In a recent post, UNICEF USA President and CEO Michael Nyenhuis wrote “Child Impact Statements Are the Policy Tool America Is Missing.”
Imagine if every major municipal decision in America included a publicly available analysis of how children would be affected. Imagine if city councils routinely heard directly from youth before approving major developments. Imagine if local governments tracked not just economic growth, but whether policies improved childhood well-being, safety, mental health, educational opportunity and long-term mobility.
Nyenhius is describing child impact statements, a tool already used worldwide to help policymakers understand the very real ways young people are affected by elected officials’ decisions. Like fiscal and health impact statements, child impact statements answer a set of questions to identify the expected and unintended consequences for young people of a proposed policy, practice, or program. Policymakers can incorporate the impact statements’ findings into their decision-making with the knowledge they are serving their youngest constituents most effectively.
As Nyenhius points out, the use of child impact statements is sparking interest here in the U.S. That’s because, thanks to programs piloting use of impact assessments, we now know valuable things about what works and what doesn’t. And there is growing support to scale up the practice.
A new resource, The Youth-Friendly Child Impact Statement Toolkit, designed with and for young people, supports them through every step of completing an impact statement and is available to download. What’s more, there is growing interest from various levels in government and the social sector as the idea gets introduced to mayors’ offices, youth councils, youth advocacy organizations, and municipal associations, like the National League of Cities and Georgia Municipal Association.
So, what would it look like to implement child impact statements at scale? Most communities already have youth groups ideally positioned to produce them. Think of the after-school clubs at most of the nearly 28,000 high schools across the country, the thousands of cities and counties with youth councils, and the over 850 UNICEF USA youth clubs as individual pieces completing a jigsaw puzzle.
As more youth groups use child impact statements, more puzzle pieces are inserted. And as use of child impact statements scales up, decisions start to be made differently—with impacts on children becoming a forethought rather than an afterthought.
How can you help get there?
1) Use the time over the summer to set up a youth-led child impact statement project for the fall—as part of the training for new youth council members or a free-standing project. The Youth-Friendly Child Impact Statement Toolkit will give you a start in structuring a curriculum that works in your community. When students return to school, you can work with them to adapt the curriculum to their interests and needs.
2) Join a community of other youth groups using impact statements. UNICEF USA and Kids Impact Initiative facilitate an opt-in Learning Exchange designed for youth participants and adult allies working with impact statements. Through hour-long zoom meetings once a month, groups learn from each other and bring challenges to the group in real time. Or recruit colleagues who work with youth groups into a learning exchange that you organize.
3) Share what you’re doing and help spread the word about impact statements to organizations you know. These case studies and this short factsheet paint a picture of how they’ve been used in other places and could work in their communities.
Nyenhuis writes that child impact statements “produce better outcomes for children and better communities” but that they also send a powerful message: “Decisions made about young people should include young people.” Let’s step up and help make this bold vision a reality.
For further information visit Kids Impact Initiative or contact Hannah Green at UNICEF USA (hgreen@unicefusa.org).
In a recent post, UNICEF USA President and CEO Michael Nyenhuis wrote “Child Impact Statements Are the Policy Tool America Is Missing.”
Imagine if every major municipal decision in America included a publicly available analysis of how children would be affected. Imagine if city councils routinely heard directly from youth before approving major developments. Imagine if local governments tracked not just economic growth, but whether policies improved childhood well-being, safety, mental health, educational opportunity and long-term mobility.
Nyenhius is describing child impact statements, a tool already used worldwide to help policymakers understand the very real ways young people are affected by elected officials’ decisions. Like fiscal and health impact statements, child impact statements answer a set of questions to identify the expected and unintended consequences for young people of a proposed policy, practice, or program. Policymakers can incorporate the impact statements’ findings into their decision-making with the knowledge they are serving their youngest constituents most effectively.
As Nyenhius points out, the use of child impact statements is sparking interest here in the U.S. That’s because, thanks to programs piloting use of impact assessments, we now know valuable things about what works and what doesn’t. And there is growing support to scale up the practice.
So, what would it look like to implement child impact statements at scale? Most communities already have youth groups ideally positioned to produce them. Think of the after-school clubs at most of the nearly 28,000 high schools across the country, the thousands of cities and counties with youth councils, and the over 850 UNICEF USA youth clubs as individual pieces completing a jigsaw puzzle.
How can you help get there?
1) Use the time over the summer to set up a youth-led child impact statement project for the fall—as part of the training for new youth council members or a free-standing project. The Youth-Friendly Child Impact Statement Toolkit will give you a start in structuring a curriculum that works in your community. When students return to school, you can work with them to adapt the curriculum to their interests and needs.
2) Join a community of other youth groups using impact statements. UNICEF USA and Kids Impact Initiative facilitate an opt-in Learning Exchange designed for youth participants and adult allies working with impact statements. Through hour-long zoom meetings once a month, groups learn from each other and bring challenges to the group in real time. Or recruit colleagues who work with youth groups into a learning exchange that you organize.
3) Share what you’re doing and help spread the word about impact statements to organizations you know. These case studies and this short factsheet paint a picture of how they’ve been used in other places and could work in their communities.
Nyenhuis writes that child impact statements “produce better outcomes for children and better communities” but that they also send a powerful message: “Decisions made about young people should include young people.” Let’s step up and help make this bold vision a reality.
For further information visit Kids Impact Initiative or contact Hannah Green at UNICEF USA (hgreen@unicefusa.org).
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