while doing nothing to improve teaching in schools.^[24]

See also

• Geoffrey Canada