Support the No Child Left Inside Act

ACTION ALERT

January 2008

Urge Members of the US Senate

to Support the No Child Left Inside Act of 2007

The No Child Left Inside Coalition needs you to step forward now and tell members of the U.S. Senate that you strongly support environmental education. The Coalition's legislation, the No Child Left Act (S.1981), would strengthen and expand environmental education, and would reconnect children with nature through outdoor learning experiences. The NCLI Act provides funding for environmental education programs and teacher professional development in states with K-12 environmental literacy plans. Such funding is critically needed to help young people understand their natural world.

The action is now in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which is considering education funding issues as it works to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind law. Sen. Edward Kennedy, chairman of the committee, plans to produce a No Child Left Behind bill by April. We want as many cosponsors as possible of the NCLI Act, which will send a signal to the Senate HELP Committee that support is broad and diverse.

The power of the No Child Left Inside Coalition rests with the members of its affiliated organizations, such as ours. So, please take a few minutes and call or write your senators and ask them to cosponsor the NCLI legislation.

Action Needed!

1. Call your senators, and ask them to cosponsor S. 1981, the No Child Left Inside Act.

2. Write a letter on your organization's letterhead to encourage your senators to cosponsor the No Child Left Inside Act. (Sample letter is attached.)

3. Send a follow up report to the NCLI Coalition Grassroots Coordinator (Abby Ybarra, aybarra@cbf.org ) so he can track which senators have been contacted.

Go to www.eeNCLB.org to learn more about the No Child Left Inside Act. The website includes a link to allow you to send an email to members of Congress as well as other useful tools, such as guidelines on writing a letter to your local newspaper's editor.

Please get involved now. Together we can promote healthier kids and a healthier world!